I grew up in a household that was serious about getting the most out of everything we purchased. From shoe goo (yes, that is a thing) to freezing loaves of bread to a semi-professional use of duct tape, we did our best to preserve what we had.
Like it or not, coronavirus has propelled us into a new way of being the past few months. Even if you have managed to weather this storm mostly unscathed thus far, our lives will never be the same. And this is not easy to accept. I have been fighting hard against some of the changes in my life, wishing I could hold on to certain aspects, even though it is clear that it is time to let them go.
And though uncertainty and change are nothing new to us humans, everything just feels a little harder now. Because of this, we all instinctively hold on tight. We hold on to our loved ones, trying to keep them safe and healthy. We hold on to our possessions, our money and our jobs, worried about further loss. We all are doing what we can to maintain what we have and control what we can (I pretty sure this is how hoarding starts).
Preservation is not just about holding on out of fear, though - it is about self-care, our love of history and nature, and making good food last. It seems like as soon as we get something delicious in our hands, we are figuring out how we can save it (or sell it) to our future selves. Ingenious methods of food preservation kept many of our ancestors alive and then science gave us preservatives (which was less about that). Now our preservation skill-sets are even more important as our access to resources is challenged.
So how are you preserving your food at this moment? Is your freezer stocked, have you taken up canning or are you using every scrap of leftovers? In addition, how are you trying to preserve aspects of your old life while accepting (or not) the inevitable changes in motion?