The Hungry Gap

In the Anglo-Saxon calendar Lammas Day (hlaf-maesse, or loaf-mass) was the day when the first bread using the current year’s grains could be made.  Lammas Day fell on August 1^st and the weeks preceding this day was known as the “hungry gap” – the time between the last of the stored food from the prior year and the new harvest.  Such a life is clearly unknown to us in the modern West – anxiously watching the weather and hoping the new harvest can be successfully brought in while the available food is dwindling or already exhausted.  No fast food places or supermarkets…  Just hunger.

Since Hereward Farm is located in the hot and humid southeast United States, a far cry from the cool temperate maritime climate of the British Isles, the growing season here starts sooner.   It is not yet June and already over the last few weeks the garden has been producing veggies of all types.  While it is still early days, a trip to the garden to dig up some vegetables is now more common than a trip to the grocery store. Also on the farm there are many wild fruits with the orchard just about to come online, the chickens are laying more than the Secret Service in Central America and the freezers are full of pork from the first two pigs harvested.  There was not the Lammas Day-like formality, in fact, I can’t remember the first day this happened, but during the last few weeks it is not uncommon to have entire meals that have come from the farm – including dessert! 

Photo 1.  Two carrots engaged in a tender embrace - Or is it one carrot giving us the finger?

While this is a far cry from being totally self-sufficient, it is an encouraging milestone and a welcome sign that the many hundreds of hours of hard work invested are beginning to pay off.  It is also a sign that literally anyone in this country is able to grow some of their own food with a little planning, determination and hard work.  Our modern global system has eradicated the hungry gap for much of the West, yet in the process we have now become dependent upon global supply chains, cheap fossil fuels and unsustainable farming practices to feed ourselves.  For the most part we have lost the knowledge and skills to grow our own food.  Today only a fraction of our population has the knowledge and experience of growing food by sustainable methods.  If our system goes down, even partially, expect the mother of all hungry gaps.