OUR SHEPHARDS OF THE SHUCKS

FOOD STEWARDSHIP & AGRICULTURE SECURITY

Food Security

& Ways to Keep Your Soil & Yourself rich in Nutrients.

With the quality of global water declining at an alarming rate, both water and agricultural/ food security is at risk. With a rise in severely polluted waterways resulting from 80% of wastewater being discharged into the environment without adequate treatment.

This incompetence puts millions of people's health at risk and forces millions to migrate to locations where there is security in basic resources. We often see the rise of misinformation projected by fearful minds who question the security of their nation's resources as a result they see masses immigrating towards the very nations even the vilest of people recognise as being a land of plenty.

In places where drought is prominent, those contributing to further water waste need to shift from a system of supply and demand and switch to fill orders based on the demand for their services and products. If their products are not in demand the resources (ie; energy, water, raw materials, etc.) can be allocated into roles where they are in demand, with this the production of waste that has led to further contamination of the environment can be reduced as well. With food quality affected by water quality, it is important to manage its quality throughout the entire supply chain.

Globally, over 8.2 million people die from hunger and over 1.35 million from dehydration every year, despite clean water and nutritious food being basic human rights. Contaminated food hampers socioeconomic development, overloads healthcare systems, and compromises economic growth and trade.

Prevention is better than a cure, and water quality and food safety risks are best addressed simultaneously at their source. Starting at the land that we farm for our food, making efforts towards managing water quality in the context of food safety will reduce exposure to harmful pathogens in water and within the food supply. Rather than creating equal opportunities for all people to survive, those who are compliant earn barely basic rights, whereas those taking to question both the sustainability and longevity of the presented ‘solutions’ are deemed to be agitators or guerillas. Cast as ungrateful when recognizing the death sentences placed on others in developing countries to maintain such simple luxuries we no longer cherish, bringing us to question society’s lack of respect and consideration towards the lives and rights of others.

The Trinity of Life

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Soil Health

Soil is the skin of the Earth, just like our own skin when not cared for it can lead to illnesses that cause death. Ensuring the health of one's soil ensures the health of one's crops. Just as we respect a plant's need for water and light, ensuring the preservation of nutrients such as nitrogen will work alongside you rather than against you.

Access to Sunlight

Sunlight and access to light is vital for the success of a plant. Plants will not generally produce if the light is not consistent. In this section we will discuss and provide resources and solutions to navigate ensuring your plants are not stripped of food for themselves or scorched by being engulfed in its flames.

Water

We will frequently discuss the importance of water throughout this website. Without water on Earth, there is no life. All foliage needs some level of water to grow, and similarly to plants, without consumption of potable water - you will not survive. Ensuring access to water is vital for survival.

Know the Land

To ensure your time and efforts made are not against all odds, when searching for a space to cultivate and call home tests will need to be conducted regarding the soil and environment.

First you must be a wanderer, travel with the tools listed below and any gear you may deem important for your camp and in preserving the memories from your past that help keep your spirits high.

The following tests will need to be done to help identify if the space you've come across is capable of being a new utopia rather than an extension of the damned land of our new dystopia;

• Classification of soils (see Table 1)

• Liquid Limit & Plastic Limit - Which tells you the plasticity index and linear shrinkage to classify fine-grained soils (clays and silts) and other geotechnical correlations

• Particle Size Analysis - (By sieve analysis for coarse-grained fraction of soils, by hydrometer test for fine-grained fraction of soils)

• Slump Test - To show the overall health of the soil, how it reacts to being submerged in water.

• Slaking & Dispersion – Using Emerson class numbers: Slaking and Dispersion is a structural stability indicator and is important from the perspective of embankment stability and erosion.

• Water Retention Test – Monitoring the speed to which water is absorbed into the soil, ensuring it is an ideal type to be used for gardens, or if additional measures will be needed to better the quality of the soil.

