January 2008 Archives

Welcome to our Question and Answer postings, a dynamic forum for people to have their questions answered by a group of "wise ones". Our experts bring a rich and diverse background of skills and knowledge gained from years of experience living and breathing what they talk about. Click here to meet them. 

It is my desire that the Weekly Wisdom  Forum will reach out to a sea of people of all ages, from different backgrounds and levels of understanding and experience, and be a support and even a comfort to those who are looking for guidance in preparing body and mind for the days that are here. 

Send your questions to louise@mastersconnection.com.

QUESTION: MOISTURE AND STORING FOOD

I've been canning some things, little by little, and buying canned goods. There's so much moisture where I live that there's already signs of rust beginning to appear on the containers. Will that affect what's inside? What do you do about storing in this kind of climate?

Pam Paizs responds:

Grains, beans and other food items for long term storage are packed using Nitrogen or Oxygen Absorber packets. Foods packed in air without the benefit of nitrogen or an oxygen absorber will oxidize many of the compounds found in the food, thereby spoiling all the contents of your buckets. Several agents which make food go rancid also need oxygen to grow, not to forget that with the displacement of oxygen, no bugs can survive!

Foods packed in natural air do not store as long as those packed in an oxygen free environment. If you have purchased your grains and beans from the local farmer, the grains may have unfriendly bacteria and be just too moist for long term storage- not an ideal situation. There is nothing worse than opening a home packed bucket to find a nasty black mass of mold that now must be disposed of and buried deep so as to not be a contaminant.

Most seed saving agencies use liquid nitrogen to store seeds for the future, so your wheats and legumes will benefit by a better growth in nitrogen, especially if you plan on sprouting or growing your own crop in an uncertain future.

How you can displace oxygen to store your foods:

Nitrogen is usually used because it is the most inert gas known. As much as we use it in our products it is difficult to amass all the equipment needed to do this procedure correctly. Therefore we advise folks who want to do their own packaging that it is cheaper, easier and quicker to use the oxygen absorber packets.

We do recommend you begin with a good food storage bucket, which has an excellent seal and is a safer plastic product for food storage. Pour into your food storage buckets the dry wheats and beans, place one oxygen absorber in the foods and quickly seal the bucket tight. As the absorber packet goes to work it quickly displaces all the oxygen between each grain. You may notice that the bucket will look "caved in" after a while. This is the displacement of oxygen happening.

However, one thing to be aware of is that once you open the package that contains the oxygen absorbers, they will begin to absorb the ambient oxygen in the air, and become ineffective rather quickly. We suggest you be prepared with all your buckets filled with grains etc. so you can quickly place an absorber in each one and have a friend or family member close the lids tight behind you.

Using an oxygen absorber with dry goods is also a great idea. You can store dry goods from your local market, such as potato flakes, dry milk, pasta, all sorts of goodies. Just remember to remove the boxes and only place the product into a food storage bucket with 1 oxygen absorber packet, seal and you are set!

Happy Packing!

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Steven Knopp responds:  

Nitrogen packed means nitrogen gas was released into the container with the foodstuff, displacing the oxygen and possibly some moisture. Then the lid is applied and not removed until ready to use. Oxygen =oxidation and is undesirable. You do not have to do this, but it is better to do it. Food was put up for thousands of years without it, and I know of some wonderful ancient methods, but it will last longer and preserve its nutrients longer.

Yes, you can do it yourself. I have done many tons myself this way. You will have to get gas tanks, hoses a wand, and a mallet to hammer on the lids. It's relatively simple, but time consuming. I also have grains that weren't packed in gas going back to 1986,that I sometimes use now. They still sprout and are delicious.

Bay leaves and olive leaves can be placed in grain containers to help preserve them. There is also, canning, dehydrating, vacuum sealing, freeze drying, smoking and curing. WARNING! MICE can spontaneously generate from the morphic field, and it appears as if they can bio-locate as well, and can chew through anything except steel, glass and ceramic.  Trust me on this!

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Abigail Haddock responds:

Over the years we have all learned so much about packing food for long term food storage.  Nitrogen packing is a process of inserting nitrogen (an inert gas) into a bucket to push out the oxygen and make an inhospitable environment for growth of insects and bacteria.  Nitrogen packing can be accomplished with the use of dry ice or with a metal wand specially created to push the nitrogen gas from a tank into the bottom of the bucket, under the food. The gas pushes out the oxygen and the lid is securely tightened down with a rubber mallet.

There are many 'old fashioned" ways of bucketing food but these days it is best to go with tested and proven, safe methods.  The easiest way to home bucket grains, beans, seeds and legumes for economy and convenience is:

1.  Clean heavy duty food-grade high density polyethylene buckets with solution of 2% bleach and water in a 1:10 ratio.

2.  Dry thoroughly.

3.  Pour dried food into buckets from plastic/paper bags.

4.  Add a 500 cc oxygen absorber and tightly close the lid.

5.  Store buckets off the floor in a dry cool room. 

Stack buckets 3 high or if you need to go higher insert a board between layers to disperse weight.  Some buckets can weigh up to 60 lbs.  Store up some Gamma Seal lids for easy access to food, and bucket lid removers.  Always carefully label buckets with indelible markers.

WHILE I WAS WORKING, SPRING CAME INTO TOWN

To all you beautiful readers, I appreciate your patience while I've been away from the blog. I've missed the exchange. Yes, my schedule has been intense lately. Leaving the house at 5:45 in the dark, crisp, cold morning, and returning home around 8:00 in the evening, dark, crisp and cold yet. What happens between these hours has been a great opportunity to practice presence and focus.

As humans we're wired, to some degree or another, to want things clear, to have things make sense, to have a beginning and an end, to see the light at the end of the proverbial tunnel, to feel a sense of accomplishment. But in this work of assisting flood disaster victims the chaos is stunning, and these basic desires must be left behind with an eye to a distant horizon stretching far out into the future.

The schedule knocked me down for a couple of days with a cold-like, flu-like intervention, giving me a stretch of sleep that was long overdue and a glimpse of daytime. To my surprise, while I was working, spring pushed its way out of its slumber through the crust of winter. Walking in the sun of a clear day I had to squint my eyes not believing what I was seeing. I know I've been in need of my glasses more often these days, and I know my schedule has scrambled time beyond recognition, but could that be a bud on that bush? I looked around and saw another on a different plant, and then another. It changed everything. In that one moment of observation winter was behind me, and each step brought such a gratitude for its magnificent silence, its heavy sleep laden cold, and the magic that makes new life.