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1 hour ago, Æthelthryth the Texan said:

This is gallows humor, but its striking me as quite funny right now that I can buy living chickens, cows, and goats more easily than I can meat at a local grocer or toilet paper. 

We keep teasing dd that we’re going to eat her chickens.  She knows it’s a joke because there is so many kangaroos and deer here we would eat before touching the chickens! 

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9 minutes ago, happysmileylady said:

I hope more companies will start to make statements like this

https://www.yahoo.com/finance/news/kroger-ceo-fears-coronavirus-shortages-114534588.html

 

There is SO MUCH food in this country.  And so much of what we consume is grown right here, subject only to whether or not we can keep the trucks running.  And the trucks are gonna keep running.  They are considered essential services.  

*sigh*

 

It’s the same here but if the borders are being closed more firmly ag people will need to be pretty proactive about getting labour.  Typically quite hard to get Australians and Americans to pick fruit etc so ends up being imported labour. 

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2 minutes ago, happysmileylady said:

Yes, but at least here in the US, I don't think there would be a shortage of people available/able.  It's just convincing them to be willing.  And in a time like this, I think if the farms were really struggling with labor, a little bid of media coverage would create a pretty willing labor pool.

Having said that, I think of all border restrictions, trade in essential goods like food would be the LAST thing the governments restricted.  Even with the US/Canadian border closing, trade is excluded.  

So would that mean workers to pick can cross borders as well?  It’s different here because it’s a plane ticket from everywhere meaning if the flights stop there’s not really a way in.  Well there’s boats I guess.

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If kids who usually eat at school are now home and parents are being told to have two weeks' worth of stuff on hand, I can see how stores would be bare for awhile. At any given time there are only about 3 days worth of food on the shelves. So, how many weeks will it take for everyone to have a stockpile and food back on the shelves? A fair number, I think.

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I’m really trying to “do my part” by ordering online instead of being in stores, but the available options are still reduced here, and the list of products with limits on them have expanded. I definitely had a big emotional response this morning while trying to create an order to feed 8 people for a week.  And I did order more things than needed as back ups because they could be out of some of my order (like last week) by the time it’s fulfilled tomorrow night (my only given option.) And I won’t know when I can try again until they release more pick-up slots.

Because there’s no regular flour to be ordered anywhere, dh tried a long shot and did find some at CVS. That sort of redeems him after my giant struggle to help him understand that I can’t know what will actually make it into my order until about an hour before pick-up on a whole different day and then have another day or two until I can have a pick up slot for another order from somewhere else (that may or may not be fulfilled with those things).

It isn’t as if *nothing is available, so of course I don’t want to panic. But I’m most definitely having a psychological reaction to being limited to 2 blocks of cheddar cheese in a family that routinely purchases 4-8 at a time. One can know something logically and still struggle with it.

 

 

 

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I feel sorry for those of you with large families. I'm stressing enough over just the three of us. I'd prefer to order online since DH and I are both in high risk categories, but it's just too confusing to try to figure out what they might/might not have. So I've been shopping in person.

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All of this is just so sobering. We're not rural enough to have animals, unfortunately, but we do have fruit trees at least, and DH is working on some raised beds so we can add veggies and herbs. 

We do have a little switch on our garage door thing on the wall that lets us lock it against being used by the remote, so we'll do that for sure. Just in case. Although, I don't see that becoming an issue, at least, not any time soon. I hope. 

Some of the restaurants are offering "survival kits" with ready-to-cook food (at least one I saw) and of course the rest are all open for regular take-out/carry-out. But, $$$. 

Of course, the Port of Houston just closed due to a positive Covid-19 longshoreman; DH says that mostly should not impact food b/c most things are local/trucked in, not shipped, but.....still concerning. 

And yes, it's taking a toll, seeing the empty shelves everywhere still. We went out for craft supplies yesterday, and while there, swung by the rice/beans aisle. Empty, but for 2 bags of "15 bean soup". I was looking for lentils, to try a new stew. Went ahead and grabbed the beans instead (well, and later found some red Salvadorian beans of some sort). 