TOOLS FOR DIY SOIL TESTING:

Water, ideally non-potable (as you should preserve this while you can)
A utility knife
1000ml (1L) Containers that are clear and reusable
A spray bottle
A bowl, ideally with a lip/ spout for pouring
Clear cups with wide mouth openings, or jars with wide mouths and lids
Sieves - either found, created or stolen
A Sundial
Sodium Hexametaphosphate - found in makeup, laundry detergent, canned milk, powdered egg whites, etc.) All items that no one will truly need for their original intention within dystopia.
Sink strainers, formable tight gauge metal mesh, cheesecloth or similar materials
Rags - anything can become a rag if you try hard enough
Canned foods, keep one can on hand and remove the top and bottom to create a tool
A book or something to document within, writing devices - when in doubt, burn wood and wait for it to cool and use it as charcoal. Alternatively found objects that can be used similarly to a quill, and ink can be created with from ash - saliva / blood (whichever you have more of)

Soil Rehabilitation

In December of 2020 what was the United Nations's Food & Agriculture Organisation published a document regarding the importance of soil and it's vital role in food security. This paper had contributions of over 300 scientists who devoted their life studies to understand why our world creates such food waste whilst people starve and endure famine.

But as society put all it's efforts into monoculture and refused to rotate crops, or companion plant. Soon all the nutrients needed to create edible nutrient rich foods for ourselves began to disappear with the nutrients that once thrived in our soil systems.

Although a full recovery of soil is a slow process, it can be done. The gardens we suggest are unique in nature, owing to the fact that they'll need to be planted without utilising the soil on the ground of which you stand. In order to garden at all, you will need to bring in beach sand and any of the aquatic manure that you can find on shores. If this beaches and shores have long since left your area, any location of desert sand can be dug into until the sand is cold or damp to the touch.

This step is vital and will work as a foundation for what will grow. Efforts in ensuring as little chemically contaminated soil is present, though unfortunately in dystopia all things have some level of contamination to them.

Through a means of vigorous composting and soil management practices, friable sandy loam will form with time and patience.

Here Comes the Sun

Regarding sun and your site, ensure there are few trees around the area you'd like to utilise for your garden space. You will also need to endure the excruciating work of excavating 2'-3' (61cm - 91cm). Ideally this should be done with the new friends you've made whilst following our "Guide to Making Friends & Not Dying," the additional hands will ensure this isn't as backbreaking as it sounds/ is.

It is most ideal to create a sloped grade (floor), where you can capture moisture and water within what will soon be your Earthen Greenhouse. Stomp on the ground periodically until it appears similar to compressed soil/ concrete.

Using the soil on site, and ideally found materials (tires, glass bottles, old rods, and pipes, etc.). You will begin to create rows of stacked containers (such as tires) and fill them with a damp mixture of soil from the site, clay (if available on site), dried fibres (grasses, dead plants, old fabrics, old plastic bags, etc.), and sand.

Adding in your found rods, pipes, etc. to add additional strength as you stack the containers. Piercing from one container to the row beneath it and ideally to the one that will be above it. Continuing this process until the structure is your ideal size as well as height.

It would be wise to try to find and utilise old glass bottles for either a south-facing or east-facing wall. With additional supports to ensure they remain structurally sound under the pressure of the weight above them. Fill these bottles and seal them with captured liquid. Ideally non-potable water, non-flammable liquids, non-combustible liquids, etc. These will work for both bringing in additional lighting during winter seasons, as well as providing a bit of geothermal insulation for your greenhouse.

For the roofing found windows, corrugated transparent/ frosted plastic sheets, transparent or semi-opaque plastic bags sewn together into a large film. Alternatively you can join a series of plastic waterbottles to create a similar effect, if you can find old Compact Disc (CD) cases you can use those as well.

Ensure the outer walls are sturdy and capable of holding more than your own weight, add additional supports or internal framing from found materials to ensure your safety as you will need to walk on the exterior portion of the roof to adjust the sun shielding upon your greenhouse.

