Food Shortages

I am currently experiencing a dramatic food shortage caused by two main factors

• I haven't gone to the store to buy anything in a while
• most of the food I did have rotted and sought to kill me while I ate

Mold

When I went away to Anime North for 3 days, I went about freezing a lot of stuff, and was delighted upon my return to find the food in the refrigerator and freezer was still edible and nutritional.  I could freely reach in and pull out something green or yellow or red and steal its soul to sustain my own. 

Then I just went away for 2 nights to Ottawa and, while I was gone, Mold decided to move into my fridge and bring its friends, and they partied like I was five hours away (which I was).   It seems like half of what I had fell under the influence: tomatoes, pesto, rice, frozen bread, tomato sauce, and a spare kidney.  All must be banished from my palette. 

This wasn't so bad, as it left me with canned soup, canned beans, and frozen vegetables.  So why don't I get more?

Shopping

Part of the problem with shopping is that it takes time, and I'm actually busy.  Not just "I got distracted and now I have to finish this in a hurry!"-busy as I sometimes get, but "I've been working 12 hours a day and 4 more days isn't enough!"-busy.   But that's alright, because it's better to shop, eat, do worse on an assignment, and live, than to work hard, get perfect, and die.   (Though the latter seems so romantic.)

However, I have had a card up my sleeve that my refrigerator, in its attempts to kill me, had missed: the Backyard Bounty.  That's a community garden share thing, where community members provide their backyards to grow produce which is sold through a group called Backyard Bounty to its members, including myself and my girlfriend (for this year, at least). 

Today was the first week for produce pickup, and I've drooled all day (sorry, old lady who sat in front of me on the bus) in anticipation for perceptually free food!  I trotted over there with eagre to fill my bag with this bounty to discover a sad fact of food production:

Food takes time to grow and isn't necessarily ready to be harvested when I want it.

Behold, my bounty!
Green stuff, some herb, flowers?, and a tomato (plant)

That's arugula, thyme, another herb, and a small tomato plant: I actually requested a small one because I am nervous, and they had larger ones available.

I heard one of the organisers explain to a member that while early on there is less yield, that it would pick up over time.  I have drawn a redundant and obvious graph to help illustrate.

Expectation of produce amount vs. hard cold (blue) reality.
Some people might shift their red line up a few blocks, too.

So, now I go to chew on flowers for supper.  Maybe make a salad of leaves.  Maybe go to No Frills and get groceries.  Eating local organic sounds like a nice idea, but I think I will have to supplement with imports or die.

No Food Left Behind (with 10% error)

To help correct my food shortage, I have one major plan: to always eat left-overs first.  I often defer in eating them in favour of something I want more.  I am having extra time at the start of days recently, though (waking up earlier? yahoo!), and can now afford to pack lunches for school.  No Leftover Left Uneaten.   Now, I just need to create left overs.