As far as extra people home, you've also got extra adults home as everyone shifts to work from home, or furloughed, or laid off, etc. So where my DH would normally take maybe some leftovers for lunch, or in his job, eat out with clients, nope, now he's home. And our college kids were home already, but now you've got all the college kids back home, too. And then I think it just is a lot of "well, they didn't have that when I was here last time, and now they do, so I should get it while I can...." -- I know when we were in Brazil, we did that with certain things that the store only sometimes carried. There'd be no salsa for weeks, and then they'd get some, and we'd buy 8 of the 12 jars, "just in case."  

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2 hours ago, Ausmumof3 said:

So would that mean workers to pick can cross borders as well?  It’s different here because it’s a plane ticket from everywhere meaning if the flights stop there’s not really a way in.  Well there’s boats I guess.

Malaysia closed their borders. Malaysian workers end up having to cross the causeway into Singapore by midnight and stay in Singapore for two weeks. Only goods can cross border.

https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/government-economy/malaysians-working-in-singapore-affected-by-border-closure-but-flow-of-food

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1 hour ago, happysmileylady said:

I don't think that kids home from school would really have as much of an impact.  Kids generally eat lunch at school (and some breakfasts,) and most people probably aren't making baked chicken legs for their kids lunches.  For dinners, sure, but kids being home from school wouldn't generally affect dinners (except in those families that depended on school food backpack programs....but then they are probably still depending on those.)

 

It’s the teens and young adults that would normally have lunch on community college and commuter college campus. 
ETA: no idea why the formatting is weird

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Just now, Æthelthryth the Texan said:

Port of Houston only closed 2 terminals so far so that's good. And we still have Galveston. 

What I am finding irritating is law enforcement standing down on many things. This is not the time. They're worried about the jails with Covid, but seriously, they don't need to encourage crime right now even with misdemeanors for crimes against other persons. Houston crime flows south to here, so not a fan of the whole "let's just let people go" type of thinking. 

Okay, that is a good point, and good news. (on the ports)

I'm surprised that your county is being that way; our county was speaking out very strongly against anything, and don't seem to be standing down on stuff at all. Hopefully things don't get just "let go" because yea, that is a terrible idea in a time like this. Yikes. 

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44 minutes ago, Æthelthryth the Texan said:

Harris County is talking out of both sides. They're threatening restaurants and bars with fines and arrests for staying open, but the Harris Co Law enforcement is wanting to lower arrests and release people from jails- and per our PD, that's what seems to be happening.. Burglary is big around here, and since those are "non-violent" offenses, people like that are being let out. All of that flows south here- the vast majority of our crime statistics year upon year show crimes here are committed by people from Houston and Harris County (not here) so I was really pissed when I read this. 

https://www.texasobserver.org/some-texas-officials-want-to-divert-people-from-jail-amid-coronavirus-scare/

 

ugh. Wow. 

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3 hours ago, Spudater said:

I grew up in farm country. This might sound crazy, but unless you were family you had to know someone to get hired for a summer job on a farm.  Farms (at least where I grew up) didn’t advertise or recruit unskilled labor at all. Industrial farming and the way our food system is set up mean that farmers usually hired a crew boss who brought his own crew in temporarily and moved from farm to farm.  Just my opinion, but I don’t think it would be as hard as some people think to get workers, especially if there’s high unemployment. 

There are definitely skills involved in agriculture. The workers who pick work FAST! . It is really impressive how hard working those crews are and how much they get done. It would be a learning curve, that's for sure. Also, having a full crew of people who have never been in agriculture would be hard to oversee. You have to know what you're doing around machinery or you can get hurt really badly, really fast. I'd imagine that a farmer would be worried about his liability with having a lot of brand new workers all at once.

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3 minutes ago, fairfarmhand said:

There are definitely skills involved in agriculture. The workers who pick work FAST! . It is really impressive how hard working those crews are and how much they get done. It would be a learning curve, that's for sure. Also, having a full crew of people who have never been in agriculture would be hard to oversee. You have to know what you're doing around machinery or you can get hurt really badly, really fast. I'd imagine that a farmer would be worried about his liability with having a lot of brand new workers all at once.