But to truly optimise sunlight in a greenhouse add coloured materials over light sources/ openings:

Violet Light exposure intensifies the color, aroma and taste of plants. It also improves the antioxidant functions of plants, which naturally helps prevent cell damage.
Red Light can help plants yield more leaves.
Blue Light encourages plants to accept more energy, reduces their water loss, and increases plant growth and maturity rates.
Far-Red Light affects germination and flowering. Essentially, this light encourages flowering because plants require less time in darkness.
The combination of red and blue light significantly improves plant growth, making it an optimal choice for plant development.

Avoiding Sun Damage

Ultraviolet - UV rays

Prolonged exposure to UV light can be harmful to plants, just as it is to humans. When direct exposure to UV light is eliminated, plants will experience enhanced growth.

As previously mentioned sun can be a hindrance, as the seasons change the position we rest on the Earth's axis changes as well. South and East-facing greenhouses will allow in more light through all seasons which is most ideal within winter where sunlight is already limited.

Unfortunately, though this will ensure better survival through winter, over-exposure within summer is something of great concern. But by creating a blanket of found materials (plant fibres, plastic bags, flexible foams, old clothes, hay (if available), wool or animal fibres (if available), etc. The thicker the material the better the insulation. If you utilise white materials (found and woven plastic fibres such as plarn) you can deter sunlight in summer and shield your plants from sun scorch.

Alternatively you can utilise the underside with a black or dark coloured material to attract sun in winter.

This addition should be long enough to cover your entire roof span, as well as being able to fall over and insulate your south-facing/ east-facing bottle wall. By doing this you can capture the heat of the interior space during colder nights.

Most Durable, Drought Tolerant, Low-Effort & Edible Crops:

In case of disaster, around 825,000 crop plants are stored as seeds in the Svalbard Global Seed Vault (Spitsbergen, Norway - 9170, Svalbard and Jan Mayen, 78.2357° N, 15.4913° E), if you are not in Norway and are in one of the many countries that is detached from Norway this website will not cover sailing, swimming or flying lessons and you will need to either raid all remaining plant stores, grocery stores, or find your own way to the Seed Vault.

American Groundnut (Apios americana)
Artichokes (Cynara cardunculus var. scolymus)
Asparagus (Asparagus officinalis)
Barrenwort (Epimedium spp.)
Beans (Phaseolus vulgaris spp.)
Beets (Beta vulgaris/ Amaranthaceae)
Berries (A wide variety of plant species, just ensure you know your wild berries to ensure you don't eat any of the countless species that look nearly identical to edible species but are greatly poisonous)
Cabbage (Brassicaceae)
Carrots (Apiaceae/ Daucus/ Daucaceae)
Chinese artichoke (Stachys affinis)
Coneflower (Echinacea spp.)
Corn (Zea mays/ Maize/ Poaceae)
Cucumber
Daylillies (Hemerocallis)
Egyptian Walking Onion (Allium x proliferum)
False Indigo (Baptisia spp.)
Garlic (Amaryllidaceae/ Allium sativum)
Good King Henry (Chenopodium bonus-henricus)
Herbs (A wide range of herbs are capable of surviving many environments, however their taste can be affected and some may regardless taste similar to soap but not clean anything as well as soap does)
Horseradish (Armoracia rusticana)
Hostas (ie; Hosta montana)
Jerusalem Artichoke (Helianthus tuberosus)
Kale (Brassica oleracea)
Lentils (Lens culinaris)
Melons (Cucurbitaceae)
Oca (Oxalis tuberosa)
Onions (Amaryllidaceae/ Allium)
Peas (Pisum sativum)
Peppers (Capsicum)
Potatoes (Solanum tuberosum)
Purple sprouting broccoli (Brassica oleracea var. italica)
Ramps (Allium tricoccum)
Rhubarb (Rheum rhabarbarum)
Russian Sage (Perovskia atriplicifolia)
Sedum *Yellow sedum can be poisonous, wait until it greens before consumption
Spinach (Spinacia oleracea/ Amaranthaceae)
Sorrel (Rumex acetosa)
Squash (Cucurbita)
Sweet Potatoes (Ipomoea batatas)
Tickseed (Coreopsis spp.)
Tomatoes (Solanum lycopersicum)
Tree Kale (Brassica oleracea var. ramosa)

Unfortunately due to Global Warming, 40% of our global plant species will go extinct. Even some on the previous list though being capable of surviving drought, cold winters, and lack of nutrients - they are not capable of surviving endless high temperatures (* indicates these species). As our globe's temperature continues to rise more and more species will begin to fail and go extinct.

