Posted on 03/23/2008 11:36:40 PM PDT by nw_arizona_granny
Americans finding soaring food prices hard to stomach can battle back by growing their own food. [Click image for a larger version] Dean Fosdick Dean Fosdick
Home vegetable gardens appear to be booming as a result of the twin movements to eat local and pinch pennies.
At the Southeastern Flower Show in Atlanta this winter, D. Landreth Seed Co. of New Freedom, Pa., sold three to four times more seed packets than last year, says Barb Melera, president. "This is the first time I've ever heard people say, 'I can grow this more cheaply than I can buy it in the supermarket.' That's a 180-degree turn from the norm."
Roger Doiron, a gardener and fresh-food advocate from Scarborough, Maine, said he turned $85 worth of seeds into more than six months of vegetables for his family of five.
A year later, he says, the family still had "several quarts of tomato sauce, bags of mixed vegetables and ice-cube trays of pesto in the freezer; 20 heads of garlic, a five-gallon crock of sauerkraut, more homegrown hot-pepper sauce than one family could comfortably eat in a year and three sorts of squash, which we make into soups, stews and bread."
[snipped]
She compares the current period of market uncertainty with that of the early- to mid-20th century when the concept of victory gardens became popular.
"A lot of companies during the world wars and the Great Depression era encouraged vegetable gardening as a way of addressing layoffs, reduced wages and such," she says. "Some companies, like U.S. Steel, made gardens available at the workplace. Railroads provided easements they'd rent to employees and others for gardening."
(Excerpt) Read more at dallasnews.com ...
SALMONELLA LITCHFIELD, MELON - NORTH AMERICA ex HONDURAS: ALERT
***************************************************************
A ProMED-mail post
http://www.promedmail.org
ProMED-mail is a program of the
International Society for Infectious Diseases
http://www.isid.org
[1] USA
Date: Sat 22 Mar 2008
Source: US Food & Drug Administration (FDA) News, press release
[edited]
http://www.fda.gov/bbs/topics/NEWS/2008/NEW01808.html
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued an import alert
regarding entry of cantaloupe from Agropecuaria Montelibano, a
Honduran grower and packer, because, based on current information,
fruit from this company appears to be associated with a _Salmonella
[enterica_ serotype] Litchfield outbreak in the USA and Canada. The
import alert advises FDA field offices that all cantaloupes shipped
to the United States by this company are to be detained.
In addition, the FDA has contacted importers about this action and is
advising USA grocers, food service operators, and produce processors
to remove from their stock any cantaloupes from this company. The FDA
also advises consumers who have recently bought cantaloupes to check
with the place of purchase to determine if the fruit came from this
specific grower and packer. If so, consumers should throw away the
cantaloupes.
To date, the FDA has received reports of 50 illnesses in 16 states
and 9 illnesses in Canada linked to the consumption of cantaloupes.
No deaths have been reported; however, 14 people have been
hospitalized. The [US] states are Arizona, California, Colorado,
Georgia, Illinois, Missouri, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Ohio,
Oklahoma, Oregon, Tennessee, Utah, Washington, and Wisconsin.
The FDA is taking this preventive measure while the agency continues
to investigate this outbreak in cooperation with the CDC (US Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention) and state partners. Such
intervention is a key component of FDA’s Food Protection Plan.
The FDA recommends that consumers take the following steps to reduce
the risk of contracting _Salmonella_ or other foodborne illnesses
from cantaloupes:
- purchase cantaloupes that are not bruised or damaged. If buying
fresh-cut cantaloupe, be sure it is refrigerated or surrounded by ice.
- after purchase, refrigerate cantaloupes promptly.
- wash hands with hot, soapy water before and after handling fresh
cantaloupes.
- scrub whole cantaloupes by using a clean produce brush and cool tap
water immediately before eating. Don’t use soap or detergents.
- use clean cutting surfaces and utensils when cutting cantaloupes.
Wash cutting boards, countertops, dishes, and utensils with hot water
and soap between the preparation of raw meat, poultry, or seafood and
the preparation of cantaloupe.
- if there happens to be a bruised or damaged area on a cantaloupe,
cut away those parts before eating it.
- leftover cut cantaloupe should be discarded if left at room
temperature for more than 2 hours.
- use a cooler with ice or use ice gel packs when transporting or
storing cantaloupes outdoors.
—
Communicated by:
ProMED-mail
promed@promedmail.org
******
[2] Canada
Date: Sat 22 Mar 2008
Source: The Canadian Press [edited]
http://canadianpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5jvKuz1Y0G2jFlf8RjLg3ECLqLVIw
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency has confirmed Honduran grown
cantaloupes are being voluntarily recalled after a continent-wide
salmonella outbreak.
The recall followed a warning earlier Saturday [22 Mar 2008] from the
USA FDA about the outbreak, which CFIA (Canadian Food Inspection
Agency) said has sickened 9 people in 5 provinces and 50 people in 16
USA states.
