Old and natural Ways to Store Foods

SIMPLIFYING FOOD STORAGE 
 In 1910, approximately 80% of all Americans lived in rural areas, living, 
directly or indirectly, off the land. Today, that percentage is reversed, with 
more than 80% of all Americans living in towns and cities, yet still needing to 
eat. Even small towns are forsaking agricultural production in favor of tourism, 
light industry, and catering to retirees and others who are fleeing from 
metropolitan areas. 

The influx of new move-ins requires social, medical, educational, recreational, 
and other infrastructure expenditures, as well as the usual services of lawyers, 
plumbers, and electricians, etc. In a sense, most of us are living off each 
other, each providing services for the other in exchange for the money that we 
take to the grocery store. Cut off from the means of food production, as most 
Americans are, we are almost solely dependent on agribusiness, the trucking 
industry, multitudes of middlemen, and even Mexico to deliver our daily food to 
the table. 

When disruptive weather, regional catastrophes, strikes, or wars upset the 
delivery system, deprivation and increased costs are the results. In addition to 
being denied the foods we enjoy and have become accustomed to, we are also aware 
that severe shortages can challenge the very social and political fabric of 
overfed America with very uncivilized behavior. If you think those well-fed 
gangs and looters are bad now, wait until their refrigerators and cupboards are 
bare! 

The Hopi and Pueblo elders, as well as many others, have long taught their 
people to have a one or two-year supply of food stored, in case of adversity or 
emergency. Leaders of these prepared groups are today warning the earth’s 
inhabitants of a fast approaching time of hardship, great change, and the need 
to be prepared, both spiritually and physically. Traditional Hopi, as well as 
others, do not accept government support, and maintain agricultural self-
sufficiency instead. Some Hopi believe they were told by the White Brother to 
never accept aid, or their land would be taken away from them. Their Anasazi 
ancestors inhabited a changeable land with many enemies, and food storage meant 
survival against incessant enemy attacks and the unpredictability of drought 
conditions in the Southwest. 

The Anasazi practiced advanced agricultural arts, and exhibited genius in cotton 
weaving, seed genetics, irrigation, and dry farming, as well as astronomy, 
pottery design, and a busy exchange of trade goods with their relatives far to 
the south in Mexico. Neighboring nomadic tribes, jealous of the fruits of 
settled village life, would wait until harvest to sweep down on productive 
fields, stealing crops, animals, women, and children. In a sense, the ancient 
ones had their backs against the wall. Visit their isolated cliff houses in the 
remote canyons of the southwest, and you will sense their fortress mentality. 
Their survival lessons have not been forgotten, but have been passed down 
through each succeeding generation to the present day Pueblo Peoples of Arizona 
and New Mexico. 

Subsistence farming is a devalued art at present, with agribusiness dominating 
food production, but that could change overnight. During the Great Depression, 
Americans felt the sting of poverty, and history has an interesting way of 
repeating itself. Most farmers, outside the dust bowl drought areas, were able 
to survive, and Native Peoples who depended on subsistence farming practices 
were least affected by the Depression. They had not put their faith in the white 
man’s banking system, but in their own time-tested seed banks. The Hopi and 
other Pueblo Peoples have great storehouses of earth knowledge and survival 
skills to share with those who are willing to listen. 

While the "dominant" society has been technologically oppressive, burdening the 
earth with pesticides and destructive land use to the point of diminishing 
returns, the "People of Peace" have never forsaken their Mother Earth. Whether 
the oppressors ever acknowledge the intrinsic spiritual relationship between the 
earth and their own physical bodies or not, they will increasingly suffer from 
weakness and “dis-ease” if they continue to ignorantly pollute the earth with 
toxic wastes. Education is arousing many from their chemically-induced lethargy 
to the possibility of danger, but most are generally content to leave the 
problem in the hands of politicians and chemical companies. Since the bottom 
line continues to be profits, their faith in this unholy alliance is grossly 
misplaced. Dependence on hybrid seeds and other genetic techniques that deplete 
heritage seed diversity also puts this nation at great risk from pestilent 
varieties of plant-destroying viruses and sudden climatic changes. 

