If you’ve been around here for awhile, you know that I am not at all alarmist.  I don’t work on fearmongering.  I usually just present ways for all of us to prepare more, to live better, do more with less, or to teach you more skills.  But something is going on that I want to help bring awareness to and then I want to jump into what my family is doing now to help at least mitigate what could be a more difficult situation caused by a Diesel Shortage.

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Diesel Shortage

So I subscribe to the Epoch Times.  It’s a conservative news source that I trust.  And in the last week, in the Epoch times, Yahoo news, US Military News, and even prepper sources like The Organic Prepper, are all reporting that the US currently has 25 days of Diesel, and this right before Christmas.

What the Diesel Shortage Means

Most of us understand that our trucking system – which includes our just in time grocery system, the system that delivers supplies to stores like Wal-mart, the trucks which bring our Amazon packages – all run on – exactly – diesel.

So the prices that are already going up fast?  There is a chance that they could go up faster, or just like during Covid, there could be shortages in time for Christmas.  I’m not going to get into the weeds of how we got here, what caused this, what are the full ramifications of all of it.  The Organic Prepper has a great article on all of that.

What We’re Doing About the Diesel Shortage

So my husband and I have started discussing what we are going to do.  I’m going to delineate our plans and make suggestions for others who may not be in our situation.

We’re filling up our propane tank 

When I get home today, I will be calling our propane company and I will be filling up our propane tank next week.   Earlier this year, we called our propane company and got our tank upgraded from a 500 gallon tank to a 1,000 gallon tank.  Our Propane company says that it’s dangerous to fill the tank more than 80%.  So we’re going to do our best to keep it as full as possible – even if we need to call out there every month or two.

We’re inventorying our items

When we purchased our mini farm last year, we moved a lot of buckets.  We’ve used some of our items between then and now.  We’re going through them, making a list of exactly what we have.  And we’re going to list the dates that we packaged them.   Some items may need to be used sooner rather than later because we started putting some into buckets more than fifteen years ago.

We’re going to fill any holes in our preps

We’re not going to buy items willy nilly.  What we are going to do:  set a budget, create a targeted plan, start buying local as much as possible, and look for opportunities to barter.  Let’s discuss each of those items.

Set a Budget

We are not going to debt spend, so we need to set an amount of money that we can afford and that won’t put us in danger.  I am, admittedly, not always good at sticking to a budget, but this isn’t the time to spend money that we don’t have or money that will put us into jeopardy.

Create a Targeted List 

So what does that mean?  We’re looking for the ways that we can get the biggest bang for our buck.  You might be wondering what kinds of items are we looking at.  So let’s talk about them.

Wheat berries –  We have a grain grinder, so we can grind the berries down to make them into flour and eventually bread.  Bread might not be the most nutritious of items to eat long-term.  I get that, but it will feed our families.  I go into depth with what you can make with wheat berries in  my book A Year Without the Grocery Store.

Oats – These are a very economical source of calories.  Oats can be made into so much!  You can make homemade oatmeal packets or granola or in oatmeal raisin cookies, or even baked oatmeal!

Popcorn – You may be asking why popcorn.  Again, we can grind this and make it into grits or corn meal which we can make into corn bread as well.   And popcorn is still fairly economical.  The best price that I could find on popcorn is at Gordon’s Food Service.

Dried beans – Beans pack a double whollop.  They are a good source of both carbs and protein.  And on top of that there are so many recipes that beans can be used in.   There are also a ton of options – Black beans, pinto beans,  navy beans, and even split green peas.

Rice – While rice is still one of the more economical, but it – like everything else is getting more expensive.  But there are so many ways that you can use rice.  If you plan on storing rice long-term, you should be looking for white rice.  Brown rice does not store well long-term.

Salt – If you can only choose one spice, it should be salt, though I don’t suggest that you do only store one spice.  I prefer to use pink himalayan salt because also packs a great mineral profile.

Pasta – There is so much that you can do with pasta beyond spaghetti and lasagna.  Even after I’m done writing this, I’m planning on going to Gordon’s Food Service to pick up macaroni, spaghetti, rotini, and lasagna noodles.

