I placed an order for my September seeds, today. I purchased from “Seeds Savers” and “Southern Exposure,” two of my favorite Heirloom Seed providers.

Everything I ordered is documented to have been grown Prior to 1945, and most everything is pre-1920.

We’ve had a pretty dry summer and currently the garden is looking a little sad. I’m hoping a some weeding,repositioning of the hose, and some mulch will help improve the situation. Most everything was planted in what the Harris County Master Gardeners call “the marginal season.” So the fact that everything is still pretty much alive, albeit wimpy and distressed looking, is a positive thing.

Fortunately, September-October-November brings planting season for a large quanity of cooler weather crops. So maybe this year won’t be a complete bust, and maybe I will actually get to see some Canning Action.

The Prison Photo of Nikolai Vavilov

In April, I wrote an entry about the Vavilov Seed Bank in Russia.  I outlined how the scientists at the station starved during the Siege of Leningrad, rather than eat the specimens held there.

Vavilov is under siege once more. Unlike the Svalbard Global Seed Vault, which serves to store seeds in case of a global disaster, Vavilov institute practices “in situ” preservation.  That is, seeds are planted and grown to preserve them, while allowing them to evolve.  Many of the specimens are trees and plants that have been growing in the land surrounding Vavilov for decades.  The Russian government has declared that the land contains nothing of value, which makes me feel a bit heart sick.

A final hearing is slated for mid-September.  Stay tuned as I follow this story.

*Correction*

This is from Jeremy:

“The collection isn’t really an in-situ collection, it is a field genebank. The difference is that in-situ normally refers to the material being grown in the farmers’ “fields” where it was developed. The Pavlovsk collection was gathered all over the world, and is being grown at Pavlovsk, not where it is collected. Furthermore, because most fruits do not breed true from seed, it is the plants themselves that have to be kept going by propagating them vegetatively (cloning) and refreshing the collection that way. And that is why it is almost impossible to save the collection by moving it. If it were just a question of seeds, it would be easy to save them in some other ex-situ genebank. But because it is a collection of plants, being grown as a field genebank, that makes it almost impossible to find another site, prepare the plants, transfer them, and so on.”

Also, it’s about getting healthy financially.   I spend way too much on incidentals and expenses.  Pete and I would like to buy a house in the next 12 to 18 months.  That will not happen if I continue to spend like I have been.

Finally, it’s an attempt to prove that one can maintain a comfortable living without the excessive consumerism that is so pervasive to our culture.  People seemed to value what they had more.

So my challenge is two part:

1. Live off of the rations, as outlined on the “Food Ration Page.” These rations will be subject to the whims of the “Lord Woolton Randomizer” and seasonal availability.  I am using the ration levels from 1945, because they are a reasonable balance between the maximum and minimum levels.
2. Dress myself for home and work with 66 clothing coupons using the chart on the “Clothing Ration Page”.  Luckily “Make Do and Mend” had a comprehensive reference chart of garments and their point values.

The goal is to follow these rules from 09-01-10 to 09-01-11.  Hi-jinks will most likely ensue.

Cheers!

Miranda

I finally found an approximation of the national loaf, courtesy of 1940s Experiment

Nothing Fancy Wartime Loaf

* 600 ml (1 pint) of warm water
* 5 teaspoons of quick rise yeast
* couple pinches of sugar
* 2 lb of wholewheat (wholemeal) flour
* 1.5 teaspoons salt
* 1 tablespoon rolled oats (for top)
* drizzle of vegetable oil

Method

Place flour in large bowl
Mix in all dry ingredients except the rolled oats
Drizzle in vegetable oil
Pour in warm water
Mix thoroughly
When dough comes together knead for 10 minutes until dough is silky
Place back in bowl and cover
Let dough rise somewhere warm until doubled in size
Knead dough briefly again
Place dough into 4 x 1/2 lb tins (or 2 x 1 lb tins) that have been floured
Brush top with a little water and sprinkle on some rolled oats
Leave to rise for around 20 minutes
Place in oven at 180 0C for around 30-40 minutes (depending on the size of the loaf)
Remove from oven
Cool for at least 15 minutes before cutting

If you’ve been following the news at all, you should be aware of the nation wide egg recall.  Apparently some chickens were fed some tainted feed and now there are tainted eggs floating around the country.   The fear of these tainted eggs is causing some resturants to refuse to sell shelled eggs.

We’ve had several food item shortages in the past couple of years.  Tomatoes and bell peppers were in short supply earlier this year because of “wonky weather” in California,  spinach was recalled a few years ago because of E Coli, and Eggo waffles have been harder to come by due to flooding at the waffle factory. 

