I'm trying to decide what I'm going to do today. I've got to go into town with Hubby and pick up our van. We are getting an oil leak fixed. I thought that on the way home I'd drop by the store and pick up some tomatoes and lettuce. I'm going to fix a taco salad for supper this evening. I think I have everything I need except for those two things; plus, I've been craving salad bigtime. Now let's think about that for a minute. Just suppose you didn't have a convenient grocery store and were craving a salad - in the middle of Winter, no less. What would you do? What would I do? Well, let's see.
I do have 1 onion, a little bit of kale, swiss chard and leaf lettuce in the hotbed but honestly, not enough for a salad for two. I also have fresh carrots in the refrigerator, some canned whole tomatoes and some freezer pickles. The canned tomatoes and pickles could sort of drain out and I could chop them up. That might work. I suppose I might be able to scrounge around for some chickweed outdoors but even that's iffy through this cold spell. The "greens" part of this salad isn't looking too good. Hmmmm, I guess I might have to do without. I like to stop sometimes and think about these type things. I think it's important. It helps you to prepare for unexpected food shortages. You really ought to also add to the scenario the possibility of no refrigeration or freezing capabilities, if you really want to completely blow your mind. All this allows you to understand why, in the old days, during the springtime people did a lot of foraging for fresh wild greens. Just think of how their bodies must have been craving the beneficial vitamins and minerals that only fresh greens contain.
What could we do to help supplement our diets and perhaps create fresh salads? One thing I did think about was trying harder this coming year to find a way to store onions. I'm terrible at that. I still have potatoes but I just can't seem to store onions well. Also, there's the old method of pulling your tomato plants up by the root at the end of the year and hanging them upside down in a cool, dark area thereby allowing the tomatoes to finish ripening. I've tried that and it does work. I've had tomatoes almost to Christmastime but that's about as long as I could keep them. I've stored cabbage in the frig drawer for quite awhile too plus I make kraut. Years ago, and some still do, people would dig a deep trough in their garden, line it with straw and bury their cabbage and carrots. Gosh, though, I really still want lettuce and spinach. I think our hotbox would be my saving grace, which means I have to find a way to make the hotbox warmer through the coldest weather. Perhaps straw bales around the outside would help hold in warmth. Geez, the grocery store is looking better all the time, huh?