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====== The Bunker: Foodstorage ======

Per person, this is how much you will want to store for a year of food.

  * Legumes, dry & whole, 400lbs (200kg)
  * Grain, dry & whole, unprocessed, 400lbs (200kg)
  * Meat, dry & frozen, 200lbs (100kg)
  * Fats, rendered, 200lbs (100kg)
  * Sugar, for sweetness, 20lbs (10kg)
  * Seeds, assorted, 150lbs (70kg)

===== Planting =====
Do not plant seeds directly into your mixed soil without letting it rest first. When we mix our soils, we let the biology work for about 2 weeks to 1 month (depending on timescale). It is great to plant long season crops indoors, especially if you have a short season. Do not let the roots hit the sides of your pots it will stunt them and force early fruiting. Long root crops HATE transplanting. If you are growing short carrots, ball carrots, or fingerlings you can start the seeds indoors. Any root crop longer than 6 inches in final maturity needs to be directly sown.

Garlic and onions do well when you surface sow them outdoors while the weather is still cool. You can start with transplants as most farmers do, but smaller gardeners let them go to seed if not harvested in the fall. Always give your plants room to stretch out their roots, the roots are the primary hormone generator that controls top growth and production. If you choke the roots or stunt them to early, you end up with a weak plant and lower yields.

For small seeds, you can use a 288 seedling tray for the first 3-4 days to get maximum germination, but immediately transfer them to a 74 deep cell once that 4 day window has passed since the first seed germination.

===== Before storing =====
###
Before storing grains and seeds from a store, you want to do the sprouting test. Take 100 grains/seeds from a bag at random. Soak for 12 hours, place on a wet paper towel, and put the towel in a gallon paper bag at 72-76 °F. You want a germination rate of at least 85% before you can store it, as germination decreases by 5% per year under proper storage conditions, which also decreases its nutrient value. Do not throw away the bags that didn't pass the test, you just eat them first.

Your average 5 gallon, food grade sealable bucket can hold about 20lbs worth of grains and seeds. Do not make the mistake of just putting your food in, sealing the lid, and storing somewhere out of sight.
###

===== Things you must do and maintain (annually) =====

You must:
  * do rotations every year.
  * preprepare the containers to remove all dust, moisture, and biotics.
  * have proper storage materials (food grade bucket, oxygen and moisture absorbers, bucket prier handle.) Mylar is optional.

Your storage pantry should stay below 70°F. If you have a root cellar, then that is preferred to store in.

===== Testing for food poisoning =====

This is where animals come in. When you first crack open a bucket, wear a face covering. If you see dust or particulates escape the bucket after fresh air is introduced, THROW IT AWAY. It had been contaminated with very toxic fungi. That will kill you and your family. Next take the top 1 inch of the grain, cook it as normal, and feed it to your animal. Rabbits and rats are perfect test animals for toxicity. If they do not die within the first 24 hours, then you are mostly safe to consume the stored grains. Always do a sprouting test with each bucket, check for dust and potential spores. If you find insect damage, then you are okay. Grain larva are some of the most sensitive insects on the planet when it comes to disease and fungi.

And to clarify, the mold is called Ergot. It is more common to be found in rye grains, but can infect all seeds and spread especially fast while in long term storage. [([[https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0748233711432570|Human and cattle ergotism since 1900: Symptoms, outbreaks, and regulations.]])] 

===== Packaging =====

Now I am not one to deny that prepackaged meals, especially the MREs, and camper freeze-dried meals are good to have. But they can get extremely pricey, and their nutrition will degrade over time naturally even when not exposed to oxygen and being freeze-dried (you are only preserving the macros).
Seeds, grains, legumes, on the other hand, are nature built to withstand being in deep storage for decades, while also keeping the embryo alive at that time.
If you do get to the point where you are growing everything yourself (which you should). During the seed preservation and sorting, only store the fattest and largest seeds of each generation and immediately consume the runts.

===== Wheatgrass & Microgreens =====

Also, another thing. I don't know why this trend popped up, but do not do it.
There seems to be this fascination with eating wheatgrass and oat grass microgreens. This is not healthy. While you may get some nutrition from the vitamin contained in the grass, it does nothing for you in terms of calories or the fibre itself.
You soak and sprout the grains with lentils, cow peas, and black beans. When you see the lentils sprout, you take them out of the container to fully dry out. Then you grind it into flour and bake into bread. This is clearly outlined in Ezekiel 4:9.

Take wheat and barley, beans and lentils, millet and spelt;
  * (A) put them in a storage jar and use them to make bread for yourself. You are to eat it during the 390 days you lie on your side. 10 Weighs out twenty shekelsa of food to eat each day and eat it at set times.
  * (B) 11 Also measure out a sixth of a hin[b] of water and drink it at set times.
  * (C) 12 Eat the food as you would a loaf of barley bread; bake it in the sight of the people, using human excrement
  * (D) for fuel.” 13 The Lord said, “In this way the people of Israel will eat defiled food among the nations where I will drive them.”
  * (E) You can leave out the "cooking over human excrement" part

===== Storage =====
Seeds can last for decades because the minerals, enzymes, and macros needed to begin the spouting process are so biologically stable that they can only be destroyed by hydrolyzation and temperature.
Preserved food can be stored without rotting for decades, but even under perfect storage conditions will degrade micronutrients over time because vitamins are not biologically stable.

All preservation processes are just to prevent food rot through bacterial and fungal decomposition.
They can not preserve the volatile organic compounds and enzymes needed for life.
You can store carbohydrate (in form of starch), and saturated fats indefinitely no problem. Protein degrades over time by denaturing, and vitamins quickly break apart if exposed to the smallest amount of heat and oxygen.
Even in an apocalyptic scenario. You will want to cover all your bases when it comes to nutrition.
  * Preserved food = bulk mass/energy.
  * Live food = vitamin density.
  * Animal food = protein density.
  * Fermented food = probiotic density.
  * Mushrooms = all the above but added benefit of neuroprotective compounds.

===== Final thought =====

For those who may or may not read the bible. This is a story about how the city of Jerusalem, when losing god's favour (becoming too materialistic) end up in a war that the opposing armies surround and cut off the walled city in order to starve out all the inhabitants inside before going in and slaughtering them. This bread is what they ate in poverty for hundreds of years as penance for their misgivings, but in reality it actually kept them alive and healthy enough to run away from war and live in societies where all they had to eat was cheap grain and no meats. Nutritional analysis of this today has shown a dramatic decrease in anti nutrients, increase in protein synthesis (especially lysine that protects muscles from metabolic activity) and increase in digestible fibre (that leads to increased BCA and fatty acids in the colon from bacterial fermentation).

===== Links =====
  * [[https://www.mycolabs.com/bulk-organic-rye-berries.aspx| Human Grade Rye ($1.6/lb)]], Mycolabs also sell other bulk grains when available. But it is mostly for mushroom hobbyists, so they may have stock left.

===== About =====

Excerpts from **[[https://matrix.to/#/@biotechfarmer:nitro.chat|Biotechfarmer]]**

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~~REFNOTES~~

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//Thanks to [[user:biotechfarmer|BiotechFarmer]] for his contribution to this section.//
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