Home gardening offers ways to trim grocery costs [Survival Today, an on going thread]

Homemade Remedies.

http://www.alternativehealth.co.nz/homemaderemedies/index.htm

**The authors of this site are neither licensed physicians nor
scientists; we simply provide a space where hard to find information
is free for the gathering. Use common sense when implementing any of
our suggestions or those of your fellow reader. **

Apply butter to minor scrapes or cuts to relieve pain and aid in
healing.

An enema of warm water and common table salt was used to relieve
constipation as well as relieve stomach viruses and intestinal
infections.

Castor Oil works well on insect bites as well as headaches and upset
stomachs.

Apply warm salt water on a burn and it will help reduce pain as well
as prevent infection.

Honey helps relieve chest congestion…you can also heat it with a
touch of whiskey and apple cider vinegar to help heal cold and flu
symptoms.

You can create your own homemade cough syrup with a mixture of sugar
and whiskey…heat till thickened.

To relieve colic, dissolve a tablespoon of baking soda in water; do
not give to children under 12.

Salt and warm water applied into ear with a dropper dissolves wax
buildup and reduces ear pain.

To reduce Garlic breath or bad breath for that matter, chew on some
fresh parsley or fresh celery. There are also teas you can drink to
help reduce bad mouth odors.

A tablespoon of peanut butter may very well cure hiccups.

One old time remedy for asthma was to breathe in salty water up your
nose several times a day; also good for relieving nasal congestion
and avoiding sinus infections if snorted with a touch of baking soda.

A mixture of warm honey, whiskey, and apple cider vinegar is an old
time remedy for arthritic bones.

For extreme body odor, pour a cup of pure tomato juice in your bath
water and soak half hour. This procedure works on pets as well.

To relieve itching on scalp or body, apply apple cider vinegar. Rinse
off after application.

A warm castor oil pack applied on soar muscles will relieve pain. For
better penetration use a heating pad over applied oil

Castor oil mixed with baking soda is an excellent treatment for
ingrown toenails as well as warts. Simply mix equal amounts, leave on
half hour and rinse clean.

Castor oil may be taken as an antitoxin as well as may be useful in
the battle against infuenza...works to strengthen the immune system.

Rub a lemon slice on skin to instantly reduce oils… …also works well
for age spots and lightening hair.

A note on Body Care: Do not over-exfoliate your skin…it may cause
over drying and flakiness. Always remember to moisturize after
exfoliation…especially for drier skins. When using astringents, it is
best to use alcohol free products. Using a cotton washcloth with a
mild soap daily is more than enough exfoliation for the body.

Footcare: If you suffer from dry ruff feet, simply put them in warm
water and epsom mineral salts for approximately 30 minutes..remove
and rinse with lukewarm water and a mild soap. Apply pure vitamin E
moisturizer or break apart a vitamin E capsule and rub all over foot
and ankle area. Put on a pair of socks and closed shoes. Repeat for
about a month and feet will look and feel more supple.

This also works with discolored and brittle toe nails due to over use
of nail polishes, which by the way are not healthy for toenails. The
structure of toenails is different from that of finger nails. By
constant application of polish to toenails, you are not allowing the
nail to breathe causing a lot of the fungus infections we see today.
A comfortable shoe will help with your foot restoration process.

Bubble Bath Gels are the leading cause of genital irritations. Use
sparingly and make sure to rinse yourself as well as your children;
try to purchase one with minimal additives.

An enema of warm water and common table salt was used to relieve
constipation as well as relieve stomach viruses and intestinal
infections.

Epsom Salts may be used as an internal laxative. It increases the
water in your intestines thus promoting pressure leading to a bowel
movement. Read instructions on box concerning measurements and usage
for children… remember, laxatives in any form should only be used as
temporary constipation relief.

Epsom salts is excellent in a warm bath for sprains and bruises,
arthritis, and stiff joints…as well as muscle aches.

Epsom Salts bath will not only relax your body but also promotes
healthy blood circulation.

Epsom Salts will also help with pain of insect bites as well as draw
out splinters in skin.

Epsom Salts will deep clean your pores as well as soften skin.

Epsom Salts should be used only in moderation. Read package
instructions carefully.

Honey added to any cold drink will energize you.

Honey added to a hot tea in the evening will promote restful sleep.

For indigestion, take a tablespoon of honey to relieve acid buildup.

Honey has been used to treat heart disease... using it as a sweetener
every day is quite beneficial for your heart.

Honey is wonderful for children as a disinfectant for minor skin
wounds as well as promotes healing.

Use on lips for both children and adults to treat dryness and chapped
skin.

Lemon juice can be mixed in with most drinks as an antioxidant.

Lemon is great for bad breathe as well as helping to fight bacterial
infections, which is why it is often used in hot teas when you have a
cold.

Lemon can also be applied on minor body fungi.

Lemon oil makes a delightful fragrance for the body and may be mixed
with perfume body oils for that extra fresh scent that lasts all day.

Lemon juice was used in olden days to help reduce slight fevers as
well as great in the treatment of sore throats and mouth sores.

SALT is cheap as well as useful; as with baking soda, it may be added
to other natural cleaners as a mild abrasive.

1) Salt makes a great antibiotic for minor scrapes and cuts.
2) Salt makes an excellent gargle mixed with warm water…
mix equal parts salt and warm water.
3) If you run out of toothpaste, salt may be used in place of your
regular toothpaste… for added whiteness, use along with baking soda

Salt may be mixed with honey as a scrub mask for oilier skin.

Salt and beaten egg-whites may be used as a quick scrub. Sugar is
often used with honey or beaten egg-whites for drier skins…milder.
Never apply a mask or scrub around eye area! The tissue of the eye
area is thinner and weaker than the rest of your face and neck.

For chapped lips, scrub gently with honey…then apply a gentle
moisturizer such as olive oil or coconut oil.

Olive oil is a wonderful moisturizer for both hair, body, and face as
well as a great make-up remover.

Olive oil may also be used as a hair conditioner for dry scalp and/or
dry, lifeless, chemically treated hair.

Olive Oil may also be taken for constipation.

The following is a simple all natural daily facial cleansing regiment
handed down by women in my family.

1) Apply olive oil. Wipe clean.
2) Beat the whites of an egg and apply all over face and neck area;
let dry. Your face will tighten. Rinse off with warm water. Oilier
skins should leave on for a longer amount of time and rinse off with
cold water.
3) Mix equal parts honey and sugar…apply all over face and neck area.
Massage in circular motion avoiding the eye area; then simply rinse
off with warm water. Oilier skins may mix honey and salt then rinse
off with cold water.
4) Wash with a mild soap and warm water.
5) On a cotton ball apply rose water over face and neck area. Let dry.
6) Finish off by applying a gentle moisturizer.

PLEASE NOTE: The eye area has thinner, drier tissue; only apply a
gentle moisturizer in such an area. Your local health food stores
carry wonderful natural eye moisturizers. The above steps may be used
daily with the exception of your facial mask and scrub which should
only be applied two to four times a month depending on strength and
oiliness of skin.

I also recommend a milk bath. Just fill your tub with warm water and
however much milk you’d like…your skin will thank you for it and so
will your face and hair…good for all skin types!

From Wayne, Little Rock, AK: River/Lake mud on a bee/hornet sting
will take the sting away
immedeatly.

A Note on Garlic and Apple Cider Vinegar:
Garlic and vinegar boost your immune system and contain antibiotic
properties which can be helpful in cold weather; not to mention they
slow down the aging process and in some cases help reduce high blood
pressure. Vinegar also cuts out fat that’s been stored in your body.

Onions as well have cleansing properties.

I’m sure you’ve heard quite a bit about Lycopene which is found in
tomatoes and helps fight heart disease and cancer; well… here’s a
list of some other foods that contain this important nutrient. I’ve
listed these in order from highest concentration to lowest:

Tomato paste
Ketchup
Spaghetti sauce (no meat
Tomato soup
Fresh tomatoes
Tomato juice
Lasagne with meat sauce
Watermelon
Pizza (not white pizza)
All types of grapefruit

A natural old-time way to heal warts is to apply juice from milkweed
a couple times a day for about 3 weeks or until wart starts to
disappear.

Castor Oil works well on insect bites as well as headaches and upset
stomachs; it doesn’t have a very pleasant taste and can be taken with
cold peppermint tea to remove lingering taste.
Honey helps relieve chest congestion…you can also heat it with a
touch of whiskey and apple cider vinegar to help heal general cold
and flu symptoms; take it easy on the whiskey…avoid the whiskey part
with children.
Take baking soda dissolved in water to relieve colic; do not give to
children under 12.
Salt and warm water applied in ear will dissolve the wax build up and
possibly rid your ear ache. Wax build up in the ear can cause pain.
Keep in mind though if the pain turns into an infection, seek medical
help immediately. Don’t play around with your inner ear- prolonged
infection is the quickest way to hearing loss.
Remember that Garlic is great for your heart…eat plenty in any form
followed by some fresh parsley or fresh celery to remove bad breath…
I’ve also mentioned teas you can drink to help with continuous bad
breath.
A tablespoon of peanut butter will cure hiccups…startling someone is
an old wives tale that really doesn’t work; also, don’t hold your
children up side down to remove hiccups.
For healthier blood as well as circulation, drink sassafras root tea
once a day. One old time home remedy for asthma was to breathe in
salty water up your nose several times a day; also good for relieving
nasal congestion and avoiding sinus infection if snorted with a touch
of baking soda.
If you are a woman prone to bladder or urinary trac infections,
always wash immediately following intercourse. Dry off with clean
100% cotton towel.
A warm bath with Epsom Salts will relax muscles, bones and nerves. It
will also help in the healing of certain minor rashes, cuts or
bruises.
For early sinus relief apply a warm wash cloth to affected sinus
area. It will help your sinuses drain and release pressure thus
interrupt formation of an infection. Repeat about three times a day
or as needed.
Drink eight to sixteen 8oz. Glasses of water a day to get rid of
STORED FAT already in your system. Use this method in moderation…
water can also eliminate much needed nutrients if taken in excess for
long periods of time.
Intake of butter rather than margarine or butter substitutes is
healthier…use butter in moderation.
The ingredients in sugar substitutes are not as healthy for
consumption as pure sugar. Choose foods and drinks containing their
own naturally produced sugar. Honey as a sweetener is still your best
bet…the same goes for fat free products; these also go through a
chemical process in order to remove their fat content; often with
additives left in. Purchase products naturally lower in fat and
cholesterol
AMENORRHEA: (Unexplainable lack of monthly menstrual cycle)
Some causes found are:

Constant Dieting

Anemia

Being underweight

Stress

Over exercising

Some Physiological disorders

Lack of proteins as a result of a poorly maintained vegetarian diet,
Vegetarians need B-12 supplementation!

