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I'm kicking myself now for not taking better care of my vegetable garden and orchard this year. But I think that's part of the answer. If you can grow stuff yourself, do it. If you have extra, sell it or give it away to others in need if you don't can or freeze it.
Community programs for self-sufficiency would be smart - if you have a lot of land and can offer some space for a community garden for those in nearby apartments, it would be great to offer out part of your land. If they are going to use your water to care for it, you can charge 5 or 10 bucks to rent a 10x10 foot space. I rented a couple of plots from the University of Michigan when I lived on campus. Those who are on campuses could start similar programs, so students can raise their own produce. I know most students leave in summer, but schools also have family housing that lives there year round.
I spoke to a few people at a John Edwards rally who said that during the depression, they were using cardboard from cereal boxes to line the inside of their shoes when the soles wore out - they had to be careful in school to keep their feet flat on the floor instead of crossing their legs, so other kids wouldn't see the cereal boxes through the holes in their shoes.
When things are bad, people also become less wasteful. I still have some habits from my poverty days that I can't break. Even when our family income was upper middle class or better, I still shopped at Salvation Army. I still can't make a turkey without throwing the bones into a soup pot afterwards, I never just throw it out.
One habit I lost was that when I lived in a community of poor people, we pooled resources for transportation and shopping. We all had cars, but the best fruit market was a distance away - so we would take turns going, and would take orders from our neighbors, and one person would collect the money, drive out and get everything and distribute it. I'd like to see something like that start up in my area for Costco, because I can't eat a case of grapes by myself before they go bad.
A small bright side is that poverty does make you less wasteful, so it's better for the environment.
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