grrlTravels

coping looks a lot like cooking, as long as there is food

The economy is nagging at me. Nagging. Well terrifying me, anyway. Nagging, terrifying, whatever. I was against the bailout until I spoke with several people I trust who said they were against the bailout too except for the fact that it seemed like the only thing to do, given the circumstances. And AIG. AIG. AIG and the $440,000 jaunt after the $85 billion bailout loan. Uh huh. Now I realize that $440,000 is only .000005% of $85B (if my algebra skillz have held up) but isn't it the principle of the thing? And don't get me started on that smug guy from Lehman Bros. who is worth $480,000,000. (That is very, very, very close to half a BILLION dollars. Which is a lot, lot, lot of money.) If you get me started on him I may never stop. The economy shreds my brain like a brain eating amoeba.

So. The economy is tanking, the people running our financial powerhouses are greedy, lying pigs, not one of whom was willing to wave a tiny white flag, and the checks and balances which are supposed to be in place are not balancing nor checking so far as that goes. So I said to K., "What will do if there is no food? We have the smallest of yards and no room to plant anything which might sustain the children."
K.: It isn't going to get that bad.
[K. does not yet realize that in my head we are already gleaning the fields. Soon he will know.]
Me: What if it does? I need to know what we are going to eat.
K.: It won't get that bad. Things are not going to get that bad.
[Here comes the gleaning, in a sense.]
Me: [imagine a long, long diatribe about the Great Depression, Lehman Brothers, moldy bread, AIG, mulch is inedible, ditto stones, AIG, babies with distended stomachs, AIG, the complete collapse of the trucking and airline industries, stinkin' Congress and the stinkin' bailout, and worms] What. Are. We. Going. To. Feed. Our. Children.
K.: We will live on clams and fish from the sea.
That K., he is a problem solver. I don't know how the kids would do with clams* and fish, but at least it is something. Seaweed too, I think. It is bursting with all kinds of life-enhancing vitamins and minerals. I mean, K. and my abilities as they relate to fishing are pretty close to pathetic, but I am able to lasso some crabs when the occasion arises. So crabs and seaweed anyway.

So what does one do when one is sitting at home stewing about the economy, studiously avoiding CNN.com and the like while imagining what the Great Depression was actually like, trying like mad to keep the fear from the children and planning to take up fishing in the very near future? It turns out one makes soup. A lot. Of soup.

It started out with 2 batches of Late Summer Vegetable soup which began as an effort to pretend that summer was not ending. Then followed Lentil with Swiss Chard (tastes healthy, if you know what I mean), more Late Summ Veg, Chicken Gumbo (I am officially not a gumbo girl despite my love of okra), and Split Pea (not a Martha recipe! but from another favorite, Ina Garten). My freezer is full of frozen soup. I am planning what to make next: Chicken tortilla? Black bean? Lima bean? Whatever it is it must be cheap. And quick. I must spend my time figuring out how and where to grow the corn. I've decided wheat is beyond me, but corn, corn I think I can do.

*You know of my intense love for clams. I will eat them if I have to, though. Yes, I will.

[The blog. Sigh. The blog went down, then it was up, then it was down, then up and down at the same time. I was instructed not to post. I did not post. I hope we are good now. Fingers crossed.]

Posted by grrlTravels at October 13, 2008 7:25 PM