“We’ve been investigating this for a while now,” agency spokesman
Garfield Balsom told The Canadian Press Saturday night [22 Mar 2008].
“There’s been some co-operation between USA officials and Canadian
officials in trying to identify any commonalities regarding this
salmonella. But unfortunately up until yesterday [21 Mar 2008] with
regard to the traceback, there’s been nothing identified.”
The affected melons (from Agropecuaria Montelibano) were distributed
in Canada by Federated Co-Op in all western provinces, the 3
territories, and northwestern Ontario, and Canada Safeway stores in
BC (British Columbia) only.
The Canadian illnesses occurred between 19 Jan 2008 and 22 Feb 2008
and are reported in BC, Alberta, Manitoba, Ontario, and New Brunswick.
Balsom said the type of bacteria involved in the cantaloupes case is
_S. [enterica_ serotype] Litchfield, although officials haven’t been
able to prove conclusively that this is what caused the illnesses.
“There have been no reported illnesses that we’ve identified
associated with this particular strain of salmonella. However,
illnesses take a while to get through the system and get typed.”
He notes that while no cases have cropped up in Canada later than 22
Feb 2008, there have been cases reported after that date in the USA.
There have been no extreme cases of illness among the 9 reported in
Canada, Balsom stressed. He said people become infected by simply
handling the outside of the fruit. “Because the surface of the
product is contaminated, that is transferred to the consumer
unfortunately,” he said.
The CFIA investigation is continuing, Balsom stated, adding it’s
possible other distributors or retailers may have received
cantaloupes from the growers, and other new cases of illness could
arise.
—
Communicated by:
ProMED-mail
promed@promedmail.org
[Even if the rind of the melon is not handled, cutting into the melon
will introduce the pathogen into the edible part. The imported melons
are likely to have been contaminated in the field from contaminated
irrigation water. ProMED-mail Rapporteur submitted a similar posting.
- Mod.LL
The US states, Canadian provinces, and Honduras can be located on the
HealthMap/ProMED-mail interactive map at
http://www.healthmap.org/promed
- CopyEd.MJ]
[from the other thread, it was nice that MHGin TN posted his recipe in the middle, now we have all 3]
ORANGE FREEZER SHERBET
Recipe By :
Serving Size : 0 Preparation Time :0:00
Categories :
Amount Measure Ingredient — Preparation Method
———— —————— ————————————————
Master Recipe
2 cups milk and 1 cup cream or 3 cups rich milk
1 1/4 cups sugar
1 1/2 cups orange juice
2 tbl lemon juice
1/4 tsp salt
Heat 1 cup milk. Add sugar and stir until dissolved.
Add other
ingredients.
Use freezing mixture of 1 part salt to 4 to 6 parts
ice. Turn
crank freezer slowly.
After freezing, remove dasher. Pack freezer with more
ice and
salt. Let sherbet stand an hour or more to ripen.
Makes about 3
pints.
Variations:
Lemon Sherbet: In master recipe, omit orange juice.
Use 1 cup lemon
juice and 1/2 cup water.
Pineapple Sherbet: In master recipe, substitute 1 cup
drained
crushed pineapple for 1/2 cup orange juice.
Source: Mary Margaret McBride Encyclopedia of Cooking
1959
Formatted by ckpenner77@...
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
- -
Per Serving (excluding unknown items): 1257 Calories;
1g Fat (0.5%
calories from fat); 4g Protein; 331g Carbohydrate; 3g
Dietary Fiber;
0mg Cholesterol; 544mg Sodium. Exchanges: 6 Fruit; 17
Other
Carbohydrates.
[you may be able to see the archives, full of basic
“make a mix” recipes...granny]
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Makeamix/messages
To: nw_arizona_granny; Tennessee Nana;
conservativegramma; colorcountry; greyfoxx39; restornu
Yes! Goodie, a recipe! I have a new invention I’m
pushing of late: Peanut Butter Banana Cream Pudding
(or pie, if you put it in a readimade crust). Real
easy to make, great dessert.
1 package Banana Cream Pie Jello Instant pudding
2 cups vanilla flavored yogurt
2 sliced up Bananas, 1/8 inch thick slices (bathed in
1 tblspn non-alcohol Margarita mix for the lemon
juice)
1/2 cup of smooth peanut butter
3/4 cup Cool Whip, thawed but still cold (stir the
peanut butter and cool whip together just before
assembling the pudding)
8 to 10 Crispy Shortbread cookies crumbled up in
chunks
Get everything out on the counter and the bananas
sliced and juiced. Whisk the yogurt and pudding mix
for a minute, pour in the bananas and cookie chunks,
fold in the peanut butter and cool whip, chill with
plastic wrap on the surface to prevent a ‘skin’.
3,970 posted on 03/22/2008 7:07:49 PM PDT by MHGinTN
(Believing they cannot be deceived, they cannot be
convinced when they are deceived.)