Low iron intake

Be sensible and try to make changes according to the causes listed
above. Eat healthier, exercise in moderation, relax more and finally
seek testing and guidance from your health practitioner.

Using a Hatchet to Make a Bow

by Stephen Coote

http://www.primitiveways.com/hatchet_bow.html

This article has been put together as a guide to a beginner who has
the desire to make a bow from a sapling using just a hatchet. Bow
making basics like selection of suitable wood and the process of
tillering are covered elsewhere. The description which follows is
just a guide as to how the job might be tackled.

There really isn’t much to say on the topic. The first thing to state
is that it is quite possible, perhaps even easy, to make a functional
bow using nothing but a hatchet.

A hatchet can be quite a dangerous tool if used improperly. Because
it has a short handle, it is quite easy for it to swing against your
body. If chopping something with a downward stroke, it is a good idea
to keep your handle as low as possible...then if the hatchet swings
further than intended it may hit the ground before it gets you.
Always try to be aware of where the hatchet may end up as you make a
cut. Think about what you are doing. If you are holding the workpiece
with your hand, ensure that your hand is well clear of the chopping
area. A hatchet becomes more easily controlled when it is grasped
near the blade and used to make small slicing cuts. Most of the
finishing cuts on your bow will probably be made like this:

The choice of hatchet is a personal matter. At present I have five
different hatchets and two small tomahawks and they all perform well
enough. Currently I prefer a lighter hatchet, especially if I am
going to be using it for a long time. Some folks may prefer a special
hatchet which is sharpened with a bevel on just one side, and this
probably has some advantages. However, all my hatchets just have a
standard double bevel - but they are sharp.

Using a hatchet alone to shape a bow makes the whole process quite
convenient and portable. When a drawknife is used, some device to
hold the stave is usually desirable - and generally these things are
not very portable. If a rasp or sander is used, quite a bit of dust
is generated, whereas the hatchet creates chips that are easier to
clean up. I have worked on a bow with a hatchet during breaks at my
office. All I needed was the stave and the hatchet... and a few
moments to sweep up afterwards.

When heavy cuts are being made in the initial “rough out” stage of
making the bow, it is best to sit the end of the stave on a sturdy
wooden chopping block. When you get to the stage of making finer
cuts, the only time you might need some sort of chopping block is
when the floor needs protecting from cuts being made near the end of
the stave. An old magazine, or a pad of leather or cloth may help to
protect a special floor and reduce the noise. When making light cuts
with a sharp hatchet, very little force is required. I sometimes make
these cuts while sitting, with the stave lying on an angle between my
left shoulder and the floor.

When the first heavy cuts are being made, it may be best to work from
the middle of the stave downwards. When half the stave is roughed
into shape, the stave can be turned and the other half can be worked
on. You will soon find out what works best.

If you make a fairly good job of shaping the belly and sides of the
bow with your hatchet, you may decide to leave the surfaces as they
are. If you decide that the wood needs to be smoother, you could use
your sharp hatchet blade as a scraper to do the job. A steel scraper
is a good tool to use to create a nice smooth finish, but your
hatchet should suffice. It is a good idea to smoothly round the
corners of any bow to help it cope with the stresses of being bent.

Below is a diagram which suggests how a bow could be cut from a
sapling stave with a hatchet. I recommend that you leave the bark
side of the sapling as the back of the bow (the side that faces away
from the archer), and that you do not cut or damage the back in any
way. The bow shown in the diagram is intended to be one that bends
fully along its length... it does not have a stiff handle section.

It is often stated that flat belly is best on a bow. However I find
it easier (and quicker) to make a bow if the belly is at least
partially rounded. With the method shown in the diagram above the
belly is most likely to end up a little rounded. It could be made
flat if not too much is cut off the corners of the belly at the
start. No matter what type of belly is chosen, I recommend that you
always smoothly round off all the edges. A hatchet with a slightly
rounded blade can be used to produce a flat or a rounded belly.

Nocks can be cut into the bow by making light chopping cuts and then
using the hatchet blade as a knife to cut the notches. To make the
cuts required for the nock, I generally grasp the head of the hatchet
and force it downwards into the wood while it is sitting on a firm
surface. The hatchet can be rocked a little in a side-to-side motion
as the cut is made. A single notch at each end of the bow (on
opposite sides) can work well enough. A single notch nock is shown in
the photograph near the top of this article, but there are several
different types of nock which could be used.

If you have never made a bow, it would be a good idea to do some
research. There are some good books on the subject, and there is some
very good information on the internet (see other items on this site).
If you want to start making a bow without doing the research you can
still succeed. I would suggest that you select dense, straight,
blemish-free wood. Generally a bow should be over twice the length of
your draw length. A beginner might like to start by making a bow at
least as tall as him/herself. You can “rough cut” the stave while it
is still green, but you should not start to bend the stave until it
has become completely dry. A wider bow is less likely to break than a
narrow bow of the same draw weight.

Below is a fully-bending bow that was cut with a hatchet from a
small “snakey” sapling.

Sausage Recipes

http://www.sugarmountainhome.com/livestock/sausagerecipes.html

These recipes can be used with pork, beef, venison, even turkey or
other meats for making your own sausage.

Breakfast sausage:

10 pounds ground meat
2-3 pounds pork or beef fat (vegetable shortening or lard could be
substituted)
6 teaspoons salt
4 teaspoons sage
4 teaspoons pepper
2 teaspoons sugar
2 teaspoons paprika
1 teaspoon celery seed
1/8 teaspoon ginger
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg

Combine ingredients, mix well, run through grinder again if
necessary. Package in quart sized or sandwich bag sized zip-lock
bags as desired, and freeze.

Italian Sausage:

10 pounds meat
2-3 pounds fat (beef or pork)
2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons pepper
2 teaspoons fennel seed
2 teaspoons garlic
1/2 to 1 teaspoon red pepper (or to your taste)

Grind meat and fat together. Mix spices well with ground meat, run
through grinder again if necessary, and bag for freezer.

Chorizo

5 pounds lean meat
1/2 pound pork or beef fat
5 cloves garlic or 10 teaspoons of garlic sauce
4-6 chili peppers to taste, chopped (OR) 4-6 tablespoons dried chili
peppers
1 cup onion, finely chopped
1/2 cup brandy (plain brandy, not flavored)
2/3 cup chili powder
2 teaspoons black pepper
2 teaspoons ground coriander
3 teaspoons cumin
salt to taste
1 teaspoon Tabasco sauce
1 cup vinegar

Grind the meat and fat together, combine ground meat with spices and
seasonings. Mix well. Bag for freezer or refrigerate for 24 hours
before using (this allows your flavors to mix well).

Basic Country Sausage: (There are many variations of this, and
really it all depends on what YOU like).

10 pounds meat
2 tablespoons salt
4 teaspoons sage
4 teaspoons pepper

or

8 pounds meat
2 tablespoons salt
8 teaspoons sage
4 teaspoons pepper
1 teaspoon ground cloves
2 teaspoons nutmeg, thyme, or allspice (or combination)

or

10 pounds meat
1/2 teaspoon marjoram
1 teaspoon dried mustard
2 tablespoons salt
1 tablespoon pepper

Spicy Country Sausage

10 pounds meat
2 tablespoons salt
5 teaspoons pepper
Add your choices of:
2 1/2 teaspoons dry mustard
2 1/2 teaspoons cloves
5 teaspoons cayenne pepper
6 1/2 tablespoons sage
5 teaspoons fennel seed
2 teaspoons garlic
5 teaspoons marjoram

Grind meat, mix spices to taste. Bag for freezer.

Quantity sausage recipe:

100 pounds ground meat
1 3/4 cups salt
1/4 to 1/2 cup sage
1/4 to 1/2 cup pepper
1/8 to 1/4 cup cayenne pepper
1/8 to 1/4 cup ground cloves or 1/4 cup nutmeg

Mix ground meat well with spices. With this quantity of meat, you
may really want to run it all back through the grinder again to mix
it well with the spices. Bag for freezer.

Welcome to the thread.

Yes, I thought it sounded good, of course it has been years since I met a fresh berry, but have fond memories of them.

I try to find something for all the areas and not just Arizona cactus for dinner.

Welcome to the thread.

I knew the green tea was good for you, but I do not recall ever seeing a white tea for sale, is it a normal tea? or an herbal tea?

Do join in, this is not a granny only thread, but I think most of the early joiners are all planting until they drop.

There were lots of big and bigger than ever before gardens planned by many Freepers this year.

