Soviet collapse era gardening/small-scale farming really helped, yes, and it also was a pretty horrific experience. Thank god for the damn potatoes, otherwise I

Soviet collapse era gardening/small-scale farming really helped, yes, and it also was a pretty horrific experience. Thank god for the damn potatoes, otherwise I might not be typing this. That said, the weather patterns were quite favorable and the many novice farmers would have stood little chance if the climate turned on us during those hungry years. Russian summer offers no second harvest, so a failed crop means a hungry winter. With no stores of food because of the economic failures, a winter like described above would have meant widespread famine.