Quick Vanilla Ice Cream????
pint size zip-lock bag
gallon size zip-lock bag
½ C Milk (cold)
1 Tbsp. sugar
½ tsp. vanilla
6 Tbsp. salt
ice(crushed is best)(keep in freezer till ready to put
in bag)
Put milk, sugar, and vanilla in pint size bag.
Fill gallon size bag half full with ice and salt and
put small bag in
large bag.
Shake for 5 minutes Serve immediatly
**NOTE** MAKE SURE THE BAG IS SEALED PROPERLY OR YOU
MIGHT GET A BIG
MESS!!!
[And to add my note, I would use a sealed jar and then
the bag of ice, or as we did when kids, the jar of
milk twirled in a bucket of salted ice.......if there
are enough kids, it will freeze..granny]
**tomatoes in earth boxes**
Haven’t tried it myself, but have several customers who did last year. They really liked them. I’m right near Morehead City. :)
Thanks. We may try a couple this year.
We’re north of Raleigh, close to the VA line.
I generally freeze my seeds. It puts them into suspended animation and they last forever. I had some good germination on some 6-8 year old Habanero peppers I planted. Alot of my older seed did well.
I do alot of seed saving, it sure cuts down on seed costs. I usually have tons of extra seed which either goes to feed the birds, use as cover crops, or sprouting in the winter time for extra nutrition. As you said, nothing is wasted.
Another book I recommend: Seed to Seed by Suzanne Ashworth. Tells you how to save about every kind of vegetable seed you can think of.
That little gem is hitting my email list. Love it!
Stocking Up-How to Preserve the Foods You Grow Naturally
Great canning and preserving advise. They are only pennies at Amazon in the used section. May not be able to get online in case of a blackout so having a book to go by is the best (albeit old fashion) way.
Yes, the old seeds do seem a little weaker, but here all things are weak, our water is now full of salts/alkali and the soil will not hold compost, the wind blows it away.
I have owned this place 30 years and no amount of compost, manure or chemical fertilizer has ever produced as yours will.
The only real growth I have had was when I had the greenhouses going.
There is no farming done in this area and almost no gardens.
I would think it was my fault, if I had not had good gardens in Yuma, San Diego, Ramona and Portland, Oregon, at more than one place.
Another gardner and I kept notes for a long time and we had the same problems, he finally built all raised planter beds, with plastic coverings, attached to his sheds, etc and a greenhouse.
By greenhouse, I mean a simple attached frame and plastic or fiberglass covering, the only real ‘glass’ greenhouses that I know of in this area, are for growing dope.
We laughed, when we built the first one, at a local meeting, a deputy and his ‘wife’ fell in love with us and had to come ‘visit’, as his ‘wife’ just loved plants.......this after the paper had published an article on the greenhouse and our pet parrot.
They were no more in the house, before Bill and I were in trouble, we were cracking up and did not want to spoil their game with laughter..........as the ‘wife’ did not know one plant from another, she was trained to look for marijuana.
Sorry, but that is the one plant that I have no intention of planting........said cautiously, as when my daughter in law was dying with cancer, if she had been willing to try it, I would have gotten it for her, most likely by asking a local cop where to get it.
I love seeds, the miracle of them has always amazed me.
Even as a 10 year old, I went out selling them door to door, as you could win a camera, if you sold ‘X’ number of packages, found the ads in the comic books..........I think that might have been the year we had the huge garden.
My first paying job was working for a retired school principal, Mrs. Pearl, in her garden, watering her fruit trees, pulling weeds and admiring her ribbons and trophies for her prize Dahlias.
Before that, I only knew food farming.
I have read the seeds book, took it out of the library so often they got a second copy.
Even in Texas, when we shelled the dried in the field corn, by rubbing it on a washboard, I remember holding up the best cobs to see if dad wanted to keep it for seed.
When we moved to Ramona, California, 1965, I was so proud of me, was accepted in the Garden Club, with all those nice ladies, who knew so much and I wanted to learn it all.
Then came the day they waited for all year.
Garden Club Day, at the San Diego -Balboa Park Zoo.
Box lunches, visits to special places, like the walk in bird cage and all hell broke loose.........all those old women were in the trees, collecting seeds, out came the knives and clippers and
“Here is a clipping for you Rosey”, snip, snip went the clips.
I waited for the cops, none came, so I joined them.
Back then, once a year, they were allowed to visit and take cuttings and seeds, an experience few will have today.
The year that I was the President, “seeds” was my theme.
We grew plants and took a booth at the Del Mar fair, each year to sell them for funds to support our projects.
In my year, we sent seeds and garden tools to a country that was attempting to learn how to grow food, LOL, I have forgotten which country it was.
And we collected seeds from the local plants that should be growing all over and kept a package in our cars, so if we saw a bare spot, we would stop and plant the seeds.......what fun, the whole world waiting for me to come and plant it.