How to Create a Safe Room

A safe room is intended to offer protection from a chemical or
biological incident by minimizing the amount of the agent that enters
the room, thereby reducing or eliminating its effect on the
occupants. They are especially useful when infants or small children
are present in the home, since it is difficult or expensive to obtain
personal protection systems designed for kids. A safe room also
provides protection for pets as well as giving its occupants
mobility, a place to sleep, and allows reading and watching TV more
easily than a gas mask and chemical safety suit. When equipped with a
robust HEPA filter, it may also offer protection for longer periods
of time than a gas mask filter, which generally has a 3.5-hour life
span in a toxic environment.

People in Israel and those who live near chemical manufacturing or
processing plans have created safe rooms in their homes for years.
Captain Dave has reviewed data from multiple military and industrial
sources, including the Israeli Defense Force, and is please to
recommended the following guidelines to preparing your own safe room:

Picking the Safe Room Location

Pick a room on an upper floor (not the basement) with few windows.
The fewer external walls, the better. A room with an adjoining
bathroom is always nice. We often recommend the master bedroom since
it usually includes full bathroom facilities, a TV, a phone and is
comfortable. Basement rooms should not be chosen because some poison
gasses have a tendency to collect in low places.

The room should have a minimum of one-square yard of floor space per
person, but for optimal comfort, at least twice this much space is
recommended.

Preparing the Room Ahead of Time

Ideally, you are reading this well ahead of a biological or chemical
emergency and have time to plan and prepare your room. Preparations
include both steps you can take to make the room airtight and
supplies you may want to store in the safe room.

Buy enough of the following to cover all the windows and other
entrances in your safe room area:

Weather stripping (get enough for the door, too.)

Clear plastic film, at least 1 mm thick, wide enough to cover your
windows

Scissors or something else to cut the plastic to fit

Duct tape

Caulk and a caulk gun

A portable HEPA air filtration system. (You can create safe room
without the HEPA filter device, but this will significantly increase
your level of protection.)
Before the event, install the weather stripping material on all
windows, ensuring that they seal tightly in a manner that eliminates
the transfer of air from outside to the inside of your home. (This is
a good investment because it will better insulate your house and
lower your heating and cooling bills.) Also install weather stripping
on the door(s) to the safe room, even if it only leads to another
room. You can also add weather stripping on your external doors
elsewhere in the house — it won’t hurt and will probably help.

If you have an older house or older windows, caulk the windows to
prevent any drafts or leakage. Also caulk any other locations where
air might penetrate your house, such as holes where cable and phone
wires enter the room.

Set up the HEPA filter and plug it in. (HEPA stands for High
Efficiency Particle Arresting and removes 99.97 percent of all
particles 0.3 microns or larger and is recommended in the Wall Street
Journal as a way to remove Anthrax bacteria and other harmful
substance from the air. If you buy a unit such as the Austin Air
filter that Captain Dave recommends, it will also remove volatile
organic compounds and chemicals from the air.) You will benefit from
the advantages of an air purifier whether or not there is a chemical
or biological emergency.

Store the following items in a box or two in the safe room:

Bottled water, juice, sports drinks or other beverages

Food that can be stored for a long time yet requires little or no
preparation, such as peanut butter and crackers, peanuts or mixed
nuts, energy bars, candy bars, pretzels, pudding packs individual
servings of applesauce, etc.

A portable radio with fresh batteries

A flashlight with fresh batteries

Extra batteries for each

A deck of cards, a few books and games or activities to keep you busy.

Any basic toiletries or medicines you may need.

A fan, as it may become warm in a confined space, and you must shut
off the air conditioning to prevent it from bring outside air into
the safe room.
Once you have everything in place and installed, you can rest a bit
easier until such time you feel a chemical or biological emergency is
imminent. If you have established your bedroom as the safe room, you
will have a high degree of safety with the HEPA filter on and the
doors and windows sealed, even if there is an attack while you are
asleep.

How do you know when to go to your safe room?

While there may be a broadcast alert, either through an all-news TV
or radio station, or some official notification of an attack or
emergency — such as sirens — your senses are also important. Use
your five senses as well as your common sense to determine when you
should retreat to a safe room.

Some dangerous chemicals will cause you to experience a burning or
itching in the eyes, nose and throat. Others, such as chlorine or
ammonia, will have a distinctive smell. Also be aware of explosions
or other sounds that could represent some type of munitions. All are
cues to retreat to the safe room. Visual cues for a biological attack
might include a low-flying crop duster in parts where there are no
crops or a truck with a large plume of white spray fanning out behind
it.

Decontamination

If you are exposed during an attack — outside the house, in your car
or otherwise feel you may have been contaminated — your best bet is
to immediately return home and park outside your house. Remove all
your clothing and personal items and put everything in a plastic
garbage bag, sealing it shut for later decontamination. Then retreat
from your car to your garage, leaving the car outside so it does not
contaminate your house. Many garages have a hose and drain on the
floor. If yours does, take advantage of this to hose yourself off
with water. Wash thoroughly two or three times with antibacterial
soap and let the suds stay on you for at least one minute prior to
rinsing. Wash your hair very well, too. If you do not have a hose in
the garage, hose yourself off outside. (If you are terribly shy,
leave on your underwear.)

Then use clean towels to dry off prior to entering the house. Rub
yourself vigorously and then leave the towels in the garage. Enter
your house as the day you were born, with nothing on, including shoes
and jewelry. Do not bring your purse, wallet, gun or other items
unless they have been thoroughly decontaminated with Lysol, bleach or
another disinfectant. Once you are inside, retreat to the safe room
and again shower in the bathroom, using a strong soap.

In Event of an Attack

If you expect an imminent attack or believe there is a danger from
biological or chemical attack, you should:

Immediately close all windows and doors

Turn off all heating or air conditioning

Put on your gas mask

Gather all residents of the home, including pets, and retreat to the
safe room

Turn on the HEPA filter

If you have not already done so, cover the windows in your safe room
with plastic (preferably clear so that you can see out and light can
get in), taping the plastic all around with duct tape or another
strong tape. (Some systems made to insulate windows allow you to heat
the plastic with a hair dry to cause it to tighten up and look
better. Captain Dave has not tested this system and notes that the
important issue is integrity of the seal, not appearances.)

Apply additional tape over the cracks around windows and the door to
prevent any air transfer. Take a bath towel, moisten it, fold or roll
it and place it against the crack under the door.

Also cover with plastic, taped securely in place all air
conditioning/heater vents (don’t forget the bathroom fan) and any
other hole, void, crack or crevice where outside air might enter the
room.

Fill the tub and sink bowl with water, putting the stopper in place.

Take a deep breath — you are now as safe from biological or chemical
attack as you can be without spending thousands of dollars.

How do you know when it is safe to leave the room?

Your best bet is to wait for some kind of official notification, such
as an all-clear siren or broadcast.

With chemicals, the danger usually dissipates in a number of hours.
Weather conditions play a role in how quickly the chemicals are
diluted to a residual level that is no longer dangerous. Wind, for
example, will cause the chemicals to blow away. Usually, you can
leave the safe room after a number of hours from the incident,
assuming there are not continued attacks or leaks (in the case of an
industrial emergency).

With a biological threat, the danger can last much longer. Anthrax
and other bacteria and viruses may break down after exposure to
sunlight, but weaponized anthrax is a bit of a question mark. Plus,
there may be residual amounts remaining at ground level which could
be stirred up when you walk through it. If you are certain that
Anthrax or another biological hazard has been spread in your
neighborhood, we suggest that you stay in your safe room as long as
you can comfortably do so without running out of oxygen, water or
food. Even then, utilize caution when leaving the house and consider
getting a test or possible antibiotic treatment.

WARNING: You must always keep in mind the amount of oxygen in the
room. If the room is completely sealed, you will be consuming oxygen
and exhaling carbon dioxide. Dying from a lack of oxygen is not a
positive outcome, especially when the chemical or biological threat
may not have actually materialized or the danger may have passed. If
you notice your breath becoming shallow or rapid, or you experience
any other symptoms that may reflect oxygen deprivation, you should
immediately don your gas mask and open a door to another part of the
house to let in some fresh air. This is where a HEPA filter can have
a great benefit. It not only removes 99.97 percent of all harmful
particles greater than 0.3 microns, some models create a “clean air
pocket” near the exit area of the filter.

Jerusalem Artichokes: poor man’s potatoes

Your first harvest can begin after the tops die back for winter. Dig
in spots scattered throughout the bed. The tubers are sort of knobby
and skinless, and you will recognize them as being like what you
planted. They keep best right in the ground, and can be dug anytime
it is not frozen. To get your bed established, you may need a thin
layer of mulch over the whole area for the first year or two. Soon
the tops will provide that by themselves. For a large harvest, you
should be feeding the soil by adding some composted manure or
fertilizer in the spring. For a winter harvest, protect a strip in
the bed from freezing by adding a thick layer of mulch. Move the
strip each year so that the roots will fill back in.

Jerusalem Artichokes can survive with no attention for many years,
awaiting your need to eat them. That makes it ideal for establishing
a bed at your summer cabin or retreat location. I will have to be
honest, I like potatoes better. But any food that grows in permanent
beds, requiring little care, is very good to have around the
homestead. Native Americans grew Jerusalem Artichokes widely in areas
where there is enough rainfall for corn to be grown.

Jerusalem artichokes were also used by settlers to help in clearing
forests into pastures. They cut off all the trees and brush, and
fenced the area for pigs with some of the drying logs. Then a crop of
Jerusalem artichokes was planted and allowed to grow for a year.
Using iron bars to make holes, ears of dry corn were driven deep
under stumps and rocks, and a herd of pigs was turned into the field
until fall. They do a wonderful job of digging up, and fertilizing
the whole field. They also loosen up all the stumps and rocks. The
dry logs could then be used for other things, the rocks made into
permanent stone walls, and the stumps burned. The field is ready to
plant corn.

