The Shortage, Are You Preparing?

https://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/CurrentMap/StateDroughtMonitor.aspx

32% of the country is not in a drought right now, last year this time it was 46.5%

Percentages sometimes are misleading in that for instance if your county had 1 case of C-19 last week but this week you have 2 then you cases doubled(but what if 50,000 people live in your county)? If you look close at the map again and look up where the breadbasket of the US is and then the states that are the corn belt,wheat belt ect. those are the places of concern because they are where the vast majority of foods are grown ,(their in a drought or so wet they cant get their tractors in the fields) .

Anyway though I suppose as long as it's raining in your neck of the woods it's easy to say things like "wow look a lake Mead,pray for them ect."(I admit I did just that a few years ago) and as long as it's somebody else on TV as soon as the news is over we just go on about life(not blaming anyone I admit I've had to look deep at mine own self over this). After all though sitting in the AC,in the easy chair it's really easy to just get the TV selector and change the channel when they show things that make us cringe.

It's in our day an difficult thing to watch the news and know whether to believe them or not because a whole lot of times they sort of stretch the truth(I understand that they cry wolf all the time). Another thing I wonder is do they under report things as often as they over report them. This is what I see happening in Texas right now in case your not being shown it in other states. This has been going on since about 2011 or 2014 but it's hard to say when it began because most of us thought it was just a bad year and it would be back to normal next year.

httfps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MYKtsgG5S8w

I'm just as curious what it's like where you live and if were being shown here where I live whats happening where you live. There really is a drought in Texas one that's getting worse every year.

Northwest Arkansas and Southern Missouri is cattle country.
We began feeding hay in July when normally this is not necessary until November.
The grass is gone. Second crop of hay gone. Cattle are not gaining normal weight and are being sold off for as little as $500 a head. Loan payments will not be paid.
Had rain the last few days but is to late for many farmers.

I appreciate your response because it confirms the drought monitor maps accuracy. Where your speaking of is where the four states meet(corners of Arkansas,Oklahoma,Kansas and Missouri) and on the map are at D3/ extreme drought in 2022. I would imagine it's time to look real close at thing's like nitrates,prussic ect. in the fields...

People need to understand this is not a short time problem. These conditions have a negative effects for years and sometimes for decades.
People have become so accustomed to running the local store for what the want, many will have a hard time adjusting.
And of course, some will blame the farmers, government, and retailer when it is their own buying habits, not planing ahead, that means they go without.

The good news is that where I live the crops are growing fine, no drought. So even though this is very scary for big cities like NYC and LA and DC for those living in rural regions they will not be hit nearly as hard. If you don't grow enough food the first thing to go will be trucking the crops out of state. It is like lakes and streams that dry up, those people at the end of the stream by the ocean suffer the most. 65% of the country lives by the coastline (I think within 5 miles of the coast). So even if food production is down 50% it will probably only cause horrific famine in the big cities on the coast.

But as long as the governments are strong, law and order focused leaders, they might still be able to maintain some semblance of civilization.

Yeah I do blame our gov't 100% They get in and start with the restrictions, which made it not worth the money to run trucks. Then when we were energy independent, they stop building the pipeline and gas spikes. Then they dole out cash as a "relief" which gives us inflation. And if they can swing it, they will lock down the economy in the fall again. And gas prices will go back up again. I dang well do blame the gov't and I hope this old goat gets metaphorically hung in the Nov. elections.

But just wait until that buyer from the city comes and buys all that local produce at an inflated price.
All are affected. The only ones that will have plenty are those who have already stored it,

Make America Gag Again, Biden/Harris 2024.

Put up those signs and you will see everyone motivated by the fear of God to throw out the Democrats. The only hope the Democrats have is if Biden/Harris do not run again.

Got to truck it, the trucks are about to stop running due to a supply chain crisis, the impact of the vaccine on men's health, and spiking fuel costs.

Also the people in the cities are broke. Maybe the richest 5% aren't, but the poorest 50% of the US lives in these cities. You can't look at their income, you have to look at their standard of living. The richest 5% living in the cities have houses in the country and they are fleeing due to the crime.

Also you will see crime explode so that it will be suicide for a truck load of food to drive into the city. Forget selling dope, the gangs will seize these trucks and sell the food.

While government policies do have an effect, people need to accept some responsibility.
People have come to rely on a man made system that was subject to fail anytime crop failures happened.
If a person expects to just run down to Walmart and get what they want daily, they should never be surprised when that day ends.

lol, yep after reading the responses after your post my mind went,,,,,,ok just who can I blame this drought shortage stuff here in Texas on ? Then it hit me that Ann Richards was the last Democrat in charge here in Texas and then there was Bush jr. and then Rick Perry then finally Abbott and so from 1995 till 2022(27 years) the Republicans are who has been running Texas. Then my brute animal instinct kicked in and I refused to blame them and decided to say it was the Democrats fault anyway.

Now the threads getting to the just of it we should have been trading our yeast recipes and how we set up our smoke houses since the first page.

sourdough bread is made from the yeast in the air that is allowed to work in a batch of flour, we can make our own starter.
I am seeing reports of a bumper crop of wheat in the U.S., crops here in the midwest look good though we do indeed need rain.
He promises to provide for His own, we must live that we ARE His own.

yep you could make yeast from a lot of things. Whole grain wheat to me is the best because it has all of the natural strains of yeast on it(30 or so) where the packaged dry yeast only has 1 strain. Yeast is not only good for baking but it's also good fungi to spray in between the layers when flipping a compost pile(along with compost tea) that way the pile has both as a starter.

I've heard the settling from the wine barrel and good for drains and compost piles as well.

Raising a garden is just not an option for all. Good soil, water, know how.
Wife and I have gotten to old to work a garden like we did in the past.
But there is a lot of non perishable food that can be stored for years that is still plentiful and affordable. May soon end.
Just understand that meat and fresh fruit and vegetables, and bread will not be there, but one can survive on dry beans, rice, pasta, can fruit and vegetables.
Remember to rotate and use the oldest first.
And don't forget bottled water and TP.

Yep yeast is yeast but each has a different flavor. The water after you boil potatoes would work,even raisins unless they put preservatives on them(kills the yeast). Just plain corn has some handy uses(not bread so much) but you can put it in a barrel and add water and wait a few weeks till it ferments and go down by the creek with your post whole diggers and dig down as far as you can(about 3 feet and when you spread the handles they hit the side of the hole so you cant go deeper) and fill it with the fermented corn. If you filter the liquid from the corn into a spay bottle and spray it on the bushes a couple of hundred feet in a circle around where you put the corn the wind will carry it all through the woods. Then just wait when the hogs find it they'll eat the corn and after a few days it will look like a bomb crater or something. Ive had hogs dig out a hip hole and start sleeping by a baited hole it's like they think "I know I stuck my nose in there and ate some corn" and so as long as they can smell it they just keep digging and looking for it.

Water though is the hard part because everything stops without water. Most every time you read or hear about what to do to get water they start off with "you will die in three days without water" and then try to sell you something or tell you about things they bought. The whole truth of it is you'll die in three days without water,(comma),,,then after the next three,(comma),,,and then well 365.25 days divided by 3 is 121.75 so anyone trying to live through that first year needs to figure out how to get water for 121.75 consecutive sets of three days. It's sort of like the hole filled with corn but with water, you dig the hole find the water and the people will dig hip holes around it and sleep there. Springs come to mind if not water filtered through sand,charcoal and boiled ect.