Some place on the internet, there is a site with photos of seeds, some of them are weird and some are amazingly large.
I could be lost the rest of the day in those googles.
I can’t resist saving seeds and have grown lovely tomato plants that were 5 foot tall and never had a flower, beautiful plants.
You would think that I am smart enough to know that the seeds from the store, will be hybrids and not reproduce.
I’d love seeing them react to a chicken coop..<<<
I know exactly how they will react.
You can listen to the San Diego Police Scanner at:
scan san diego. net
I listen and find them to be a fine group of Officers, far above some that I have known as a group.
But there is one male officer, with a sissy voice and I had guessed that he was not the “got your back” type of man.
Sure enough, one morning he answered a call for “chickens playing in the roadway”.
He was quite concerned, those ‘chickens’ were in the road, not only that, they took off in all directions.
Maybe a half hour later he was on the radio again:
“there are more chickens than I thought and, and ,and ,they are in the roadway”.
More minutes pass and here he is again:
“they are in the roadway again, and even more than I thought, there are 7 and I think 11 of them, and there is a ROOSTER”.
More Minutes:
“I have located the owner and found even more chickens in his backyard, he has baby chickens, HE HAS A CHICKEN FACTORY!!!”
“HE HAS A CHICKEN FACTORY, HE MUST HAVE 15 OR MAYBE EVEN 20 AND SOME ARE BABIES.”
The dispatcher remained professional and gave him the code for having chickens in an un-zoned for chickens area.
It was one of the few times that the other Officers could not contain their wise crack remarks on the air.
Someone asked if the same law applied to the peacocks that stop the traffic, quite often, almost downtown in San Diego and the Sarge told them “NO, I tried that last year, do not waste your time.”
“Peacocks are classed as a flying bird, and the laws to not apply to them.”
So if you cannot have chickens, can you have peacocks?
It would serve your neighbors right, as they are so beautiful and have such an ugly voice.
The voice is so close to a Burro’s voice, that when I lived in the hills, near Oatman, the burro’s would come out of the big wash and right up beside the peacocks house.
At 1 am every night, one of the burros would stop and say hello to the peacock, for several minutes, or only in passing.
To hear them talk to each other, it is difficult to tell the voices apart.
[An excellent idea, bird feeders and houses, from pallets, which are even free in this area.......and could be sold at swap meets all over the state........thanks to Magnolia for the link...granny]
http://www.backwoodshome.com/articles/brentlinger53.html
Free pallet wood and birdhouses add up to big country dollars
By Rick Brentlinger
If I could show you how to manufacture a product anywhere in the country and if I offered to find you the raw materials free, would you be interested? If so, here is a business plan that works. Have you seen those weathered wooden pallets stacked behind grocery stores, piled beside feed stores or next to the dumpster in your local lumber yard? Those pallets, your initiative, and the information that follows could mean money in your pocket for years to come.
Pallets are often available free for the asking. Businesses are glad to get rid of them so they don’t have to pay to haul them away. There are two kinds of pallets—reusable and throw away. The reusable pallets are often made of oak, poplar, and occasionally maple. If there is a big stack of them, some stores will give these away free too. But the ones I like best are the throw away pallets made of pine, oak, or poplar wood.
Birdhouses and bird feeders made from wood scavenged for free Birdhouses and bird feeders made from wood scavenged for free
What you do is locate a stack of pallets and ask if you can help the business owner by hauling them off for free. Always get permission before you take pallets. When you have a pickup load, stack them neatly near your workshop and you’re ready to begin.
I use a circular saw to dismantle the pallets, cutting the wood off the stringers and stacking it in a dry place. The 2 x 4 stringers can be cut in half and burned in your woodstove. The wood you’ve cut off the stringers is where the real money is.
Pallet wood is naturally weathered and looks like old barn siding. I use it to make simple, rustic birdhouses and bird feeders which I then sell at flea markets or wholesale to garden centers around town. I get $10 to $20 a piece for these birdhouses. The retailer usually resells them at double my price.
At this point, you’re probably thinking, “Yeah, but I’m not a woodworker” or “I don’t have any power equipment.” The truth is that anyone can learn to make a nice birdhouse in just a few days of experimenting. After all, a birdhouse is a simple structure with seven basic parts—two sides, a front and back, a bottom, and two pieces for the top. And you don’t necessarily need power equipment to cut the wood. It can be done with a handsaw if that’s all you have. Once you’ve made some money selling your handmade rustic birdhouses, you can think about buying some power equipment to make the work go faster.
continues with instructions and photos........
I will need days to read all these useful articles:
http://www.backwoodshome.com/article_index.html#mo
http://www.backwoodshome.com/articles/duffyk43.html
The incredible cattail
The super Wal-Mart of the swamp
By Kevin F. Duffy
I can think of no other North American plant that is more useful than the cattail. This wonderful plant is a virtual gold mine of survival utility. It is a four-season food, medicinal, and utility plant. What other plant can boast eight food products, three medicinals, and at least 12 other functional uses?