These are fairly minor set backs.  They have not CRIPPLED our food supply and yet, watching the way people behave when that food item is unavailable is very interesting…I include myself in this….because I was very upset when I opened my Starbucks Protein Platter and there was no hardboiled egg.

We have gotten so used to the instant gratification in our diets.  So when someone “moves our cheese” we get very upset.  It makes me wonder how this generation would cope with the massive shortages that WWII brought.

I spent two nights watching and then re-watching PBS “1940s House”. I really enjoyed it to say the least…if any parentals or future spouses are looking for a killer Christmas present for me, 1940s House is available on Amazon or Ebay…okay Pro-Miranda PSA over.  Back to regularly scheduled blogness.

I’ve alway known that items were in short supply in WWII.  But this program was a much more visual way to examine the effects of rationing on one’s daily life.

I drafted this table to help me better reflect the fluctuating availability of goods.   I dub it “The Lord Woolten Randomizer” after Frederick James Marquis, 1st Earl of Woolton, the Minister of Food.  Using this chart, and a random number generator, I can approximate a market with far more instability then the one at my super market.  The first number (1-6) is the number of possible scenarios, 1-5 with 6 indicating that I got lucky and the market is level.  Based on that number, I generate a list of up to 5 goods and up to 5 scenarios.

For Example-

Step 1-I roll a ”5″ on the RANDOM.ORG generator.  Which means I have five scenarios (wow, volatile market this week).

Step 2- Using the “5″, I know that 5 goods will be affected.  I tell the generator to select 5 numbers, between 1 and 20.  These numbers will be displayed, by the generator, in 5 columns (very important).  The generator gives me “16, 14, 8, 6, 17.”  So Jam, Eggs, Fresh Fruit, Sugar, and Dried Legumes, will be affected.

Step 3-Generate 5 numbers between 1 and 9 to serve as my scenarios.  The numbers are paired with the item in the corresponding column.  I receive 6, 7, 5, 1, 2.

Step 4- Break it all down. 

• Jams-Victory Special* – Surplus; Available for only ¼ of the usual ration points OR buy extra amounts if a non-rationed good (Does not apply to Standard Rationed Items, i.e. eggs.)  Jams are a rationed Item, so NOTHING HAPPENS.
• Eggs-Limited Availability* – available, but can only purchase ½ the amount that would normally be purchased OR only half rations are available.  I have only 1 egg available this week.
• Fresh Fruit- None Available* I trust I don’t have to explain what this means.
• Sugar-Surplus* – available at only ½ of the usual ration points – ( Does not apply to Standard Rationed Items,i.e. eggs) Nothing happens
• Dried Legumes-Scarce* – available but only at 1 1/2 times the usual ration points (if ration points apply)  otherwise, rationed amount or amount available is cut by 1/3. The pound I would generally buy is reduced to 2/3 pounds.

This simple exercise will help lend authenticity to my project.  I will generate my scenarios once a week.  This will probably take place on Saturday, as I generally do my shopping on Saturday or Sunday.  In the mean time, I am trying to find a recipe to approximate “The National Loaf.”

Heck, not just one relapse…but a whole 2.5 weeks of relapse.  I was doing very well with the whole rationing thing, except I kept running into “issues.”  These issues, I realize, need to be worked out, before I can move forward in earnest. 

“I love you, but I’m not sharing my cheese”

Pete is not on the ration diet.  He will not go on the ration diet.  I respect this.  And while he is very supportive of my wackier endeavours, Pete is not an anthropologically driven geek.  He’s a musically-technologically driven geek.  They are completely different pedigrees.  Initially, I thought “okay, I’ll cook for myself, and Pete (who presumably wouldn’t be here anyway, if this was a real WWII scenario…) can cook for himself.  This never quite works like I intend, because if generally if I cook, he wants to eat whatever I’ve made.  He may not like it, stuffed eggplants were a prime example of this, but he at least tries it.  This became an issue because, Pete has no allotted rations.  So when I cook for two, I end up using my rations to feed both of us. 

I considered assigning a set of rations for Pete, so that community meals wouldn’t rely only on my set.  However, since he would only be using his rations for dinner and eating whatever he chooses for breakfast and lunch, I would end up with inflated amounts of rationed items.  Going forward this will be solved by adding the following items to my rations:

The amount is roughly 1/2 of the 1945 ration of each item.  While there technically 4 meals (with tea) a day in Britain, I reckon that most men during WWII, who were not fighting, would eat lunch in the canteens.  So half seemed like a reasonable compromise.

This is one kink I have worked out.  I am exploring others, in hopes of beginning fresh on September 1, 2010.  Hopefully this will make my month based ration, easier to track.

