China's canceling soybean contracts as U.S. debt just crossed 100% of GDP

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We grew food this month. From seed to plate in six days. Not in a garden. On my kitchen counter. A tray of broccoli microgreens that cost about 15 cents to produce and provided more nutrients per ounce than the full-grown broccoli at the store. No soil, no sunlight, no experience required. This might be the most accessible food production skill we've covered.

Here's what I've got this weekend.

Microgreens and Sprouts: Fresh Food in Days, Not Months

We covered container gardening in Issue 52. But microgreens and sprouts operate on a completely different timeline. Where a tomato takes 60 to 80 days from seed to harvest, microgreens take 7 to 14 days. Sprouts take 3 to 5. For emergency food production, nothing else comes close to that speed.

Sprouts are the simplest. Soak seeds (mung bean, alfalfa, lentil, broccoli) in a mason jar with a mesh lid. Rinse twice daily. In 3 to 5 days, you have fresh sprouts. No soil, no light, no equipment beyond a jar and seeds. They're rich in vitamins, enzymes, and protein. A pound of sprouting seeds ($5 to $10) produces roughly 8 to 10 pounds of fresh sprouts.

Microgreens are slightly more involved but still simple. Spread seeds densely on a thin layer of soil or growing medium in a shallow tray. Mist with water daily. After the seeds germinate (2 to 3 days), give them light (a windowsill or a basic grow light). Harvest with scissors at the soil line when the first true leaves appear, typically 7 to 14 days.

The nutritional density is remarkable. Studies show that microgreens contain 4 to 40 times the nutrients of their mature counterparts. Broccoli microgreens, for example, contain significantly more sulforaphane (a cancer-fighting compound) than adult broccoli. You're getting concentrated nutrition from minimal space and time.

For preparedness, the value is threefold. First, fresh food during a disruption when stores may be empty or produce is scarce. Second, a morale boost from eating something green and alive when everything else in your pantry is canned or dried. Third, a renewable food source, seeds store for years, and each batch produces seeds you can save for future planting.

Good starter varieties: broccoli, radish, sunflower, pea shoots, and wheatgrass for microgreens. Mung bean, lentil, alfalfa, and clover for sprouts. Start with one variety. Get comfortable with the process. Then expand.

The ongoing cost is essentially just seeds. Trays can be reused. Growing medium is cheap. A single tray on a counter produces enough microgreens for daily salad supplementation indefinitely.

Sprout mung beans in a mason jar.

Buy a bag of mung beans from the grocery store ($2 to $3). Put two tablespoons in a mason jar with water. Soak overnight. Drain, rinse twice daily for 3 to 5 days. You'll have fresh sprouts. Total effort: about two minutes per day.

U.S. federal debt crossed 100 percent of GDP this week for the first time since World War II. The Congressional Budget Office projects a $1.9 trillion deficit for fiscal year 2026, with net interest payments now exceeding $1 trillion and surpassing the entire defense budget. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell warned the current trajectory “will not end well.” High debt-to-GDP ratios historically precede currency pressure, inflation spikes, and reduced government capacity to respond to crises — all of which directly affect household purchasing power and supply availability.

Source: Congressional Budget Office; Spokesman-Review ; Fortune

Cody Lundin's When All Hell Breaks Loose includes a chapter on urban food production that emphasizes speed and simplicity. His perspective, formed by decades in the Arizona desert, prioritizes calorie and nutrient production per square foot per day, not per acre per season.

Lundin considers sprouts the ultimate emergency food: they require no soil, no light, minimal water, and produce edible food faster than any other method. He stores sprouting seeds as a core component of his food supply, noting that dry seeds last years in storage and convert to fresh, living food in days. For apartment dwellers and anyone without outdoor growing space, he considers sprouting a non-negotiable skill.

When All Hell Breaks Loose by Cody Lundin

China canceled its remaining U.S. soybean contracts this week as tariff negotiations with Beijing stalled. The U.S. sends roughly 60 percent of its annual soybean crop to China — making it the single largest buyer. With Chinese purchasers now locking in long-term contracts with Brazilian and Argentine suppliers, the shift is structural, not temporary. Downstream effects reach livestock feed prices, cooking oil costs, and processed food margins — all of which feed through to household grocery bills within weeks.

Source: Bloomberg

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Bootstrap Farmer Microgreen Growing Kit

This kit includes five 10x20 growing trays (with drainage holes and solid bottom trays), a bag of coconut coir growing medium, and enough seed variety to run five batches. I've been using it for about two months.

The system works well. Spread coir in the tray, scatter seeds densely, mist, cover for blackout (2 to 3 days), then uncover for light. Harvest at 7 to 14 days. I've grown broccoli, radish, sunflower, and pea shoot microgreens. Radish grows fastest (about 7 days). Sunflower produces the most volume.

Each tray costs roughly 50 cents in seeds and growing medium per batch and produces about 8 to 12 ounces of microgreens. That's a significant amount of fresh, nutrient-dense food for pocket change. About $38 for the 5-pack of trays.

Budget alternative: A shallow takeout container with drainage holes, a paper towel as growing medium, and seeds from the grocery store. It works. It's just less tidy. Under $3 total.

Bootstrap Farmer 5-Pack Microgreen Trays → Amazon

Overrated: Automated indoor growing systems for sprouts and microgreens. They cost $100 to $300 and automate a process that requires about two minutes of daily attention. A jar and a tray do the same job.

Underrated: Storing sprouting seeds as emergency food. A sealed mylar bag of mung beans or broccoli seeds in your pantry costs a few dollars, lasts 5 to 10 years, and converts to fresh food in less than a week. No other stored food has that conversion speed.

SproutPeople.org — Sprouting seeds, equipment, and detailed tutorials for beginners.

Bootstrap Farmer — Microgreen supplies, growing kits, and seed varieties.

Self Sufficient Me (YouTube) — Australian gardening and food self-sufficiency tutorials including microgreens.

Mother Earth News — Classic self-reliance publication with decades of indoor growing archives.

Grokipedia: Microgreens — Background on the science and nutrition of microgreens.

Backup power for medical devices. If someone in your household depends on CPAP, oxygen, insulin refrigeration, or other powered medical equipment, losing electricity isn't just inconvenient. It's dangerous.

PS: Six days from seed to salad. I keep coming back to that number. In a world where most food takes months to grow, having something that produces in less than a week feels like a cheat code.