Cattails in winter Cattails in winter
The Common Cattail (Typha latifolia) and its brethren Narrowleaf Cattail (Typha angustifolia), Southern Cattail (Typha domingensis), and Blue Cattail (Typha Glauca), have representatives found throughout North America and most of the world. While living in Northern Japan, I spent many chilly mornings in snow storms among miles of cattails while duck hunting. Cattail is a member of the grass family, Gramineae, as are rice, corn, wheat, oats, barley, and rye, just to mention a few. Of the 15 most commonly consumed domesticated plant foods, 10 are grasses. However, of more than 1300 wild grasses, none holds a loftier position as a survival food than cattail. Just about any place you can find year-round standing water or wet soil, you can usually find cattails.
In Euell Gibbons’ Stalking the Wild Asparagus, his chapter on cattails is titled “Supermarket of the Swamp.” As you will see, this title aptly applies to the cattail. However, due to its medicinal and utilitarian uses, we may want to mentally modify the title to “Super Wal-Mart of the Swamp.”
Identification
Cattails are readily identified by the characteristic brown seed head. There are some poisonous look-alikes that may be mistaken for cattail, but none of these look-alikes possess the brown seed head.
Cattail, Common and Narrow-leaf Cattail, Common and Narrow-leaf
Blue Flag (Iris versicolor) and Yellow Flag (Iris pseudoacorus) and other members of the iris family all possess the cattail-like leaves, but none possesses the brown seed head. All members of the Iris family are poisonous. Another look-alike which is not poisonous, but whose leaves look more like cattail than iris is the Sweet Flag (Acorus calumus). Sweet Flag has a very pleasant spicy, sweet aroma when the leaves are bruised. It also does not posses the brown seed head. Neither the irises nor cattail has the sweet, spicy aroma. I have seen large stands of cattails and sweet flag growing side by side. As with all wild edibles, positive identification is essential. If you are not sure, do not eat it.
Corms, shoots, and spikes
In just about any survival situation, whether self-imposed or not, one of the first plants I look for is the cattail. As a food plant, cattails are outstanding and offer a variety of food products according to the season. In early spring, dig up the roots to locate the small pointed shoots called corms. These can be removed, peeled, and eaten, added to other spring greens for a salad, or cooked in stews or alone as a pot herb. As the plant growth progresses to where the shoots reach a height of two to three feet above the water, peel and eat like the corms, or sautee. This food product is also known as “Cossack Asparagus” due to the Russians’ fondness for it.
In late spring to early summer, some of my favorite food products come into fruition on the cattail. Soon after these shoots become available, the green female bloom spikes and the male pollen spikes begin to emerge. These spikes can be found in the center of the plant and form a cylindrical projection that can only be detected when you’re close to the plant. Peel back the leaves in the same way you would shuck corn, and both the male portion above and the female below can be seen. The female portion will later develop into the familiar brown “cattail” seed head from which the plant’s name is derived. The male portion will atrophy into a small dried twig that may easily break off the top of the seed head. Both the male and female pollen spikes can be boiled and eaten like corn on the cob, and both are delicious. The male portion provides a bigger meal at this stage. They have a flavor that is corn-like, but distinct from corn. I cannot imagine anyone finding the flavor objectionable. Both may also be eaten raw.
Pollen and root starch
Later, the male pollen head will begin to develop an abundance of yellow pollen with a talcum powder consistency that can easily be shaken off into any container. Several pounds of this can be collected in less than an hour. The traditional use of this pollen is to substitute for some the flour in pancakes to make cattail pancakes. This also works well with cornbread. Other uses of the pollen include thickeners or flour extenders for breads, cakes, etc.
Cooked male and female pollen and bloom spikes Cooked male and female pollen and bloom spikes
In late summer to early fall, the tender inner portions of the leaf stalk may still be collected, but the availability of this Cossack Asparagus begins to dwindle, due to the toughening up of the plant. During this period and all the way to spring, the most abundant food product, the root starch, may be harvested. It is so abundant, a study was conducted at the Cattail Research Center of Syracuse University’s Department of Plant Sciences. The chief investigator of the project was Leland Marsh. The reported results were as follows:
Yields are fantastic. Marsh discovered he could harvest 140 tons of rhizomes per acre near Wolcott, NY. That represents something more than 10 times the average yield per acre of potatoes. In terms of dry weight of cattail flour, the 140 tons of roots would yield approximately 32 tons.
To extract the flour or starch from the cattail root, simply collect the roots, wash, and peel them. Next, break up the roots under water. The flour will begin to separate from the fibers. Continue this process until the fibers are all separated and the sweet flour is removed. Remove the fiber and pour off the excess water.
Allow the remaining flour slurry to dry by placing near a fire or using the sun.
