After many conversations with people back home in the US, New Zealand and Italy, I can safely say we are prepared. I never realized the benefits of our lifestyle from a long term perspective until this pandemic came to life. The first confirmed cases of Covid-19 in Albania happened Monday morning. I happen to be in Shkoder that afternoon unaware of the news. Our new friends shared they had overheard the news on the bus about two confirmed cases. This explained the lines and full carts at the grocery store, I was just the chauffeur. Observing the items in the carts in mass were frying oil, flour and sugar. I had to return to Shkoder on Tuesday and there was no mass buying or shelf clearing activities going on. By Wednesday the government introduced measures by Friday to lock down the personal vehicle traffic in the major cities, flights and ferries from Italy and Greece halted, the land borders are shut down for traffic other than transit goods. No known cases in northern Albania so movement to the grocery stores and the next town isn't a problem yet.
How has this affected our daily lives? To be honest it hasn't. We are still planting and working the garden, going about our day as usual. How? Well on most days we only interact with the neighbors via a holler over the fence, and the only company we have at the moment are our chickens and pigs. We did exam our pantry, freezer and deep freeze to check what we had and we are amazing prepared for months if required. Great thing about being a homesteader is that our garden, eggs via hens, and orchard provide enough food for a long while. And we have enough wine and raki to last a small army.
A more positive note, yesterday I took a trip around the garden with the camera to capture our trees that are starting to flower.
We are still fundraising for the local library. The donated books are heading to Albania. If you like to find out more please checkout our page: https://www.homesteadalbania.com/stockthelibrary