The reason Jerusalem Artichokes got the nickname of poor man’s
potatoes is they can be harvested with little planning and work. I
think real prosperity always comes from good planning and hard work.

Making Cordage

by Scott Stoddard (American Survival Guide) March 1995

In the hierarchy of tools, rope and cordage must be near the top. A
good knife is probably more important, as well as flint and steel for
starting fires, but cordage has got to be right up there. It can hunt
for you, help shelter you, and with sufficient strength, cordage can
even
save your life.

I remember as a kid trying to use weeds and grasses to tie and bind
things
together. Either the material was too weak to really do anything
with,
or too stiff and brittle (knot tying caused it to self destruct).
Green
pine needles sometimes worked but they were only four or five inches
long.
Sometimes shaving off thin, long pieces of bark from certain trees
worked,
but most of my experiments were failures.

It wasn’t until I began to deer hunt that I would find a natural
material
strong enough and pliable enough to really work as cordage. With the
help of Larry Dean Olsen’s book “Outdoor Survival Skills”, I learned
to
make sinew string from deer tendon. The fibers in sinew are strong
enough to make a bow string, and with its natural glue, sinew can be
used
to hold arrows on shafts, strengthen bow staves and for wrapping and
hafting stone implements.

At a “Soldier of Fortune” convention a few years ago, Linda Jamison
showed me
how to make cordage using dogbane. Dogbane is considered by many to
be
the best material available for cordage. When I was done, my twin
looked
as professional as anything available from the store. Other vegetable
materials that work are common weeds such as stinging nettle, and
velvet-
leaf, and hemp (widely used for illegal smoking). The fibrous, inner
bark of cedar works well, as well as the non fibrous inner bark of
osage
orange-one of the best woods for making bow staves.

Yucca Cordage-Here in the Southwest we have an almost unlimited supply
of yucca (spanish bayonet) and agave. Yucca has some of the strongest
fibers for making cordage and is simple to prepare. You begin by
cutting
a few leaves from the plant, being careful not to spike yourself. It
is best to cut the sharp point off for safety sake. After harvesting
a few leaves, you will need to remove the outer green pulp by either
scraping with a knife, rubbing over a rock, or by pounding gently with
a mallet (don’t break the fibers in the process). Then soak the
leaves
in water for a number of hours (may take up to two days) to separate
the pulp from the fiber. This process is called retting.

Separate the leaves into narrow strips with about 10-20 fibers per
strip.
Taking two strands or “strips” of fibers in your left hand, begin
twisting
the top strand (the one on the right) with your thumb and fore-finger
and twist in a clockwise direction. These two steps are repeated over
and over to produce a length of cord. Another way to say it would be
to: (1) Twist the top (right side) strand in a clockwise direction.
(2) Twist both strands together in a counter clockwise direction. If
equal twisting force is applied in both of these two steps, your twine
will come out looking evenly spaced and uniform. When you begin to
run
out of fiber (2-3 inches left), get ready to splice in a new length of
fiber strand. The key to splicing is to not splice both strands at
the same time. Shorten one if you have to, and splice by twisting in
a new strand clockwise with your top strand. Fold down and crank
counter clockwise like you normally do over the bottom strand. Keep
twisting and cranking, and watch your splice disappear into the
completed
cord.

There is something very satisfying about taking natural materials and
rendering them into something useful with your own two hands.
Experiment
with materials in your own backyard or local woods. See what works
and
what doesn’t. Then once you find a plant source that will produce
successful results, start twisting.

FEMA training courses

If you’re interested in taking on-campus or online “Emergency Management”
classes from Emer. Man. Institute. Then here’s the link:

http://training.fema.gov/EMICourses/EMICourse.asp

The list of courses and schedules are attached also.

Our group of families try to take at least two courses a year.

Great training here for any type of disaster. Many perc’s come with training,
and will open many doors of opportunity for you when disaster happens, or when
TSHTF finally. Being part of this group, will give you access to much needed
information when times get real tough, and you’re not hearing the entire story.
You have to read between the lines on this part.

Our group of 12 families take the courses online from the Institute, as there
is no campus close to us.

Western Washington Emergency Preparedness Families (Chris)

Community Emergency Response Teams (CERT)

https://www.citizencorps.gov/cert/

Check out this website for all the information you need on CERT.

This is a great program with all the information needed for training and
starting your own group.

We have a group in Pierce County and are starting a new CERT group in Mason
County in Washington State, as we have 12 families in about 4 counties here in
Washington.

We highly recommend this training and organization.

Western Washington Emergency Preparedness Families (Chris)

About shortwave and a portable for sale:

http://affordableshortwaves.googlepages.com/

ADVICE FROM AN OLD
TENNESSEE MOUNTAIN MAN

Your fences need to be horse-high,
pig-tight and bull-strong.
*
Keep skunks and bankers
and lawyers at a distance.
*
Life is simpler when you
plow around the stump.
*
A bumble bee is considerably
faster than a John Deere tractor.
*
Words that soak into your ears
are whispered... not yelled.
*
Meanness don’t jes’
happen overnight.
*
Forgive your enemies.
It messes up their heads.
*
Do not corner something
that you know is meaner than you.
*
It doesn’t take a very big person
to carry a grudge.
*
You cannot unsay a cruel,
or unkind word.
*
Every path has a few puddles.
*
When you wallow with pigs,
expect to get dirty.
*
The best sermons are lived,
not preached.
*
Most of the stuff people worry about
ain’t never gonna happen anyway.
*
Don’t judge folks by their relatives.
*
Remember that silence
is sometimes the best answer.
*
Live a good, honorable life.
Then when you get older and think back,
you’ll enjoy it a second time.
*
Don’t interfere with somethin’
that ain’t botherin’ you none.
*
Timing has a lot to do with
the outcome of a rain dance.
*
If you find yourself in a hole,
the first thing to do is stop diggin’.
*
Sometimes you get,
and sometimes you get got.
*
The biggest troublemaker
you’ll probably ever have to deal with,
watches you from the mirror
every mornin’.
*
Always drink upstream
from the herd.
*
Good judgment comes from experience,
and a lotta that comes from bad judgment.
*
Lettin’ the cat outta the bag
is a whole lot easier
than puttin’ it back in.
*
If you get to thinkin’
you’re a person of some influence,
try orderin’ somebody else’s dog around.
*
Live simply.
Love generously.
Care deeply.
Speak kindly.

Winter Squash

Did you know that one cup of winter squash provides 146% of your daily
value of vitamin A and is rich in beta carotene, the pre-cursor to
vitamin A? Beta-carotene is one of the carotenoids found in winter
squash that provides it with its deep orange color and has been shown
to have powerful antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties.
Antioxidants help prevent the progression of atherosclerosis by
inhibiting the oxidation of cholesterol in the body. Since it is only
the oxidized form of cholesterol that builds up in the blood vessel
walls, these antioxidants help protect against both heart attack and
stroke. The anti-inflammatory properties of winter squash may help
reduce the severity of conditions such as asthma, osteoarthritis and
rheumatoid arthritis, which all involve inflammation. And that’s not
all. The carotenoids found in winter squash protect against diabetic
heart disease and may be beneficial to blood sugar regulation for those
suffering from diabetes. Research suggests carotenoids may be inversely
associated with insulin resistance and high blood sugar levels

Basic Seed Saving

Table of Contents
Find links to specific seed saving instructions for 27 common vegetables. This
online information comes from Basic Seed Saving, a 48 page paperback book
written by Bill McDorman. It was created to provide enough practical information
to allow gardeners to embark on the rewarding adventure of saving their own
seeds. Printed copies are available for $5.95.
http://www.seedsave.org/issi/issi_904.html

Save Your Seeds! - How-To Directions
http://www.care2.com/greenliving/save-your-seeds-how-to-directions.html

How to Save Seeds
by Judy Gaunt
http://www.life.ca/nl/42/seeds.html

http://www.nextenergynews.com/news1/next-energy-news-las-vegas-vertical-farm-1.2b.html

Las Vegas to Build World’s First 30 Story Vertical Farm

Las Vegas the tourist mecca of the World is set to begin development of the World’s first vertical farm. The $200 million dollar project is designed to be a functional and profitable working farm growing enough food to feed 72,000 people for a year and provide another tourist attraction to the city that does everything in a larger than life way.

The World currently uses about 80% of the available farm land and 60% of the earth’s population lives near or in an urban environment so the logical choice for farming is to go up for land where the environment can be controlled and where distribution is local. Las Vegas is seen as the perfect location for this project by Nevada State officials who would like to demonstrate their sustainability and environmental awareness instead of projecting an image of waste and excess.

Although the project initial cost is high at $200 million, with annual revenue of $25 million from produce and another $15 million from tourists the 30 story vertical farm would be about as profitable as a casino with operating expenses only being about $6 million a year.

There would be about 100 different crops grown ranging from strawberries to lettuce even miniature banana trees could be grown from each floors specially controlled environment. The products would go straight to the casinos and hotel properties and be a very visible and desirable addition to the overall Las Vegas experience. Design details should be worked out in 2008 and the project could open its doors by the middle of 2010.

I think white tea is a variety touted like green tea for
high antioxident content.

Wifey bought the white peachy because they were out of the diet green.

I take it with me as I go about mu daily travels.

Correct link for 25,000 pages of free info.

website for the 25,000 pages of FREE downloadable
Emergency Preparation and Survival Information. The founder of the website
contacted me today with the correct website.

http://www.survivalring.org/allhazards/

You can download all 25,000 pages (it took me about 4 hours to do that).

