Two Types of Seeds to Stockpile for SHTF
Kevin Felts 03.27.19
For the sake of discussion let’s say someone was going to stockpile only four or five types of seeds, what would they be?
First question someone may ask is about nutrition; what crops would provide the most nutrition per acre? Another question may be about spring or fall crops? Maybe one of the first questions we may want to ask ourselves is about preservation. What are some of the easiest crops to preserve, and are time tested?
To answer that question we turn to the past. Some of my long time readers know we going to reach for a history book for this article. The book in question is “The Middle Ages Everyday Life in Medieval Europe by Jeffery Singman, page 57.
To paraphrase parts of page 57, “Grains and legumes were available year round.” Why were grains, peas and beans available year round? Because they were easy to dry and store. The biggest dangers to both were moisture and rodents.
Grains were kept whole for storage, then used as soon as they were ground.
What does all of this mean? According to Medieval history, some of the best crops to stockpile seeds for are:
- Corn
- Wheat
- Beans
- Peas
- Oats
In the grand scheme of things, oats are a fairly new crop to humanity. Other crops such as wheat, corn, peas and beans have been cultivated for thousands of years. It is estimated Native Americans were cultivating corn 10,000 years ago, but the crop was only recently brought to Europe. I say “recently” as in the past few hundred years.
Why should we focus on grains and legumes? The main reason is because they are somewhat easy to store after the crop has been harvested. Chances are a lot of us had a granny who would dry beans, then boil then when ready to cook?
Corn is an all around usage crop, as in it can be used for human and livestock feed. A good number of southern recipes call for corn, such as cornbread.
Wheat has been cultivated for thousands of years. One reason why Rome was so interested in Egypt is because of the fertile Nile valley and how much wheat Egyptians were able to produce. Availability of Egyptian wheat helped the Roman empire to thrive and expand.
In short, people were growing and preserving grains and legumes centuries before the canning process was invented. There is a lot for preppers to learn from those time honored practices.