In 2022 the plant species projected to go extinct consist of:
- Apples

- Avocados

- Bananas

- Chickpeas*

- Chili Peppers *

- Chocolate/ Cocoa

- Coffee

- Corn/ Maize***

- Ginger

- Husk Tomato*

- Maple Syrup

- Peanuts

- Potatoes *

- Rice

- Soybeans*

- Strawberries*

- Stonefruit

- Squash *

- Vanilla

- Wheat

- Wild Beans*

- Wild Cotton

- Wine Grapes

150-200 species go extinct every day in the world prior to our global dystopia, but no one truly cares until they need to try to grow their own to survive our new world.

By 2030, crop yield failures will be 4.5 times higher.

By 2050, the likelihood shoots up to 25 times the current rates.

By the mid-century, the world could be facing a rice or wheat failure every other year, with the probability of soybean and maize failures even higher.

Rising levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide reduce the concentrations of protein and essential minerals in most plant species, including wheat, soybeans, rice and corn.

This direct effect of rising CO2 on the nutritional value of crops. So in order to ensure your survival you will need to ensure larger yields of produce so you can maintain the bare minimum amount of nutrients to keep you moderately healthy.

It's Corn!

Corn will be our saviour, it can be used in thousands of different products that once were used in everyday life.

It feeds the animals we once raised for meat, but now need to make offerings to in order for our safety as they have evolved back into dangerous creatures that seek vengeance on us all. It also feeds our society, although for generations countless humans believe corn to have no nutritional value although it is packed with antioxidants, it is high in carbs full of fiber, vitamins and minerals. While being relatively low in protein and fat, which for those trying to watch their weight and are fearful of appearing "too bulky" in dystopia it is the plant for you. Of course when anything is overworked and heavily processed it's nutritional value drops significantly.

List of Items that contain Corn:

Acid, Aspirin, Baby Food, Batteries, Cereal, Chewing Gum, Chocolate, Crayons, Dyes, Ethanol, Fabric, Fireworks, Flour, Glue, Ice Cream, Ink, Jellies/ Jams, Juice, Ketchup, Lipstick, Lotion, Makeup, Paint, Paper, Pudding, Rubber, Snacks, Soap, Soft Drinks, Sorbitol, Soup, Syrups, Toothpaste, Vinegar, Vitamins, & much more! It has infinite uses and its byproducts and may out live us all.

Recipe for Biodegradable Corn Plastic

Ratio: 1 Tablespoon cornstarch: 2 drops of corn oil: 1 Tablespoon of water, Place into a plastic bag (as they are an abundant resource), and mix together. Once mixture is consistent and glutinous, place the bag and mixture close enough to a radioactive zone or leave in the sun for countless days. Once safely retrieved you will have biodegradable plastic.

Additionally, corn is capable of creating power, Ethanol is a fuel that can be made from corn. Offering less of an impact on our already devastated environment than gasoline. It is a renewable resource and with our rising climates will soon be an ideal source of fuel, as society has been mixing ethanol and gasoline to stretch the finite resource that was gasoline/ petrol. It is stated that theoretically ethanol can replace gasoline, but wouldn't be ideal for locations in colder climates as ethanol contains higher octane levels and is absolutely useless in winter months.

As previously stated amongst our list of hardy species, although Corn truly is capable of doing everything we can imagine and is one of our most durable plants too will fail us because we failed it first.