The Austerity Diaries: Making Hay While the Sun ShinesDaisy Luther Thats because we are working hard to live a more agrarian lifestyle. And to do that, you have to make hay while the sun shines. That little proverb was first recorded in 1546, in John Heywoods A dialogue conteinyng the nomber in effect of all the prouerbes in the Englishe tongue (This is the updated version) Heywood wrote: Back when Heywood wrote down that little pearl of wisdom, every Medieval farmer knew that if the hay was ready, it was time to cut it down, dry it, and gather it in order to feed their livestock throughout the winter. Not to do so was certain death, for without the livestock, they would potentially starve. (source) Of course, with the advent of progress we now live in a society in which nothing is really that urgent to most folks. All of these things are more recent developments, of course. In days gone by Meeting needs on demand is great, but is it really progress? It means that everyone enjoys the same access to food whether they work hard or are lazy and unmotivated. Add in the EBT system, and some people dont even have to earn money to buy the food. It means that heat is as simple as turning a dial, and its against the law in many places to turn off the heat even when you havent paid your bill. While Im not advocating that people go hungry or cold, and I realize that there are circumstances in which all of us need a hand up now and then, the end result is that we have created a society with a poor work ethic because there is no sense of urgency aboutanything. In my family, we are returning, by choice, to an old-fashioned lifestyle. Not only is is satisfying and healthy, its also friendly to the budget. My garden is not the best this year, so Im reaping the rewards of other peoples gardens. Every week, Im loading up on at least one thing and Im preserving it for the months ahead. Im trying to use every single bit of the food Im acquiring. We arent much above our normal grocery budget of $100 a week, andmy cupboards have never been this full going into the cooler months. Part of the reason for this is that the farmers know about that whole making hay theory mentioned above. They know the produce is only at its peak for a short period of time, so it is sold inexpensively when it is at its most abundant. For the consumer, its like any other type of investment you want to buy when the commodity is at the lower end of the price spectrum. Later, when everyone else is paying $3.99 a pound for peaches, well be eating our $1 a pound peaches. Thats a savings of $3 per pound. If you were to apply that across the board, imagine the savings youll realize while still consuming high quality, local, sustainably grown food. If each family member ate the equivalent of a pound of produce per day (a low estimate) and the savings was an average of $3 per pound, that is $21 PER PERSON that you would save each week on the price of your grocery bill throughout the year. Multiply that by your number of family members and you will see how much your budget could potentially drop. Many peoplehave become slaves to the rather absurd food system that provides us with fresh blueberries and asparagus at Christmas. Unfortunately for our grocery bills, that means we are also slaves to the high prices charged for luxury produce outside of its normal season. August is a busy month, because all sorts of goodies are ripe. At the end of July and the first week of August, my daughter and I were out early every morning, busily picking blueberries at a U-pick place just a half mile down the road from us before the blazing sun made it too hot outside. But the work wasnt over with the picking. Once we got home, they had to be washed, picked through, and processed. Of course, our version of processed food is not like Big Foods version. We pureed, strained, dried, and canned. We made jam, syrup, and dried berries. All in all, we went through 55 pounds of blueberries, and yummy blueberry pancakes and muffins will be ours this winter, at the low price of $1 a pound. At the tail-end of blueberry season was peach season. We have processed 100 pounds of peaches, also at $1 a pound. (Here are 10 Awesome Ways to Preservethe WHOLE Peach.) We have canned peach slices, peach jam, Peach pancake syrup, and spicy peach jam. Weve made peach peel candy (which is delicious chopped up in a bowl of oatmeal, by the way), peach tea, and currently in a cool dark place lurks peach infused vodka and whiskey, just waiting to be turned into liqueurs and decanted into pretty bottles for Christmas. The peaches have tapered off, and we have begun working with pears. We canned pears in a mulling spice mix and pears in Merlot wine. We boiled down the cores to make pear cider. We used the peels to make pear honey. Were awaiting more pears for pear sauce. Hopefully, well also manage to get our hands on some plums because I want to try my hand at some homemade plum sauce. As fruit begins to wane, we are also working on preserving vegetables. Ive pressure canned green beans and corn. Ive dehydrated grated carrots and zucchini. I made dill relish from zucchini (dont tell my kids, who think they hate zucchini!). Ive also canned shredded zucchini for use in future muffins. And tomatoesglorious tomatoes. My favorite thing on the planet to add to my cupboards is my homemade tomato goodies. The lovely red orbs are just starting to come in, and Im mixing the ones from my garden with heirloom varieties purchased from friends nearby. Our pantry shelves will include: tomato sauce with onions and garlic (no herbs this is just for soup bases, etc), tomato juice, marinara sauce, pizza sauce, ketchup, tomato and basil soup, enchilada sauce, salsa, and dehydrated tomatoes preserved in oil. Not one tomato product throughout the year will need to be bought with this wonderful harvest I am putting away. Soon, apple season will arrive and well be busy making applesauce, pie filling, and apple butter. After that, pumpkins will be cubed and put in jars. Well be filling our freezer with meat, and some of it will go into jars in the form of chili, soup, and stew. The season is short. The thing is, this season is finite. In another two months, it will be slim pickings in the garden. I wont be able to go to a nearby farm and pick up things inexpensively in bushels. I may not be able to find some foods at all if I stick to my goal of purchasing outside of the traditional grocery store. Furthermore, we can only eat so much of this fresh produce before it goes bad. There is a limited time during which it can be preserved for later. Theres no point in purchasing items by the bushel if youre going to let half a bushel go to waste. This means that if Im not feeling well, if something comes up, or if Im just not in the mood to can, I still have to can. We dont live in a society where people push themselves to complete tasks anymore. It isnt that they cant complete a task in an allotted period of time they have just gotten used to someone else completing those time-sensitive things, and they go on their merry ways and plan to get things as needed at the grocery store. They dont intend to heat with firewood, so they dont have a huge pile of it in their driveway, requiring immediate stacking and covering to keep it dry and ready to warm their homes. It was actually heating exclusively with wood that made me so incredibly aware of the seasons and the jobs that are necessary during each of them. It was a matter of stack wood now or freeze to death later. Fortunately, not everyone relies on the just in time system. Those of us who live by the seasons are aware that there is a time for work and a time for rest. We are fortunate to have back-up if our seals fail or our garden is unsuccessful, but we know those things may not always be around. We know that we have to make hay while the sun is shining, because tomorrow it may rain. Ill finish with some more ancient words of wisdom. What profit hath he that worketh in that wherein he laboureth?I have seen the travail, which God hath given to the sons of men to be exercised in it. Resources Daisy Luther is a freelance writer and editor. 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