Another farmer’s daughter here.  I grew up working on the farm and was always amazed at how just plain bad outsiders were at damaging the harvest.  Fast but careful which takes time to learn.  That said I put in a hour or so a few years ago to see if I still could, my back hated it but I could still keep up with my big brother who just sold the farm.......that said new crew happen all the time.  They learn, some quicker than others.  My brother took on several kids of former workers for a season or two over the years and it worked out.  

Last night Ds mentioned going hunting........he never has because there has never been time or desire.  Then he had this lightbulb of a moment with what to do with his game and looked at me.......yeah, gahhhhh mom is well versed.  Please let this not be real!!!!!

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Farmer’s daughter here too, but my kids sure aren’t. We just tried to clear out a veggie bed in our suburban backyard that hasn’t been used in four years. One teen didn’t know what a hoe was, and both of them picked out one weed a minute, then had to quit at 20 minutes. It’s going to be a long haul until tomatoes.

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52 minutes ago, happysmileylady said:

Sure, learning the process would need to happen, if it came to that.  But that's really no different than a whole bunch of restaurant employees suddenly ending up at an Amazon warehouse.  There's equipment, there are different regulations, and for the love of whatever, drink water lol.  I went to work Holiday temp shifts at Amazon when DH was laid off several years ago.  The restrooms actually had signs with color gradients....if your pee is this color, drink more water.  😂

 

Shoot. They have those at our Lowe's Home Improvement Store. It's kinda weird.

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My kids were getting very concerned about food the other day, after we had gone to our normal store for bread and been unable to get any, and then we had tried another store and been able to grab some bread there, but couldn’t get any milk, and seeing all the empty shelves at both.  We were explaining that there is nothing to be scared about and telling them about all our food storage (not hoarded, #10 cans of wheat and things we’ve had for years for emergencies), and the seven-year old was still worried until dh took him out to look at the pig and told him, “That is two hundred pounds of meat.  I promise you will not go hungry.”  

My sister has five boys between the ages of 11 and 16, four of whom are distance runners.  She said she feels like she needs to wear a sign when she goes to the grocery store, with all the glares she’s been getting picking up their normal groceries.

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4 hours ago, Æthelthryth the Texan said:

Welp. TX Gov did the shut down for the whole state as far as bars, restaurants (can still get take out), and gyms so the party is over in our county. Spring Breakers are going to be partying in some Air BNB I guess. 
 

I think juries are all suspended too. Guessing this is not improving the mood at the local grocery store. 

Yea, I haven't been back out yet since seeing that. Oof. DH is building some raised beds in the backyard and we'll go to the nursery tomorrow (or Saturday?) and get veggies and herbs to plant. 

Of course, Gov Abbot also made some waiver so restaurants CAN deliver alcohol along with your food purchase, so there is that. Maybe that is to help the mood?? 

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So, I have 2 kids who worked on a farm last year and intend to this year.
Except they *also want to EMT.  I don’t yet have enough energy to argue with them about the concept of mixing high-risk interaction with high-need food. We’ll get to that bridge.

Strangely, my most difficult dd is considered an excellent picker. I never would have predicted that one!

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5 hours ago, prairiewindmomma said:

That may end soon. Our governor closed all the vet clinics, dentists, and outpatient clinics and requisitioned/kindly shamed them to donate their PPE for the hospitals. 

Surely emergencies are allowed?? And sick visits for pets? Please tell me those are allowed?

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My state is compiling a comprehensive list of farms that have foods available. Some normally sell mostly to restaurants, but with all restaurants shut in the state they are opening to the public. The list is growing daily. I thought I’d post it here for all the Mainers on the board.

https://extension.umaine.edu/agriculture/farm-product-and-pickup-directory/

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@MEmama

Food supplies are getting back to normal here. Trader Joe’s limit the number going in so we tried to grab our kids’ favorite items and pay up instead of the usual “loitering” there.

Costco did not need to limit the number of customers but we couldn’t find the Kirkland Mango slices at the two stores we went. 

