When I finish with the current novel I'm writing, the next one is going to be set in the little Bavarian town of Rothenburg ob der Tauber. (Tauber is the name of the river that runs beside it.) Though the time setting will be medeival, there are lessons to be learned from their ancient public policy, especially as we face a potential world war. Here are some pictures to give you a feel for the place, before I go on with the story.
As you can see, Rothenburg is a walled town. It was built in the days before Germany existed and even before Bavaria had it's first king. The wall around it was built more than a century before Columbus sailed in search of India. Each little city was it's own independent state/country. So the mayor would have the authority of a mini-king, or governor. They built the walls to keep out mauraders, cuthroats, villians, and other sorts of pillagers.
This fountain, named after St. George the dragon slayer, is in the central square. (Every town in that region of world seems to have been plagued by dragons which were heroically slain, usually by St. George, but in Krakow Poland, it was a smart cobbler, (shoemaker.)) But this isn't about dragons, nor valient heroes, merely wise political decisions.
Since there are no natural springs inside the city walls, they relied on deep wells and cistern-type reservoirs. This fountain is a cistern. It's about 25 feet deep and can hold 25,000 gallons of water.
How far would YOU have to walk to access a fresh water source? How would you haul water back to your house? That is a constant concern for many places in the world as we descend into another widespread war.
Once the mayor in the 1300 's was comfortable that there was enough water in town to put out fires and for drinking, cooking and washing, he went to work on public policy for the next most pressing issue. . .food.
The same wall that would keep the pillagers from the villagers would keep the villagers from their food supply. Farms are necessarily outside the city walls.
So this wise mayor made a law. Every household was required to store a year's supply of grain in their attics. That way, Rothenburgers would always be able to outlast those greedy outlaws trying to lay seige to the city.
Since this romantic town is at a crossroads for trade routes, and because of it's substantial preparation and defenses, it was never conquered nor successfully seiged.
Severing the supply chain is the very first order of business in a war. It's not hard to imagine that we could be surprised at any moment by a widespread catastrophe.
How long could your household live comfortably on the food currently stored there?
If you dislike being hungry, you might want to check out my youtube channel "Beth's Happy Home" for instructions on how to start with food storage and best practices for being prepared for when the suppy chain is severed. Act now, dear readers, like the ancient people of Rothenburg ob der Tauber, and get a suppy of food. The time may be extremely short!
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