Or pay $40 for all that information on 2 CD discs.

Whatever way you choose, there’s a wealth of information in this material.

Now to each of you that only needs a knive and flint for all your survival
needs,
I can’t say I admire you, as I want some of the comforts of home and as much
knowledge and skills as I and other families can possess.

[I took a quick look, it is worth further checking, a wide variety of subjects, old and new....granny]

CREATING AN INDIAN GARDEN
by Frances B. King

Tired of giving away tomatoes? Bored with planting the same old
things
every year? Reconstructing a historic Indian garden involves learning
new
plants and growing methods. Many varieties of each plant can be used,
ranging anywhere from old types that are barely domesticated to
highly bred
modern hybrids. In fact, many ancient varieties grow better than the
weeds
that become such a chore to remove during the hottest part of the
summer.
They do this because they have remained little more than weeds
themselves.
Speaking of weeds, many common weeds produce edible greens that were
collected by the Indians for food and therefore belong in such a
garden.
An Indian garden can be aesthetically pleasing and designed to fit
into
almost any size area. Several of the plants grown by historic Indians
are
planted today primarily as ornamental or “novelties” including
sunflowers,
pumpkins, bottle gourds and small ornamental gourds. Some varieties
are
grown by only a few people who find enjoyment in preserving ancient
types,
often called heirloom varieties. Most of the plants grown by historic
Indians were fairly large, giving an abundant return for a few seeds
and a
little time.
The rewards of growing an Indian garden are greatly enhanced by
reading
about Indian lifeways, specific plants, religious ceremonies centered
around crops, or cooking methods. The produce from the garden can be
the
basis of an Indian dinner (a traditional stew perhaps) as well as
used as
decorations or to fill a feeding station for birds.

CORN
At the time of European contact corn (Zea mays) was the most
important
crop of the Indians in eastern North America. The Indians had five
kinds of
corn: flint, dent, flour, pop and sweet. Flint corn had wide, hard
kernels
on a long, slender cob. Dent corn was grown only in the Southeast, and
because of its late appearance in the archaeological record, many
researchers feel it may have been introduced into the Southeast by the
Spanish. Flint corn was well adapted to the cool, moist conditions of
the
Northeast and the hard kernels minimized insect damage. However, the
early
European colonists found that it was too dense and hard to feed to
their
livestock without first being ground. They crossed the flint with the
softer dent corn of the Southeast and produced the forerunner of the
modern
“Corn Belt Dent” that is so widely grown today.
Flour corn looked like flint, but the kernels were very soft and
starchy
making it easier to grind. Only a small amount of sweet corn was grown
because it could be used for so few things compared to flint or flour
corn.
Usually it was roasted green; sometimes it was either dried or
parched to
be later added to soup.
Among the historic Iroquois, popcorn was commonly eaten popped or
made
into a popcorn pudding by pounding the popped corn, sifting it to
remove
coarse pieces, and boiling in water until it reached the desired
consistency. Historically this was eaten with maple syrup, sugar, and
milk
or cream. Popcorn soup was made by boiling the popcorn meal with meat
and
adding salt instead of sugar and milk.
Each Indian family probably grew two or three favorite corn
varieties,
and there might have been a dozen different varieties grown in a small
village. Each variety was recognized as being different in flavor and
preferred uses. The Indians were very careful to maintain the purity
of
their favorite varieties by leaving unplanted areas or by planting
crops,
usually squash or beans, between plots of maize to prevent
hybridization.
Today, what we refer to as Indian corn is a colorful mixture of the
old
varieties. Mostly, Indian corn is used ornamentally in the autumn;
whole
plants are bound together in shocks or the ears tied in bunches of
three to
be hung on the doorways and porches. Excess ears can be put out for
birds,
such as cardinals and blue jays, and for squirrels. Birds have a much
easier time eating the softer flour corn than the flint corn. Several
ears
of the latter have hung untouched all winter on our porch.
Indian corn can be cooked as the Indians did. Most recipes are for
soup
or broths that often
included not only corn but beans, squash, sunflower seeds and meat.
The
corn was used either fresh, dried, or parched (toasted) and for some
dishes was ground in a mortar. A small amount of wood ash was often
included in either the food or the cooking water as seasoning and
recent
studies show that the alkali present in the ashes increased the
nutrients
available from the corn. Like field corn, Indian corn makes tender and
sweet corn on the cob when it is picked young.

BEANS
Four species of beans were important food crops in the New World
(lima,
tepary, runner and common beans) although only common bean (Phaseolus
vulgaris) was cultivated in eastern North America prior to European
contact. This bean arrived from the Southwest sometime after A.D. 800
and,
by the 1600’s, the Indians had a great variety of common beans
including
white, black, red, yellow, blue, spotted, and many combinations of
colors -
these included both bush and pole types. Some of these bean
varieties have
become extinct, others became popular with the settlers in certain
areas
and remain common even today (Great Northern, for example). Numerous
other
varieties are grown by only a few individuals who find enjoyment in
preserving the ancient, heirloom varieties.
Bean seeds are edible, either when immature and in the pod as green
beans
or when allowed to mature and are shelled. If used in recipes calling
for
dried beans, some of the heirloom beans are considered to have flavor
far
surpassing that of varieties commonly sold in the supermarket. They
prove
that many factors other than just flavor were important in determining
which beans were developed commercially and which were not.
Although the runner bean was cultivated by the Indians in Mexico, it
never made beyond northern Mexico during prehistoric times. In
addition to
edible seeds, the scarlet runner bean has striking red flowers that
attract
hummingbirds and make it a beautiful addition to the Indian garden. In
garden shops and seed catalogs it is generally sold with the
ornamentals
rather than the vegetables.

SQUASH
The Indians of eastern North America grew only one of our six
cultivated
species of squash (Cucurbita pepo), but they had developed many
varieties
of this species by the time of European contact. These include types
we
know today as acorn, zucchini, yellow straight-and crook-neck,
pattypan,
pumpkins and the small ornamental gourds.
The term “pumpkin” refers to large, round, orange fruits that are
coarse
and strongly flavored, a good reason why most pumpkins become Jack-o-
Lanterns rather than pies and why canned “pumpkin” is often actually
winter
squash. Small ornamental gourds also belong to this species and
possess
many of the traits that their wild ancestors probably had: many small
seeds, thin bitter flesh, and small fruit size. The only selection
that
has occurred among the ornamental gourds is for variation in the
colors and
textures of the rind.
Bottle gourd (Lagenaria siceraria) has been grown in eastern North
America for about 4,500 years. Long before the development of
pottery, the
large, thick-walled fruits make excellent containers and the Indians
grew
gourds of a wide variety of sizes and shapes. Although the
southeastern
Indians used gourds as birdhouses to attract insect-catching birds to
their
gardens, the use of bottle-gourd birdhouses is generally discouraged
because they provide poor ventilation for the occupants.

OTHER GARDEN PLANTS
Watermelons (Citrullus lanatus) were introduced by the Spanish in
about
1573 and rapidly spread throughout eastern North America. In the 1822
volume of the Transactions of the Illinois Horticultural Society,
Woods
reported that: “Watermelons are also in great plenty, of vast size;
some I
suppose weigh 20 pounds. They are more like pumpkins in outward
appearance
than melons. They are round or oblong, generally green or a green and
whitish color on the outside, and white or pale on the inside, with
many
black seeds in them, very juicy, in flavor like rich water, and sweet
and
mawkish, but cool and pleasant.”
Sunflowers (Helianthus annuus) were brought into cultivation in
eastern
North America during prehistoric times. From a comparison of the
sunflower
heads found in archeological sites with modern varieties, Heiser
noted in
his book The Sunflower that some Indians were growing plants as large
as
any modern varieties.
Sunflowers make an attractive fence or garden border. The heads can
be
harvested in the fall and saved for the birds. Removing the seeds is a
difficult job and many people merely suspend the whole heads and let
the
birds do the work. My husband avoids even that step and leaves the
heads on
the plants all winter. The heads are visited by a steady succession of
cardinals, blue jays, finches, and other birds well into the fall.
Even
after the seeds are gone, the heads are used as perches, and many
times in
late winter we have seen downy woodpeckers searching on the stems for
insects.
Like the sunflower, the Jerusalem artichoke (Helianthus tuberosus)
is a
native North American plant that was used for food by certain Indians.
However, in this case the underground tubers were eaten, not the
seeds. The
tubers were eaten either raw or cooked by roasting or boiling. They
are low
in calories and considered by some to be superior to potatoes in
flavor and
nourishment. The plant is a perennial, with the tubers living over the
winter in the ground and giving rise to new plants in the spring. It
grows
5 to 7 feet tall and has yellow “daisy-like” flowers from mid-summer
through fall. Today, farmers consider this plant to be an unwelcome
weed.
It grows vigorously and is exceedingly difficult to eradicate.
The species of tobacco grown by the Indians of North America was
Nicotiana rustica, a species considerably inferior to N. tabacum, the
species used today and once grown by the Indians of central and
northern
South America. While N. tabacum grows up to nine feet tall, with
extremely
large leaves, N. rustica is a shorter, shrubbier plant with
proportionately
smaller leaves. Because of its higher nicotine content, N. rustica has
sometimes been used as an organic insecticide. The plant is not
especially
attractive, with yellow-green flowers and fleshy leaves. Without
question,
it was an important plant to the Indians and deserves a place in the
Indian
garden; but it might be better in the back rather than the front.