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Dh got in line at a grocery store an hour before opening. He made it in and about 3/4 of the items he was looking for (all food items) were in stock. There are still a lot of item limits. 
 

No pasta, no mozzarella cheese, no berries, no zucchini....but he said shelves were about half full.  None of the high demand items were in. 
 

This is a huge improvement over life in the last three weeks.

Dh went to Home Depot afterwards for garden supplies. Almost all of the fertilizers were gone, seeds were in high demand, and the garden soil is pretty picked over. We are expecting a hard quarantine soon or we would order a load of soil from the landscape company. We’ve only been in this house for two years so we are still in the soil amending phase. We inherited a house with no top soil...and soil so hard it strains the tiller. I can’t break into it with just a shovel.

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On 3/20/2020 at 2:53 AM, Pawz4me said:

Surely emergencies are allowed?? And sick visits for pets? Please tell me those are allowed?

There is a provision for emergencies.

Vets are setting up their own emergency set-ups. Some are doing video triage, and then seeing sick pets, others are sending them to someone else. Many clinics have completely closed and sent their supplies to hospitals.

Please understand that some hospitals here are using the same N95 respirator day after day. People are speaking anonymously to newspapers here—they’ve been told they will be fired if they speak publically.

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8 minutes ago, Æthelthryth the Texan said:

Good call Costco not allowing returns on toilet paper and hand sanitizer!! 👍

Also, that is a LOT of Spam. 

I don’t think most people have spares of toilet paper or hand sanitizer to return. 

There is also SPAM patties 😂

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15 hours ago, Arcadia said:

 

Costco did not need to limit the number of customers but we couldn’t find the Kirkland Mango slices at the two stores we went. 

I found the dried mangos at the end of the aisle by the quinoa, which was several aisles away from the other dried fruit.  I think they just saw a opening and set down the pallets there.

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The stores I shop at are doing a fantastic job keeping food on the shelves, all things considered.   I'm trying not to go anywhere except work, so I'm currently in a stage of getting creative with the food I have on hand.  By the end of this week I'll probably have to make another grocery run, which will include Sam's, Costco, and a grocery store. 

I work fast food, as does DS, so we've been taking full advantage of our team member meals these last few weeks, even though we don't normally.  Usually it's once or twice a week, but if we eat at work, that leaves the groceries at home for DH and DD, so we've been eating a lot of Chick-Fil-A. Thankfully, we have enough variety to change it up every day, and this has actually gotten me out of a rut of always eating the same thing.  

I do prepare our dinner meals every day, and those have been trending towards soups, stews, curries, etc.  Things that use a small amount of meat with vegetables for bulk, and can be served over rice or with cornbread or biscuits for something filling.  Today I may pull out a whole chicken  and start to work my way through that for a couple of days.  Since we're closed on Sunday today I plan to do some baking to keep our meals fresh and delicious.  Apple-cinnamon muffins, fresh bread for sandwiches and I'm considering a chocolate cake because for some reason I have tons of cocoa and who doesn't like cake?!

It's still frozen ground out there, but as soon as I can, the gardens are going to be worked into my daily routine. I think it's going to be important for me to be successful with my vegetable growing this year.  I'm leaning towards a Victory Garden- something that produces foods we will eat and/or preserve for later over a fun garden full of experiments and things I'd like to try.  So lots of tomatoes, corn, beans, peas, broccoli and kale, onions, carrots, etc.  I'm worried about managing a full garden with a full time job, but we gotta do what we gotta do, and my DD who is now doing college from home will be eager to help me outside while she mulls the idea of working a job into her schedule.  I do have one flat of fast growing greens started under lights in the house.  They've just popped up, so that means I can take that flat off the heat mat and get a second one going.  We'll be able to harvest in just a couple of weeks.

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4 hours ago, klmama said:

I found the dried mangos at the end of the aisle by the quinoa, which was several aisles away from the other dried fruit.  I think they just saw a opening and set down the pallets there.

We walk two Costco’s entirely for my exercise (since malls are closed) and asked the staff too. Our Costco stores are near each other. I’ll look next weekend since I need the exercise. 

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