Cattail root flour also contains gluten. Gluten is the constituent in wheat flour that allows flour to rise in yeast breads. The Iroquois Indians macerated and boiled the roots to produce a fine syrup, which they used in a corn meal pudding and to sweeten other dishes. Some Indians burned the mature brown seed heads to extract the small seeds from the fluff, which was used to make gruels and added to soups.
Medicinal and other uses
The medicinal uses of cattails include poultices made from the split and bruised roots that can be applied to cuts,
Yellow Flag, a poisonous cattail look-alike. None of the look-alikes has the characteristic brown seed head. Yellow Flag, a poisonous cattail look-alike.
None of the look-alikes has the
characteristic brown seed head.
wounds, burns, stings, and bruises. The ash of the burned cattail leaves can be used as an antiseptic or styptic for wounds. A small drop of a honey-like excretion, often found near the base of the plant, can be used as an antiseptic for small wounds and toothaches.
The utility of this cattail is limited only by your imagination. The dried stalks can be used for hand drills and arrow shafts. The seed heads and dried leaves can be used as tinder. The seed head fluff can be used for pillow and bedding stuffing or as a down-like insulation in clothing. The leaves can be used for construction of shelters or for woven seats and backs of chairs, which has been a traditional use for hundreds of years.
They can be woven into baskets, hats, mats, and beds. The dried seed heads attached to their stalks can be dipped into melted animal fat or oil and used as torches.
The next time you see “The Super Wal-Mart of the Swamp,” why don’t you do some shopping?
Sources
1. Gibbons, Euell, Stalking the Wild Asparagus. Alan C. Hood and Company, Putney, Vermont; 1962. 303 pp.
2. Harris, B., Eat The Weeds. Barre Publishers, Garre, MA; 1971. 223 pp.
Read More Self Reliance Articles
[And the fur from the mature cattails, was used to pack the baby backboards that the Native American baby rode in, as a diaper. granny]
Quite an involved project, but let it get your mind to working, interesting idea for a dehydrator.
http://www.backwoodshome.com/articles/hooker41.html
For large quantity food dehydration try this homemade gem from the past
By Rev. J.D. Hooker
Bookmarking for survival.
Outstanding! Was fascinated by the medicianl qualities.
I always intended to play with this:
I had forgotten that the solar oven was also a dehydrator:
We can have all kinds of cabbage family if the moose don’t get in there first. Brussels sprouts, cauliflower are actually excellent when fresh.
http://www.backwoodshome.com/articles2/campbell67.html
Get out of debt,
stay out of debt
By Darlene Campbell
Decades ago it was advised of young high school graduates to deposit a set amount of money into the bank each month, and when they retired they would be millionaires. Unfortunately, that philosophy fell by the wayside after World War II. Today it is not unusual for young graduates to receive credit card applications by mail starting them on the road to indebtedness, not the road to wealth.
If you are in debt now, you should be working to clear all indebtedness during the next year. We did it, and you can, too. We paid off credit card debt and doctor bills. We paid off the car and made double payments on the mortgage principle of our home with the intent of paying that off, too. But as the future began to look uncertain, we changed plans and sold our mortgaged home and obtained enough money from the equity to pay cash for a smaller home. Both my husband and I have even quit our jobs since having no debt means we need less income. We are not old enough for retirement and do not collect disability, retirement income, or welfare. Instead we have simply freed ourselves of debt and can now pursue other interests and earn sufficient money doing practically nothing.
We have enough money to eat, pay utilities, and put gas in two vehicles. I freeze a lot of food, and what we do not grow we purchase on sale. Most of our income comes from selling at flea markets and over the Internet.
Knowing how much you owe and how much you earn is not going to get you out of debt. You must learn to do with less, stop buying on credit, downsize what you already own, and eventually you will be debt free. Sounds easy enough, but most people find this is the most difficult part of getting out of debt. They don’t want to stop spending. Most people struggle to have more, not less.
Where do you spend?
It is necessary to organize your financial records, then develop a plan for paying off creditors. Gather the following records: your most recent pay stub, most recent bank statement, your checkbook, and all current credit card bills, medical bills, utility bills, insurance premiums, children’s allowance, pet care, installment loans, newspaper subscription, cable TV, transportation, etc.
Here, John is going over a worksheet to establish priorities and set deadlines
Here, John is going over a worksheet to establish priorities and set deadlines
With these items in front of you, enter your income on the top line of a sheet of paper. This is your worksheet. List every known monthly expense, from the kids’ allowance to the mortgage payment, and add it up with a calculator. When you finish you will see how much you earn and where the bulk of your money is spent. On the same worksheet, list out-of-pocket or miscellaneous expenses—all those little expenses down to the smallest item such as a coffee break, hamburger, purchase of a key ring, or cigarette lighter. Pay close attention to these small expenditures because they add up to a significant sum on a monthly basis, and are almost always wasteful.
continued and it is worth reading, several useful ideas.
Yeah, it made the rounds on mine too.
[Have you tried for jelly?]