PLANTING AND CULTIVATION
Some groups, such as the Huron, neither cultivated nor fertilized
the
land, farming it only for 10 to 20 years until the soil was depleted.
They
then moved the village to another place. Other groups, such as the
Seneca,
were said to manure large plots of ground for their Indian corn.
Groups such as the Onondaga which had a taboo against soil
disturbance,
practiced an early form of no-till agriculture. The weeds were merely
cleared away for a small space around the old cornstalks. These were
then
pulled and the new crop planted in the resulting hole. This method
certainly prevented the growth of extra weeds, but it also would have
been
dangerous during a bad outbreak of corn rootworms.
Among many groups, including the Iroquois, corn was soaked in warm
water
or an herbal decoction before being planted. The moisture hastened the
germination of the seeds and the Indians believed that the herbs may
have
contributed some of their vitality or protection to the corn; at
least one
Indian noted that this practice prevented the worms and birds from
bothering the corn.
After everything was ready, an Iroquois family went to the field,
the
woman of the house stood in the middle of it and said something
like “God,
our father, you see me and my children. We stand in the middle of the
field
where we are going to plant our food. We beg you to supply us with an
abundant yield of corn.” They then began to plant, placing beans,
squash,
or pumpkin seeds in every hill, or every few hills.
Indian corn was usually planted in hills about 12 inches above the
level
of the field and about 18 inches in diameter. The hills were spaced
about
four feet from the center to center to allow plenty of room for
pulling
additional soil onto the hill later in the season. Six to eight seeds
were
planted within a nine-inch-diameter circle on top of the mound.
Different
varieties of corn were planted in different fields at some distance
from
each other to prevent hybridizing. Bean hills were smaller (7 x 14
inches)
and not as tall. Two groups of 3 to 4 seeds were planted in each hill.
Climbing beans were planted by themselves, given poles to climb or
spread
among the corn hills and allowed to climb on the cornstalks. The corn
in
these cases had to be a vigorous variety that could bear the
additional
weight of the bean vines. Pumpkins and squashes were usually planted
in
separate areas, with two pairs of two seeds each, spaced on 15-inch-
diameter hills. More space was left between the hills because of the
long
vines. Sunflowers were often planted 7 to 9 inches apart in a row
around
the borders of the garden, or in patches by themselves.
Among some groups, the only cultivation was to clear away the last
year’s
cornstalks and to cut down or trample the weeds that appeared. The
Hidatsa
were a much more industrious group. They began to hoe their corn when
it
was about three inches tall and continued to work in their fields
until it
was 8 to 18 inches tall. Then, when the corn silk appeared, the corn
was
hilled to firm the plants against the wind and cover the roots from
the
sun. The squash and beans were also hilled at this time.
The Indians’ gardens had just as many predators as do our gardens
today.
Scarecrows were used to frighten crows, and girls and young women
would
stay in the garden to watch for birds, raccoons, small boys, and other
thieves. Insects and diseases probably destroyed a portion of each
crop;
however, the relatively small amount of cropland, and its wide
dispersal,
probably minimized the spread of such pests.

SOME PLANT VARIETIES
SUITABLE FOR INDIAN GARDENS
The following varieties are either directly descended from those
grown by
the Indians or are similar. Although many other varieties might be
more
authentic, there are no ready sources for them, whereas the following
are
available from commercial sources. I included varieties that are
either
widely available, or available from the sources listed at the end of
this
article. Many other seed catalogs include heirloom varieties.
For those truly interested in ancient varieties, a good place to
start is
by joining the Seed Savers Exchange. The membership fee buys two
listings
per year of people and the varieties of seeds they have to sell or
trade
and those they want. Many Indian varieties are included.
A Mississippian garden would have included corn, common beans, pepo
squash and pumpkins, bottle gourds, tobacco, and sunflowers, as well
as
several native plants that were merely tolerated or grown to a lesser
extent. Only after the Spanish arrived did the Indians obtain
watermelons
and squash such as hubbard and butternut.

Pop Corn
Tom Thumb Yellow is a dwarf plant 3.5 feet tall with 2 to 4 cobs,
each 4
to 4 inches long. It is bred from a New England heirloom and
available from
Johnny’s Selected Seeds.
Sweet Corn
Golden Bantam has 5- to 6-foot stalks with at least two slender
cobs per
stalk, each cob having 8 rows of kernels. This variety is widely
available.
Hopi sweet corn of the Bantam type is available from Native
Seeds/Search.

Flint Corn
Indian Ornamental, Rainbow, and Calico (mixtures of variously
colored
Indian varieties) are all widely available.
Garland Flint plants are 7 to 8 feet tall with 7- to 8-inch ears
having 8
rows of kernels. Most ears are yellow, some are red. Available form
Johnny’s Selected Seeds.

Flour Corn
Mandan Bride has plants 5 to 6 feet tall and cobs with 8 to 12 rows
of
multicolored kernels. It matures early and is available from Johnny’s
Selected Seeds.

Pole Beans
Kentucky Wonder was grown by the Meskwaki Indians of southern
Michigan.
It is widely available.
Great Northern was grown by the Hidatsa Indians of the northern
Great
Plains and is widely available.
Case Knife has white seeds and is one of the oldest green beans in
America. Available form Johnny’s Selected Seeds.
Cornfield has medium-sized vines and is tolerant of the shade in a
cornfield. Available from the Vermont Bean Seed Co.

Bush Beans
Soldier has large beans with red-brown eyes. Available from Johnny’s
Selected Seeds and the Vermont Bean Seed Co.
Vermont Cranberry is New England Heirloom with the color and shape
of
cranberry. It is available from the Vermont Bean Seed Co.
Golden Wax is white-seeded with purple-black eyes. Widely available.
Jacob’s Cattle is a beautiful bean of ancient origin. It has a 24-
inch
bush with kidney-shaped white seeds speckled with deep maroon.
Available
from Johnny’s Selected Seeds and Vermont Bean Seed Co.

Squash and Pumpkin
Cucurbita pepo. Only one species was present in eastern North
America
prehistorically.
Pumpkins of any small variety such as Small Sugar or Jack O’Lantern
are
widely available and appropriate for an Indian garden.
Zucchini, Acorn, Scallop were all raised by the Indians of the
Missouri
River Region “since time immemorial,” and are widely available.

Sunflowers
(Helianthus annuus). Gilbert L. Wilson in his Agriculture of the
Hidatsa
wrote that varieties with black, white, red and striped seeds were
grown
although the taste and smell were the same and all were cooked alike.
The
Hopi Indians grew a variety with black (actually deep purple) fruits
that
were used to make a dye. Some Indian varieties produced one to three
large
heads as well as smaller heads on side branches. Other Indian groups
grew
sunflowers that were more similar to modern varieties having only a
single
large head.
Mammoth is tall with a large single head and is widely available.
Hopi Black Dye has an edible seed and the shell was used for
basketry
dye. It is available from Native Seeds/Search.

Watermelons
Citrullus lanatus. A great diversity of watermelons was grown by the
historic Indians, most would be suitable for an Indian garden.
Sugar Baby is a small, early variety with a dark-green rind, small
brown
seeds, and red-orange flesh. It is widely available.
Winter Melon has fruits that weigh about 10 pounds and have very
sweet
red flesh. It stores well. Available from Jung Seeds and Nursery.
Hopi Yellow-meated is small with yellow flesh and is available from
Native Seeds/Search.

Bottle Gourds
(Lagenaria siceraria) were used in many ways as containers, rattles,
dippers, and other utensils. The southeastern Indians placed gourd
birdhouses near their gardens to attract insect-eating birds. Almost
any of
the bottle gourds are suitable except the very large round ones,
which are
African in origin, the long slender ones, or the Penguin or Caveman’s
Club
gourd. Dipper, Birdhouse and Water Bottle shapes are especially good.

SOURCES OF SEEDS FOR THE INDIAN GARDEN
Native Seeds/Search. A nonprofit organization devoted to the
conservation
and promotion of native, agriculturally valuable plants of the
Southwest.
Address: 3950 West New York Drive, Tucson, Arizona 85745.
Seed Savers Exchange. Not-for-profit organization devoted to the
preservation of endangered vegetable varieties. Their “Garden Seed
Inven-
tory” lists the addresses of 240 companies and commercial sources for
nearly 6,000 non-hybrid varieties. Address: P.O. Box 70, Decorah, Iowa
52101.
Vermont Bean Seed Co. Garden Lane, Bomoseen, Vermont 05732.
Johnny’s Selected Seeds. Features varieties adapted for the
Northeast.
Address: Albion, Maine 04910.
Gurneys Seed and Nursery Co. Their large selection of seeds includes
several heirloom varieties. Address: Yankton, South Dakota 57079.
Jung Seed and Nursery. 335 South High Street, Randolph, Wisconsin
53957.

Additional Readings
Heiser, Charles B. 1969. Nightshades, the Paradoxical Plants. W.H.
Freeman and Co., San Francisco, 200 pp.
_____. 1976. The Sunflower. Univ. Oklahoma Press, Norman, 198 pp.
_____. 1979. The Gourd Book. Univ. Oklahoma Press, Norman, 248 pp.
Jabs, Carolyn. 1985. The Heirloom Gardener. Sierra Club Books, San
Francisco, 288 pp.
Johnson, Judi, and Frances King, compilers. 1976. Green Corn and
Violets.
Illinois State Museum, Springfield, 53 pp.
Styles, Bonnie W. 1984. Early Native Americans in Illinois. The
Living
Museum 46(2):19-29.
Wilson, G.L. 1917. Agriculture of the Hidatsa Indians: An Indian
Interpretation. Univ. Minn. Studies in Soc. Sci. 9:1-129.
——Reprinted with permission from “The Living Museum” 48(3):35-38.