Y2K survival food experts promote the sale of vacuum-packed, dehydrated, or 
freeze-dried foods, and their catalogs are filled with space-age offerings 
guaranteed to last decades. Generally of good quality, they offer a necessary 
hedge against sudden disaster, or even temporary unemployment, but the initial 
cost is often overwhelming. If a buyer can get over the financial intimidation 
of acquiring a one or two-year supply, he will feel more secure, but if the 
buyer also has a large family, the high price might scare him away permanently. 
In the long run, however, some type of food storage program is a wise 
investment. Inflation will add to the cost of food with each passing year, so if 
nothing serious ever happened, the buyer could simply eat his investment and 
save money at the same time. 

Personally, I might try a few of these products in the future, but I believe 
that buying any food that one does not regularly eat is economically unwise. 
I’ve seen my neighbor’s stored food wasted because it was not rotated and stored 
correctly. The viability of their wheat was reduced because it was stored in a 
warm room. A cool, dry underground storage room or cave is the best place to 
keep one’s survival food. 

When shopping, buy several storable items. These could include vacuum-packed 
varieties or regular canned items, when they are on sale, and put each new item 
behind the old, always using the food in the front first. You might even want to 
consider caching some food in a secure place . . . but make sure it is rotated 
to the kitchen and replaced. 

I have always known that my adopted Pueblo and Hopi elders are the experts when 
it comes to food storage, heritage seed saving, and water conservation. It can’t 
be emphasized strongly enough that a pure source of water, or a purification 
process, along with access to water, is the most important part of any survival 
preparation. Without a good source of water, we are dependent on whoever has 
access to it. Enough said. 
Corn, beans, rice and other grains, dried fruit, vegetables, and seeds for fresh 
sprouted grains and planting should constitute the bulk of food storage, with 
herbs, oils, sweeteners, spices, vitamin supplements, dried milk or eggs, and 
other regularly enjoyed items rounding out the program. 

My Indian friends dry halved apricots, peaches, and plums on their flat rooftops 
between window screening. Shave apples into long coils to dry, pick and dry 
chokecherries, rose hips and other berries and herbs for teas and sweet 
creations. In their fields they gather Purslane, a succulent, and Lamb’s 
Quarters (wild spinach) for potherbs, using them fresh and drying the rest for 
winter use. Even baby tumbleweeds can be used in soups, but the ground or plants 
are never stripped bare. Something is always left for the birds, other animals, 
and to reseed the earth. 

The Pueblo People harvest squash, chilies, pumpkin, four distinct colors of corn 
with many variations, sunflower seeds, beans, onions, and other garden plants in 
their fields or small garden plots near the springs. Melons are a summer 
favorite during their hot summers. Meat, when eaten, is usually served sparingly 
in soups or small portions. The Pueblo Peoples use drying as their method of 
preserving food. Squashes are cut in half, the seeds are taken out, and then 
hung up to dry with long ristras or bunches of chile and garlic. The early 
Spanish, and later Anglo explorers were amazed to find chilies,  in one form or 
another, eaten with every meal. Pumpkin seeds are always a treat, and watermelon 
seeds are also used for food and oil. Fresh corn is baked in outside ovens or 
pits, and then a great corn feast is prayerfully shared. The remaining corn is 
hung to dry, later to be cooked whole or ground into flour. Hopi corn has been 
developed over the centuries to be drought resistant. It can be planted as deep 
as 12 inches and grow well with as little as four inches of rainfall. 

After lightly baking my corn, (enough to make the kernels pucker) I pull the 
husks back and hang them. Care must be used that the ears are separated and do 
not touch, or they can mold. I once saw a ceiling of beautiful corn ruined 
because a friend had hung the ears to close together. In Spanish, the shucked, 
hardened, dry kernels are called chicos. Beans and chicos are soaked together 
overnight and cooked with spicy seasonings, making a wonderful meatless chili, 
as well as a complete protein. 

Beans and corn are staple foods and eaten in some form almost everyday by the 
Indigenous Peoples of the southwest and Mexico. Other ancient foods which add 
color and variety to the traditional diet are amaranth grain, husk tomatoes 
(ground cherries), Yucca fruit, cactus pads and fruit, wild mustard, celery, 
garlic, fried squash blossoms, currents, strawberries, rabbit, turkey and deer. 

Family outings to the mountains and river canyons are organized to fish, collect 
berries, pinon nuts, mushrooms, and firewood. Depending on the land for survival 
always brings a family closer together as they work, laugh, and enjoy the beauty 
of nature. Gratitude is always expressed to the Great Creator and Mother Earth 
for the many blessings received. It has been said that the family that prays 
together, stays together. It follows that the family that not only prays, but 
also plants, gathers, and eats together is forging bonds that will last through 
eternity. 