Gather rose hips for health
By Gail Butler
Vitamin C-rich rose hips can be found in dried form in most health food stores, but why not gather your own? You’ll save money and you’ll know where they came from and the conditions in which they grew. Furthermore, you’ll be adding to your own self-sufficiency by locating and gathering a nutrient-dense food source to nourish yourself and your family.
Growing along the main irrigation canal in the small farming community where I live are hedgerows of wild roses. In spring they produce lovely pink blossoms. As the petals fade, a green hip, or hypanthium, begins to swell at each blossom’s base. From mid-September into October when they are fully red and ripe, and before frost tinges their foliage with autumn color making the hips harder to see, I gather bagfuls for making soup, wine, syrup, jelly, and tea.
Most wild roses will have four- or five-petal blossoms that are either white, yellow, or pink. Five-petal pink blossoms cover the wild roses in my area in spring.
Most wild roses will have four- or five-petal blossoms that are either white, yellow, or pink. Five-petal pink blossoms cover the wild roses in my area in spring.
If you live, as I do, in a temperature zone that’s too cold to grow citrus fruit, rose hips are an excellent alternative food source of Vitamin C. All roses are edible, but we are most familiar with the rose’s tasty cousins—fruits such as plums, apples, blackberries, and raspberries—all of which have small, rose-like white or pink flowers before setting fruit. A rose hip is merely the fruit of the rose plant.
Unlike their popular fruiting cousins, rose hips don’t have much flesh beneath their skins. Instead, they are filled with tiny seeds covered with silky hairs. The skin of the hip, often tasting like an apple, is where most of the food value and nutrition lies.
Nutritional powerhouses
Known mostly for beauty in the garden and as a floral declaration of love, roses don’t usually come to mind when we think of either food or nutrition. Yet, all parts of the rose, and especially the hips, are storehouses of Vitamin C and other important nutrients.
Compare the nutritional content of oranges to rose hips and you will find that rose hips contain 25 percent more iron, 20 to 40 percent more Vitamin C (depending upon variety), 25 times the Vitamin A, and 28 percent more calcium.
Dry rose hips on an old cookie sheet for a couple of weeks until completely dry. When ready to store, they should be darker than their fresh counterparts, hard, and semi-wrinkley.
Dry rose hips on an old cookie sheet for a couple of weeks until completely dry. When ready to store, they should be darker than their fresh counterparts, hard, and semi-wrinkley.
In addition, rose hips are a rich source of bioflavanoids, pectin, Vitamin E, selenium, manganese, and the B-complex vitamins. Rose hips also contain trace amounts of magnesium, potassium, sulfur and silicon.
Finding and gathering rose hips
Wild roses grow throughout the world. There are literally thousands of varieties worldwide and most have been part of the human diet. In fact, it is difficult to find an area of the world or a temperature zone—barring parts of the Antarctic and the Sahara Desert—where wild roses don’t grow.
We can also look to our own gardens. The domesticated roses we find there are rich in nutrients. Look for Rosa rugosa that develops many large, bright red hips that look and taste like small apples. Rugosa roses are found in most nurseries and plant catalogs. Rosa gallica, a native of the Middle East no longer found in the wild but available from nurseries and plant catalogs, is a favored old garden rose. It will grace your garden with beauty and scent and your table with nutritious foods and beverages. Even the well-loved “hybrid tea” roses produce edible hips, although not as prolifically as their wild and semi-domesticated garden cousins.
Rose hip tea is a tasty, nutritious beverage that can be made from fresh or dried hips. This cup was made from freshly gathered wild rose hips.
Rose hip tea is a tasty, nutritious beverage that can be made from fresh or dried hips. This cup was made from freshly gathered wild rose hips.
Many enthusiastic gardeners never see the development of colorful hips because as soon as blossoms fade they are snipped off to tidy up the garden. Blossoms must be left on the plant to naturally fade and fall for hips to develop.
The most abundant source of Vitamin C-rich rose hips is from wild hedgerows and thickets. Here hips can be gathered in ample quantities for cooking and storing. You’d have to grow a vast number of garden-variety roses to get a sufficient quantity of hips for use all year long. As most roses have thorns, gloves are helpful although not essential when gathering hips.
Rose hips as food
Once you locate your rose hip source there still remains the question of turning them into something we deem not only edible, but tasty too. Rose hips can be made into a variety of appetizing, healthy dishes. Turned into jelly, syrup, and wine, they make delightful gifts.
Rose hips may be used fresh or dried. To dry them, discard any with discoloration then rinse in cold water, pat dry, and spread on a wax paper-lined cookie sheet. It takes a couple of weeks for them to dry. They will be darker in color, hard, and semi-wrinkly. Rub off any stems or remaining blossom ends. Pour them into jars for storage in a dark pantry or cupboard.