Planning a survivalist homestead

This article is taken from American Survival Guide July,
1993 volume 15 number 7 pages 56 thru 59
Name: One Effort, Multiple Results: Survival Homestead
By: Richard R Doucet

The author is a retired U.S. Army sergeant with a
background in infantry, logistics and administrative and
security training. He currently heads his own security firm
and is an adjunct faculty member with the University of New
Hampshire teaching seminars on home food production.-The
editors.

WHAT is a survivalist homestead? It is a home in which you
can live in a real-world/present-time economy and social
order, yet at the same time practice on a regular basis the
survival skills you may need later.

All of this is accomplished while still living a normal
life-style with access to work, schools, emergency services
and stores, etc. But most importantly, you will not be in
conflict with criminal, firearm or building codes, zoning
ordinances, EPA regulations or planning board requirements.

The survivalist homestead offers one more very important
option. That of helping you now to live a better quality
life at a cheaper price and allowing you to shift to more
severe survival plans only to the extent needed to meet
emergencies.

In planning a survivalist homestead there are three
concepts which must be incorporated into your thinking from
the start and which must be adhered to if the goals are to
be met. They are:

- Plan A and Plan B-Plan A is that part of all planning of
your homestead which has to do with dealing in the
present/real world time frame. Plan B is the planning for
whatever emergencies you feel could threaten you. Both
plans must be such that they can co-exist in the same place
at the same time.

- One Effort with Multiple Results- This concept is simply
“working smarter, not harder,” fine tuned to an almost
absolute. Every effort must result in more than just the
one primary result. It allows you to accomplish more goals
with less expenditure of time and money, to facilitate the
first concept.

- Reduce, Re-use, Recycle- This concept is taken wholly
from the environmental movement. Re-using material and
recycling waste allows you to reduce expenses thus build
with less cash outlay. This is also a skill you will need
in any type of breakdown of social order, where normal
access to stores and services will not be available.

Applying these concepts in homestead planning is not the
first step. The first step is deciding what you are
planning for-what emergencies or crises you might have to
face.

This is subjective and no two people will feel that any one
set of possible emergencies will be what they have to be
ready for.

The process of thinking this through is called threat
analysis. Done correctly it can give you an accurate
picture of what it is you should be getting ready for. At
the end of my threat analysis I decided that the following
were what I wanted to be ready for:

1.Short term cash flow problems. 2.Severe weather
conditions. 3.Economic upheaval on a large scale.
4.Catastrophic world events.

The first task in establishing a homestead is to find the
land. You can eliminate many present-time and cirsis-time
security problems with proper site location. At the same
time the property should be located so that you have
reasonable access to work, entertainment, schools and
emergency services.

Other important considerations are taxes, community growth
plans, amount of land for your needs, zoning ordinances and
building codes in the area where you plan to buy.

I chose my property because it was large enough (15 acres),
had the right topography, available firewood, garden space,
animal space, hunting and potential for water. Also the
town has as part of its charter that the community will
remain rural with little growth, no heavy industry or
commerce and with farming as its main industry.

Crime, in normal times is a by product of growth and
population density in urban and suburban life, and
increased crime and civil disorder are the first results of
cultural breakdown. My location has been chosen to avoid
these to a great extent while still having reasonable
contact with the real world.

Finally my location allows me to use firearms, garden,
raise animals and build pretty much what I want for now and
the future because of the absence of myriad zoning
regulations and building codes that are found in so many
other communities today.

Security was at the top of my list of priorities in
planning my homestead on the land I acquired. A poorly laid
out homestead will result in one that is more difficult and
costly to secure in both normal and crisis times.

Just locating the house-compound on a hill went a long way
in avoiding problems with criminals now -Plan A-and in
possible lawless times-Plan B. The compound is hard to see
from the nearest road, especially in summer. It is
impossible to tell just what is on the hill unless you walk
or drive at least half way up the driveway. By this time a
would-be intruder or gang finds that the entire front of
the compound area is blocked by a marshland to the east,
extending a few hundred yards beyond my property line,
and a deep dug pond connected to a series of beaver ponds
that run nearly a half mile to the west beyond my property
line.

This fine example of an engineer water barrier is the
result of hard working beavers that moved onto the
adjoining property the same year I bought my parcel. Within
a few years they had backed up enough water to flood all
the aforementioned area except my driveway. The total cost
to me for this barrier was $600 to have the deep pond dug.
This system serves as a second source of water for
emergencies, irrigation , swimming, and draws a wide
variety of waterfowl, mammals, reptilles and fish which can
be a food supply- One Effort with Multiple Results.

The water barrier freezes in winter. To deny access to the
main compound all year round I knew I would have to install
some type of fence, which could be expensive. Instead, I
stacked brush and tree limbs from land-clearng operations
around the top edge of the hill on which my home-compound
was located-Reduce, Re-use, Recycle. This created an
instant barricade called an abatis. In most places it was
around three feet high and as much as eight feet wide.

The next year native New Hampshire blackberries, that grow
in abundance in the area, made their appearance and soon
formed a living flesh-tearing barbed wire barrier where the
brush had been stacked. Unlike a fence that deteriorates
and has to be maintained every year, my barrier just gets
thicker and stronger without me lifting a finger except to
cut it back here and there it also provides a good amount
of fresh fruit and attracts animals which, on occasion, end
up on the dining room table-One Effort with Multiple
Results.

In building my home I wanted a strong dwelling which was
also aesthetically pleasing, practical for day-to-day
living and would meet all the zoning and building codes and
yet would meet the emergencies I plan for.

Solar Heating-I used a lot of rough-cut lumber, stucco and
stone inside the house I used one-inch lumber instead of
sheet rock for the walls and ceilings because of its
structural strength.

The kitchen, living room, dining room and master bedroom
are on the south side of the house. This side has large
areas of glass windows to allow solar heating during the
colder months. The colder the season gets the lower the sun
is on the horizon. By Dec. 21, the sun floods almost
straight through the south windows, keeping the inside
temperature around 65 degrees F. By June21, the sun is now
high in the sky, adding little heat to the house during
warmer months.

Because solar gain heating can overheat a house in the day
time, there is a need for something to absorb the excess
heat during the day and radiate it back into the house
later on. This is called thermal mass. It is achieved by
having no basement and building instead on a concrete slab,
sometimes called a floating slab or a monolith slab.

For additional mass-and protection from gunfire if the need
should arise-I built a solid concrete block wall of
four-inch thick blocks almost the whole length of the
house.

This wall collects heat from the wood/coal stove to prevent
overheating of the north side rooms and then radiates it
back late at night. This stove except for the Ben Franklin
stove in the master bedroom which is used only
occasionally, is the only source of man-made heat we have
had for the past three winters

Plans for this year call for the addition of a propane gas
heating system. The gas system will be one that does not
rely on electricity to function. Once again if the heating
system is connected to house current the loss of
electricity means no heat. The wood/coal stove will be kept
for back-up, cooking and heating, and just for the pleasure
of a wood fire in the winter.

The north wall of the house is just the opposite, as far as
windows go, of the south wall. The smallest windows allowed
by code are placed here. These are the bathrooms, toilet
and bedrooms. These rooms remain empty most of the day and
do not need as much light. The smaller windows reduce heat
loss and restrict entry from the outside.

To further reduce heat loss the north wall is triple
insulated. Standard fiberglass was installed, then one-inch
rigid insulation over the studs, and 7/16-inch flake board
over the insulation there are no breaks in this barrier
except the windows, to allow heat to escape or cold wind to
infiltrate the house if desired.

Lastly, all closet space was built into the north wall to
create as much “dead space” as possible to further isolate
the heat in the house from radiational cooling.

Still Room, Root cellar, Work Shed-Once the main house was
up the still room, root cellar, and work shop/shed were
added.

A still room was the part of a colonial home where
fermentation of home made brews, “kraut” making and
pickling were conducted. It was also used to store smoked
foods, beverages and other preserved items. I use ours for
most of the same reasons and it is also where the water
pressure system, well, washer and drier are located.

The dryer is vented through the root cellar by way of a
four-inch PVC pipe Part of the system is underground in the
root cellar which has a sand floor. This section of pipe
has holes in it so condensed moisture can drain into the
sand and humidify the root cellar when the drier is used.
The end of the pipe has a fixture that allows me to vent
the air outside when it is too warm in the cellar or vent
into the cellar when it is too cold.

Root cellars are generally constructed underground or in
hillsides. Mine is above ground because, with modern
insulating materials, it was just cost effective and time
saving to do so. In the cellar I can store appropriate food
stuffs to last until late spring when the following year’s
crops start to come in. This is also a good place to store
jugs of water in the event we lose electricity.

The wood storage area at the entrance of the still room
holds about a half cord of firewood. With this entrance
facing south the sun hits the wood pile every day in the
winter, melting snow left on it after it is brought in from
outside storage. This means we can bring wood into the
house night or day and any weather without making a mess
all over the place with melting snow.

The summer kitchen is where all the initial cleaning of
garden and animal products takes place. All waste can go
directly to the compost heap. Waste water from the sink
goes directly to garden irrigation after passing through a
grease trap. The contents of the grease trap also go to the
compost heap.

The Well-Most wells are outside the home and at some
distance. Mine is unusual as it is in the still room of the
main house.

Few people have the well in a building, other than a small
pumphouse, because when the pump and pipe have to be
brought up for service, equipment and often a truck have to
be used to get the 150 or 200 feet of pipe-full of water-
and the pump up.

My well is 700 feet deep and a truck with the proper
equipment will be needed to haul everything up. For this
reason, the door leading to the outside lines up with the
well so the truck needs only to back up and start working.

