Make plans now to plant a garden

The projections for the near future of our economy are not good. Many of our leaders are telling us that our incomes will get much worse before they get better. This makes me ask, "What can we learn from our ancestors, who survived when the economy was bad? From our library I picked up a copy of "Count Me In" by T. Euclid Rains, Sr. Euclid was a relative of Clara, my wife. He is famous in the Alabama area for his being able to manage a farm even though he was totally blind. His wife, Nell, had to give up her job when Tommy was born, because Tommy's health problem required constant attention from his mother. "When we brought Tommy home from the hospital, we knew we had monumental financial problems to solve. After Nell and I huddled, we agreed the answer to our survival and well-being as a family would have to come from the soil and our frugal handing of personal needs...Nell had a deep freeze and we bought a pressure cooker for canning. We rounded up some 300 canning jars of all sizes...The notion of our turning to the soil for the solution of our problems was realized in full. Within a year we were growing 52 items of food on Sunshine Farm and had reduced our grocery bill to about $2.75 per week."

How did they do it? They canned the blackberries, jellied the muscadines, and drank sassafras tea and grape juice. They "raised" their own milk, butter and eggs-butchered their own beef, pork and chickens-got fish from neighboring ponds and streams-and sometimes had rabbit, squirrel and quail from their farm. They ground and mixed their own sausage and raised the dill for their own pickles. In his book, "Count Me In" Euclid reported, "we became partners with my dad in pig farming. Dad did the driving and the hauling of the pigs, and I did the handling of the feed and other manual labor. And soon that whopping hospital bill for the weeks of care for baby Tommy just melted away like a snowball in July...We were prospering. We never stopped supporting our church and other charitable institutions and causes."

In his book Euclid asks, "Where have all the gardeners gone? Surely the answer to some of our poverty and hunger lies in the land up which we walk. A few plants of tomatoes, squash and cucumbers would brighten up a menu. Surely some of the fertile soil about us that is so rife with weeds and briars would be better off growing potatoes and beans. It requires only a little know how and some elbow grease."

We used to sit around at the family reunions and listen to Euclid talk. It was a treat. He would often conclude his sharing with these words, "Please let me reiterate: We were not poor. Our family was simply wallowing in plenty. We made ice cream nearly every warm day of summer and early fall. I remember one hot August afternoon, we made and consumed a whole gallon of rich Jersey ice cream. If we wanted walnut, if we wanted peach, or it we wanted strawberry or whatever flavor, it was in our pantry or deep freeze."

What can we do to help secure for our future? I believe Euclid would say, "Make plans now to plant a garden."