Fats – This is one area that I feel that we are woefully low in.  We need to have more fats stored.  The problem is that fats do not generally store long-term.

Start Buying Local

We are looking into local products.  Have you seen the price of eggs lately?  Fortunately for us, we have a farm just two doors down from us that is selling eggs.  We are starting to buy eggs from the farmer.

Milk?  We have been drinking almond milk because it also has a great calcium profile, but just like regular milk, it’s been going up in price, so we’re going to begin getting our milk locally from a farmer.  They will have milk weekly even if the stores do not.

Do you know a local beekeeper?  Can you barter for honey?

Barter

We have a local that will barter or trade food for fish.  We’re hoping to barter freeze dryer services to a local beef farmer.   We’ve had another who bartered services of splitting wood for splitting the wood for us.  We are now actively looking out for people with whom to barter.

We’re producing all we can

I just have to brag on my oldest daughter here for a moment.  She has been a work machine.  Our garden from start to finish has been managed by her.  All of us have helped out in different ways from weeding to harvesting or putting up our watering system, to planting, to preserving but Jordan is the one who has managed it all.

She has canned 72 quarts of pickles, 38 quarts of apple pie filling, 8 pints of apple butter, countless quarts of apple sauce.  We’ve put up gallons upon gallons of tomato sauce which we freeze dried.  We also made crockpot after crockpot of butternut squash soup and freeze dried that for quick meals this fall and winter.  Pair that with a great homemade bread and voila!  You’e got a delicious and nutritious meal.  We’ve made our own chili powder, and we’re getting ready to make our our own onion powder.   It’s crazy just how much she’s done to help us get ahead and to help us get ready for the next year.

What the Diesel Shortage Means for Plans We’re Making

We’re already talking about what we can do next year so that we don’t need to be as dependant on others or on the system.

Animals

It is likely that we will be adding two kinds of chickens next year.   We’re considering both  laying chickens and broilers.  Other animals that I’ve thought about adding, but no decision has been made yet are goats (though I’d prefer cows, but I’m NOT ready for cows yet) and rabbits.

But as we consider adding animals, I don’t want to overwhelm ourselves.  I can’t see us adding more than just chickens next year, but who knows.  Perhaps by then things will be difficult and I will be willing to take on the extra responsibility.

Orchard

So right now we have a small-ish orchard.  The only trees that we have that are currently producing are apple trees and many of them didn’t produce this year.  So we’re watching them to see what we can do to increase our harvest.

Next year, we plan a very big addition to it.  We’ve already placed an order with a local nursery for 2 peach trees, 2 plum trees, 2 pear, 4 almond  (almond milk and almond flour anyone?), and 2 pecan trees.  We’ve also ordered 3 blackberry, 3 black raspberry and 2 blueberry bushes.  We would love to be able to be almost completely self-sufficient when it comes to our fruit.

Garden

One of the things that I suggest people do each year after they’ve put their garden ‘to bed’ is to ask themselves went well, what didn’t go well, what did they have too much of, and what didn’t they have enough of from this year’s garden when they begin to plan for next year’s garden.

Believe it or not, I’m already planning next year’s garden.  I’ve gone through and decided what I want to plant.  This coming year we are only using heirloom seeds.  I’ve already gone through my seeds and weeded out anything NOT heirloom because I want to be able to save seeds from each of my plants this coming year.

We are majoring on things that will feed us long-term.  We’re going to grow a bunch of tomatoes again, but we’re going to adjust our garden to better contain them.  We’re going to major on beans, corn, and squash.  We’ll also make sure we do a few cucumbers, some peas, and a ton of different herbs.  But we’re planning now and I’ve already purchased our seeds so that I know that I’ll have them when I need them next year.  There will be no guessing as to will I get what I’m wanting to grow.

What About You?

What steps are you planning to take care of potential ramifications of the possible diesel shortage?  Please share your thoughts and ideas with us so that we can all be better prepared.  And remember when you are taking steps to prepare your family,

You’ve Got This Mama!

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