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Independence Days: A Guide to Sustainable Food Storage & Preservation
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5 Responses to Independence Days: A Guide to Sustainable Food Storage & Preservation
Independence Days is a book about food security. Like Sharon Astyk’s two previous books (Depletion and Abundance; A Nation of Farmers), this one focuses on the need to assume personal responsibility for food self-sufficiency and for shortening the supply chain from farm/garden to table. Unlike Asktyk’s previous books, this one is also a how-to, as well as a why-we-should, complete with helpful instructions for creating and managing a food storage pantry, preserving fresh foods, and cultivating a frugal and self-reliant life style.
Astyk’s arguments for the importance of personal food security (“one of the central issues of our time”) are compelling. A looming energy crisis, soil and water depletion, and the threat of global warming–these are all reasons to be concerned about the reliability of our food supply and the need to take personal control, as far as possible, over the food we put on our family’s table. “Independence days” (a concept Astyk borrows from Carla Emery) are days when we’re eating food we grow ourselves or obtain locally. For Astyk, true independence is freedom from the industrial food system that feeds most Americans.
Hence this book, which recommends various methods for food preservation (canning, pickling, dehydrating, fermenting); for purchasing, stocking, and storing food in pantry, root cellar, and freezer; for acquiring tools and equipment, in addition to adequate supplies of water, medicine, and other necessities; and for creating and using community resources. All of this advice is sound, helpful, and inspiring. It is also very credible, for Astyk practices what she preaches, and it’s good to know that she has tried the methods that she advocates. The various sections are also illustrated with recipes, more or less effectively. Some of the recipes contain non-local foods–coconut milk, quinoa, salmon–which I found distracting in a book about shortening the supply chain, and not all of them illustrate the principle she’d like to teach: baked apples and cranberries are good comfort food but the recipe doesn’t fit very comfortably in a section on medicines. Recipes/formulas for home-grown herbal remedies would have been a better choice.
But these are minor quibbles. I like Sharon Astyk because she always tells me why I should do something, before she tells me how, and this book continues that practice. “This isn’t just about the rice or the garden or the canning jars,” she says. “This is a small but important step in making a better way of life.” Yes, truly. I learned from Independence Days, and it strengthened my desire to be as independent as possible. If you’re concerned about food security, this is a good book to read and use. If you’re not, read it anyway. You’ll learn why the American food supply should be at the top of your list of things to think about.
by Susan Wittig Albert
for Story Circle Book Reviews
reviewing books by, for, and about women
Rating: 5 / 5
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My initial reaction on seeing this book was:
I like the book cover a lot and how the title is uniquely written in message form on a nicely decorated fruit post-it note pasted onto a jar of preserved vegetables. That alone gave me the incentive to want to quickly flick through the pages for its contents.
Independence Days reminds me of the 4th July, that of the declaration of a certain lifestyle that also includes a variety of practical guidance on ways to effectively use local suppliers as our main source of getting our food and vegetables as opposed to worldwide suppliers.
A practical reference guide which chronically lists ideas of how to preserve and replenish our food stock, all year round, as a modern day Mrs Beeton would do and who had all the answers to preserving food when fridges didn’t exist.
The first chapter begins with mentioning rhubard, one of my favourite desserts, so that got me looking further down the page for more tips and advice on food preservation and in turn how to be self sufficient, no matter our background and lifestyle – for even farmers could benefit from reading this and hence the title.
To follow on from the idea of Independence Days, challenges are set daily and/or weekly as for instance Point 4 (under heading `Challenges’), mentions ideas to `Minimise Waste’; an explanation is then given and further along, Point 7 discusses how to `Manage your reserves’.
Chapter 3 links our thoughts back to the book title of independent thinking, of common protests against food storage and preservation and on `Getting Your Household Onboard’. This self sufficient thought process is reinforced by arguments against the cost of clearing space for this surplus stock of food/vegetables and essentially the reasons for contemplating such ideas which turn out to be cost-saving in the long run.
Clearm, concise suggestions to the protests going through our minds ensue and they are rational and practical:
Food storage/preservation helps us to:
1. Clear space for a healthier lifestyle
2. Become less dependent on large corporations for our daily food sustenance
3. Implement A Five Dollar Plan – a very useful economic guideline
4. Plan ahead on understanding the beneficial mechanics of food storage and other related ideas on how to
economise with buying in bulk and ways to store this surplus, to create a full food cupboard, accessible all the time
As an extra bonus, simple, easily prepared recipes such as that of homemade cream of mushroom soup base and other really useful and cheap recipes offer practical solutions to consuming the food we have at home. It even explains how to cook when we have a power failure!
Further to this are guidelines on how to store our medicines effectively, on health care and special diets with reference to other resources in preserving, storing and buying in bulk.
It is a book to delve into regulary for ideas on ways to use the space we have to better use that will mean we save time and money by economising through bulk buying and by having a continual supply of food that can be replenished without any food wastage. Each chapter is neatly organised so that you can see at a glance, the ideas on how to and what to do with preserved and/or stored food.
Rating: 5 / 5
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Great book on being prepared for any emergency that may arise – without hitting the panic button. Easy and fun to read with great advice on getting started with food security for yourself and hopefully expanding to your neighbors and beyond. She is pragmatic about the learning curve, with a good sense of humor. I would recommend this to friends.
Rating: 5 / 5
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I follow her blogs, have read her two previous books, and completely enjoyed this one. Lots of information I can use now, next year and in the future. She’s hopeful as well as helpful, and I can’t recommend this book enough.
Rating: 5 / 5
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I bought this book based on these same reviews, and oh my goodness am I glad I did it. This book is a valuable resource. It is an excellent starting point for all things self-preparedness, but it is more than that. I would go so far as to say that anyone who gives a darn about someone in this world should read it. Sharon doesn’t just tell you how to make pickles (or kimchi). She teaches you about the kind of person we all should strive to be. How to take care of your own, but also to be kind and generous and think about MORE than just who’s in your corner. I also very much appreciate the why’s tossed in with the how-to’s. It is so much easier to wade through the oodles of products, websites, and cookbooks out there when someone with a sense of humor tells you how they approach it. It always helps to learn from someone else’s mistakes if possible. I am so very glad she took the time to write this book.
Rating: 5 / 5
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