Having the well in the still room also means there is no
chance of freeze ups or busting pipes that are at least
four feet underground. The well is also constantly under
lock and key where it cannot be tampered with. All of this
comes under Plan A should a disaster strike that is so far
reaching as to reduce our culture’s technology to
pre-electrical days, I can remove the pump and pipe and
still reach my water in comfort and safety any time of the
year-Plan B. I would simply use a container just an inch or
so smaller in diameter than the 8 inch pipe well shaft. The
container has a flap valve on the bottom and is suspended
by a rope. As it is dropped through the water, the valve is
pushed open and the container fills. When pulled up the
force of the water pushes the valve back down and seats it
so the container stays full. Though the well is 700 feet
deep, the water level is only 35 feet from the top when it
is full. This gives me at 1 1/2 gallons per foot, about 800
gallons in reserve.

In New Hampshire, as in most states, you cannot get a
building permit with out a state approved septic system
plan. I applied Plan A by putting in a normal flush toilet
as the main one in the home and a composting toilet in the
master bedroom for back up-Plan B.

The composting toilet needs no special hook up except for a
vent through the roof. When you lose electricity that means
there is no well pump either, and thus no flush toilet. But
the composting one will still be functional for at least
three days.

Food-The only real answer to a reliable food supply during
bad times is to produce your own, or most of it, all the
time.

Producing your own food on a constant basis means you not
only have a constant source of reliable food, but you also
have the prepared land and facilities, tools and skills to
keep going. You can do it all, from planting a garden bed
to sowing, raising, cleaning, butchering and preserving
your produce, meats and fish.

The most common argument against the whole process of home
food production is the time involved, followed by cost.
While this is a subject which merits an entire article in
itself and there isn’t enough space in this article to go
into it in depth,suffice it to say that if you have the
resources and time to establish your own home food
production, you will find it well worth your while.

I have to admit that the initial efforts to set up garden
space and small animal facilities is time consuming though
not necessarily expensive. But, the set up time is a
one-shot effort.

I have used many techniques-too numerous to include here-
for saving time, energy, and money in producing food.

In growing tomatoes in the garden area for example,
newsprint and grass clippings have been put down in the
tomato bed to prevent weeds from growing and reduce the
need to water.

For a few hours work a week in home food production from
late April through October, you can raise prepare and put
up (store) most of your food for a year. And doing so
reduces your cost of purchasing the same amounts and types
of food by half or more.

I have written a workbook on home food production and I am
in the process of getting it published. Send $1 (cash,
check or money order) and a stamped self-addressed business
envelope and I will send an outline of the workbook and its
contents which will show you how to calculate food needs,
food costs and production costs and gives some techniques
for gardening, animal husbandry and food preservation. Send
to R. Doucet, RR1, Box 3198, Wild Goose Pond Road,
Pittsfield, NH 03263

The lessons learned by early homesteaders still apply
today.
1. Analyze possible threats to you
2. Choose terrain that lends itself to defense.
3. Plan security around the principles of “Avoidance.”
“Deception” and “Denial.”
4. Reduce costs and effort as well as help the environment,
by following the concepts of “Plan A and Plan B, “One
Effort with Multiple Results” and “Reduce, Re-use,
Recycle.”
5. Assure yourself good shelter, reliable water and
constant food.

Think about this as you reflect on your own plans to
survive... now and later.

Gardening for Survival - By Lynn Grail

Have you ever thought about where you are going to get your food when
the emergency supplies you have stored away are depleted? Will you
forage for wild edibles? How much of that will you be able to do if
you are hungry and weakened by having to defend yourself? or doing
everything by hand. . . Foraging for foods takes a lot of time
knowledge and energy.

Bartering is good.

Game hunting might be feasable, if you have a weapon and the skill.

Stealing food is another possibility but you could get dead.

Maybe you figure that the emergency will only last a few years, you
will then be able to waltz into your favorite supermarket for food and
pick up what ever you need. Ha ha ha . It will take a few years for
the farmers to get their farms back into production, that is assuming
that they still have them, the fuel to run their equipment, the fuel
to get produce to market. If perchance the markets do reopen; what
will we purchase the goods with?

I think by now you have the direction that I am hinting at. If you
guessed gardening you are definately on the right track.

BUT, Do you really want to put together a garden that looks like
something straight out of a garden magazine? Do you really want to
advertise that you have a garden overflowing with food? You might as
well put a sign advertising FREE FOOD FOR THE TAKING, out by the
street.

I think I may have at least a partial answer, part of it involves
container planting, and the other part involves planting lots of the
green or root crop vegetables on the southern side of buildings, tree
stands, or even trying to create a naturalistic type of free growing,
untouched by a survivor type of garden.

Naturally the bright eye catching types of vegetables, like tomatoes,
pumpkins, ect., will have to be either camoflaged while still getting
plenty of sunshine. Or they will have to be planted in movable
containers, potatoes can be grown in garbage cans with holes in the
bottom. Take a look at Burpee’s, or Parks, ect. seed catalogs; they
have a few container growing idea’s. (Look at Burpee’s Patio Tower
Garden, maybe you could come up with other ideas too) You might think
this is more trouble than necessary; but I would rather put in some
extra time, than to have my children go hungry for even one day.

I also feel that storing an unknown quantity of commercial fertilizer
and pesticides is not only monetarily unwise but who wants to put more
chemicals into contaminated soil, water and air?

Pick up some good books on organic gardening and check out some of the
natural pesticides and fertilizers. Look at some of the books that
talk about growing your garden in squares rather than rows, (this type
ought to burst some of your preconceived ideas about gardening)

Start a compost pile, throw all organic materials; food scraps,
weeds, hay, manure, garden surplus or rotten food in a pile, ((DO NOT
ADD meats, bones or petroleum based products)) add dirt, stir once or
twice a week and you’ll get some organic fertilizer, to enrich your
garden soil.

Try using onion tea as a spray pesticide. Also use some liquid soap
mixed with water and spray that on your plants. Don’t forget to use
companion planting. Plant marigolds, zinnias and nasturniums in your
garden to control other pests. I read somewhere recently, that you
could hang those perfumed hotel bars of soap (I think it said
deodorant bars) in your orchard trees, to discourage deer from eating
the trees. Hang the small bars with copper wire, still in the wrapper,
from a branch about 4 - 6 feet high. There are many other natural
pesticides that only add to the good soil.

Mulching around your plants with hay, compost, shredded paper, or
other organic mulches, should help to reduce the amount of watering
that you have to do. Some people will tell you to use black plastic as
a mulch, but I would watch that there is no rotting since the air cant
get to the soil. There is a new plastic on the market that has
“microscopic holes “punched in it.

The best suggestion that I can give any would be gardener is to DO IT
NOW. There are plenty of people out there that will gladly give you
free advise on how to garden. Some of it will come while you are
digging up the soil. Some of it will come when you put in your first
plants. Some advise will be given while you are weeding (check those
weeds they might be edible). I got almost as much advise on gardening,
as when I brought home my first child. But I remembered the best
advise I was given then, “Listen to all of the advise you were given;
but only use what you think is good advise”.

Lynn Grail

any one want the plans to make a smoker from 55 gl drum

http://www.mydatabus.com/public/homecreations/BBQSmokerPlans.pdf

[I did not check this one..granny]

Experts Warn: Wheat Crop Failures Could be Total

On top of record-breaking rice prices and corn through the roof on
ethanol
demand, wheat is now rusting in the fields across Africa.

Officials fear near total crop losses, and the fungus, known as Ug99,
is
spreading.

Wheat prices have been soaring this week on top of already high prices,
and
futures contracts spiked, too, on panic buying.

Experts fear the cost of bread could soon follow the path of rice, the
price
of which has triggered riots in some countries and prompted countries
to cut
off exports.

David Kotok, chairman and chief investment officer of Cumberland
Advisors,
said the deadly fungus, Puccinia graminis, is now spreading through
some
areas of the globe where “crop losses are expected to reach 100
percent.”

Losses in Africa are already at 70 percent of the crop, Kotok said.

“The economic losses expected from this fungus are now in the many
billions
and growing. Worse, there is an intensifying fear of exacerbated food
shortages in poor and emerging countries of the world,” Kotok told
investors
in a research note.

“The ramifications are serious. Food rioting continues to expand around
the
world. We saw the most recent in Johannesburg.

“So far this unrest has been directed at rising prices. Actual
shortages are
still to come.”

Last month, scientists met in the Middle East to determine measures to
track
the progress of “Ug99,” which was first discovered in 1999 in Uganda.

The fungus has spread from its initial outbreak site in Africa to Asia,
including Iran and Pakistan. Spores of the fungus spread with the
winds,
according science journal reports.

According to the Food and Agriculture Office (FAO) of the United
Nations,
approximately a quarter of the world’s global wheat harvest is
currently
threatened by the fungus.

Meanwhile, global wheat stocks are at lows not seen in half a century,
according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Scientists fear that the spores could spread on the wind and reach the
U.S.
and Canada or Europe.

“It will take five to eight years to genetically engineer a
resistance,”
said Kotok. “In the interim, U.S. agriculture faces higher risk.”

Kotok is worried that governments around the globe are reacting to the
crisis - which he believes is as big of a threat as bird flu -
inappropriately by artificially lowering the prices of domestic wheat,
and
raising export taxes on wheat.

William Gamble, president of Emerging Market Strategies, tells
MoneyNews
that artificial mechanisms put in place by governments could be as much
to
blame for the crisis as anything.

“Twenty countries have put food in price controls or export
restrictions,”
Gamble says.

“Others have restricted futures markets. It is the politicians who are
interfering in the markets to protect themselves, and that causes the
problem.”

http://news.newsmax.com/default.aspx?KBCv.YVxRivhoa1gimTOhBU16xlztfUAK