1. Second hand men’s trousers are a great source of pretty neutral wool and wool blend fabric

2. Second hand dress shirts are a great source of understated cotton and cotton blend shirting material

3. Salvation Army has a “50% off all clothing” sale every Saturday

I went on a bit of a buying spree earlier this month.  I purchased 6 pairs of wool trousers and 5 dress shirts for 30 dollars.  Awesome, right?!  Then I got them home and started dismantling them. 

The first pair of pants were a  lovely black and grey with a tiny hounds tooth pattern.  They had a 40 inch waist and 34 inch inseam.  With some careful cutting, and an executive decision to make the front panel into two, I was able to cut out an adorable button flap skirt pattern. 

The second pair of pants were an equally awesome grey wool/cashmere blend with a WHOPPING 50 inch waist and a 36 inch inseam.  What’s more, they were pleated….that’s a LOT of fabric.  I’m hoping I can get a cute skirt with inverted pleats out of the leg panels.

It was down hill from there.  The brown hounds tooth slacks I bought, turned out to only have a 32″ inseam, making it impossible for me to cut out anything more than an above the knee skirt, which I refuse to wear.  The chocolate brown wool trousers had multiple moth holes, that I didn’t see because they were in the seam.  I’m hoping it can be felted into hat and or glove material.  I have yet to see if the two pairs of charcoal grey pants are big enough for turning into skirts.  I’m hoping that the 38″ waisted one’s will be long enough, once I let down the cuffs.   The 36″ ones will probably be the first casualties in my trouser attempts.

The moral of the story.  I need to get a tape measure to carry in my purse on these trips.  I also need to take more time examining the condition of the fabric in the garment.

I have made the decision to limit myself to seasonally available produce.  Here’s the question…should I limit myself to vegetables that CAN be grown in Britain, even if they are out of season there?  For example, we can grow our own citrus and bananas in Houston.  In fact oranges are in season, right now.  HOWEVER in WWII era Britain, oranges were nearly impossible to obtain and when they were available, children and invalids received priority.

Nearly everything, save the pepers, planted in the victory garden, has the ability to grow in Britain, even if their summer peas are a winter crop for me.  For my next plantings (September and October) I intend to use heriloom varieties available pre 1945.

Here is another issue.  The availabilty of rationed items also seemed to fluxuate.  The family at Rational Living decided to simulate this by introducing a random scenario generator, called the “Mr. Bowles’ Amazing Marketplace Scenario Randomizer!“  I think this is brilliant.  The question is am I “hardcore” enough to introduce the possiblity of even less food than I’m already rationing myself?

SO what do you think, readers?  How far should I strive for accuracy?

The first step in my Ration-book diet experiment was to assess what I have on hand and shop for the rest. Since I’m the only one trying to follow the ration program, and there are two of us in the house, I had to come up with a way to prevent cross contamination of Pete and Miranda food stuffs.

I filled one of my little glass refrigerator boxes with a half stick of butter (4oz), 50z of extra sharp cheddar (I get 3oz more because I don’t eat meat),  and 2 eggs (vegetarians get an extra egg per week).  I purchased 1 quart of milk (2 pints) and a pint of cottage cheese, to make up my milk ration.  I justify the cottage cheese as this could have been made at home (which I would have attempted, but I was lazy and decided to let the dairy do it for me) and because cottage cheese was a popular meat substitute.  I measured out 2oz of olive oil and one cup of sugar for my weekly allotment.

Also purchased was a 10oz jar of Dickinson’s Organic Blackberry Preserves.  Jam rations ran between 80z and 160z, per month, throughout the war, so I believe 10oz is a reasonable compromise.  Other creature comforts include my loose leaf Earl Grey (2oz per week), which I sweeten with a bit of honey as honey was not rationed during the war like sugar was.

Supplemental items purchased include several zero point foods, one pound of split peas, oatmeal, a bunch of carrots, a bunch of celery, 3 pounds of potatoes, and 2 onions. 

Point items purchased include, 2 pounds of Red Kidney Beans and a 24 oz box of Grape Nuts (if anyone knows the appropriate vintage sizes of grape nuts packaging, please let me know).  I am allotted 16 points for “imported food” purchases per month.  I have decided (although some of you may perceive this as cheating) that I will base my 16 points periods on the calendar month…that is, my points will reset on the first Sunday of the Month.   My points will reset sooner this month, the first Sunday, being two weeks away, this will make it easier, so it is justified .

My points totals so far this month:

• Red Kidney Beans***2 points per pound****2 pounds: 4 points
• 24 oz Grape Nuts ***7 points per box****** 1 box:  7 points

Total spent: 11 points*******Total remaining: 5 points