That we, as a nation, are feeling shattered from within reflects internal 
fragmentation. Family members rarely eat together, and spend most of the day 
separated by school, work, and individual interests. When family members finally 
straggle in from their separate activities, they are often too tired to pay much 
attention to each other and go off to be by themselves, grabbing an appetite- 
destroying snack from the kitchen refrigerator or microwave and retreating to 
their rooms. The microwave may be handy for the elderly and singles, but it has 
done little to contribute to family togetherness. I have never owned one of 
these instant food-nuking contraptions and never will. 

When I was first married, I decided that the T.V. had no place in the kitchen or 
dining room. If family solidarity is important to you, banishing the T.V. from 
the eating area will help promote discussion and unity. Another tactic to 
encourage real meals together is to limit snacks to raw fruit and vegetables, in 
other words, keep them hungry until dinner is ready. If there ever was a time to 
practice being agreeable, it is at the dinner table. Food eaten in peace will be 
better digested than food eaten in haste, worry, or resentment. One rule for 
family eating that applies to people world-wide is: If you can’t say something 
good and improve on the silence, do not say anything at all. After all, what is 
use of having a food storage program or a garden, if the food, once prepared, 
turns into poison in your system and cannot be shared in peace with the ones you 
love? I have never been in an Indian home where the family didn’t sit down 
together at least two or three times a day to share their food and company. 

Joseph, the son of Jacob, who was sold into Egypt as a slave, saved that 
powerful and prosperous country from famine by interpreting Pharaoh’s dream of 
seven fat and seven skinny cattle. The fat cattle represented seven years of 
bounty to be followed by seven skinny cattle, or seven years of famine. Pharaoh 
authorized him to initiate a massive grain and food storage program, which 
provided not only a great blessing to the people of Egypt, but also reunited 
Joseph with his family when they traveled down to Egypt to beg for food. 

Today, powerful leaders and business interests are perpetuating an illusion of 
the greatest magnitude. Their self-assured pride in belonging to the wealthiest 
nation on earth is creating a contagious attitude of false prosperity. A nation 
whose institutions fill garbage cans with half-eaten food, whose price support 
system includes food dumping, whose stores throw away food because it is not 
cosmetically perfect, and a government whose officials fail to maintain an 
adequate grain storage project is treading on dangerous ground. To misuse 
nature’s bounty, while others in this world go without, is creating greater and 
greater polarity between the rich and the poor, at home and abroad. According to 
recent statistics, each American uses an average of 84 tons of the earth’s 
resources annually. I believe that there are many who use much, much less than 
this, and many who use much, much more. Americans are the world’s greatest 
wasters, using far more than those in other countries, and our ignorant 
attitudes will eventually reap a harvest of famine and unavailability. 

We cannot say how this will come about, but nature will regain her balance 
against those who abuse and upset the universal law of the harvest: What we sow, 
so shall we reap. Scenarios of global disaster have included comets colliding 
with the earth, a long nuclear winter, varations in the pole tilt, polar melt 
down, flooding, drought, plagues, and another approaching ice age. These, of 
course, are quite possible, but it is the regional disasters we need to prepare 
for now. If a firestorm incinerates your pristine mountain property, a flood 
washes away your home, or a tornado flattens your town, it may not be the end of 
the whole world . . . but it will seem like it, if you barely escape with your 
life and perhaps none of your possessions, pets, or livestock. 

Within 36 hours of any disaster, natural or manmade, national or regional, the 
shelves of our food stores will be bare. The availability of food is taken for 
granted, but it will not always be so.  Some of us have seen this temporary 
scarcity before, but within a short time, food stores are re-supplied, and all 
is normal. If, however, there are major upheavals or disruptions of the delivery 
system, it will take considerably longer. During these chaotic periods prices 
will skyrocket for the limited foods locally available . . . if there are any. 
If we ever find ourselves at war with oil producing countries, our military will 
probably require all available reserves to fuel the military machine. Food 
trucks would slow to a crawl, delivering only the minimum to large cities to 
keep them fed and socially stable. I wouldn’t want to live in a city during such 
deprivation and uncertainty . . . would you? 

Joseph and the Egyptians were ready, the Hopi/Pueblo and other indigenous 
Peoples are ready, The Amish/Mennonites are ready, the Mormons are ready . . . 
ARE YOU?

(c)2001 -Laura Martin-Bühler 
 