One of my favorite ways to use rose hips is to brew them into tea. For tea they may be used fresh or dried. For fresh brewing, steep a tablespoon or two of clean hips in a cup of boiling water for about 10 minutes. Sweeten with honey and enjoy. To make a tea of dried hips, use only two teaspoons to one cup of boiling water and steep for 10 to 15 minutes.
My favorite syrup for pancakes, waffles, and vanilla ice cream is made from freshly gathered rose hips. Rinse and pat dry the hips and place them in a saucepan. Barely cover with water and bring to a boil. Lower the heat and simmer until soft, about 10 to 15 minutes. Cool and strain the mixture, pressing the liquid off the hips gently with the back of a spoon, being careful not to break them open and release the seeds. If this happens, merely strain the seeds out. The resulting liquid may be frozen in batches for future use in soup or jelly, or turned into tasty syrup. The solids left over from straining can be fed to chickens or tossed onto the compost pile.
In late summer, rose hips ripen to bright red and are ready for gathering.
In late summer, rose hips ripen to bright red and are ready for gathering.
To make rose hip syrup, add one part honey to two parts of the heated, strained liquid. Stir to dissolve the honey and refrigerate. After refrigeration, the syrup will thicken slightly. Rose hip syrup will keep in the refrigerator for about two weeks. Reheat the syrup for use on pancakes and waffles. Use it warm or cold to top vanilla ice cream.
Heated syrup may be canned by pouring it into hot, sterile jars and processing in a boiling water bath for 15 minutes. For every 1,000 feet above an elevation of 5,000 feet, add one minute to the processing time.
For a refreshing spring tonic punch, simmer rhubarb in rose hip syrup until soft. Strain and adjust sweetening as needed. Chill, and pour over ice for a refreshing, healthful libation to clear out the winter cobwebs. Add a sprig of fresh spearmint or lemon balm as garnish. Rose hip syrup may be used to sweeten and flavor herbal or black teas, as well.
A favorite dish of the Swedish is rose hip soup. They literally consume rose hips by the tons each year. To make approximately four servings you’ll need:
3 cups of freshly made or thawed unsweetened rose hip liquid
2 Tbsp. honey
2 Tbsp. lemon juice
2 tsp. corn starch
4 Tbsp. sour cream or yogurt as a garnish
minced mint
In a saucepan, heat the liquid and add the honey and lemon juice. Remove ½ cup of the heated mixture. Into this, whisk the cornstarch until smooth. Add the cornstarch mixture back into the pan and bring to a high simmer, stirring, until the mixture bubbles and thickens. Add a dollop of sour cream or yogurt to each serving, topping with minced fresh mint, if desired.
If you make your own wine, the following recipe for rose hip wine is one of the healthiest and most lovely in color. You’ll need:
After a hard frost, autumn color makes the hips harder to see.
After a hard frost, autumn color makes the hips harder to see.
4 pounds of fresh rose hips
3 pounds of sugar
1 gallon boiling water
1 tsp. black tea
1 tsp. baker’s or wine yeast
Rinse and drain the hips. Place them in a primary fermenting vessel such as a clean food-grade plastic bucket that has a tight-fitting lid. Pour in one gallon of boiling water. Add the teaspoon of tea and all the sugar, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Let the mixture sit tightly covered for 24 hours. Add one teaspoon of baker’s or wine yeast and let the mixture ferment for seven days, covered, stirring once per day with a clean spoon.
Strain off the rose hips and pour the liquid into a one-gallon glass jug (an old wine jug works great) and fit with a fermentation lock or balloon. If you use a balloon, be sure to release the gases occasionally or it will burst. Place the jug in a warm spot until fermentation ceases. Siphon (rack) the liquid off of the yeast solids into a clean glass jug and refit with the fermentation lock or balloon.
Racking will usually reactivate fermentation for a short time. When fermentation ceases completely for several weeks, siphon the wine into clean wine bottles. Cork the bottles securely or use wine bottles with screw-on tops and store in a cool spot for six months or longer. There will usually be a glass or two of wine left after bottling. This you can enjoy right away.
Precautions
Wherever you gather rose hips, be sure they have not been treated with herbicides or pesticides. If wild roses grow on your property or you gather from your garden roses, you can manage them to your satisfaction.
Wild roses, despite their beauty and usefulness as perimeter plantings, food, and wildlife habitats, are considered by many to be a nuisance. They do spread by suckering, and a single plant will become a thicket eventually. If you have enough property to sustain several thickets where they can grow without interfering with your other operations, you will have an ample source of nutritious hips to nourish yourself and your family throughout the year.
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[granny note: save the petals for baths and potpourri’s
, I do not feel so bad, tried 2 spell checkers and they cannot spell it either, you know what I mean, dry rose petals and spices in a jar that when you take the lid off, it smells good....]]
Some place there is a recipe for dry petals, ground and mixed with Elmers White Glue, to a thick dough and rolled into beads, that are dried on a straight pen or thin nail, if you do not get an odor, than add rose perfume to the mix.
http://www.backwoodshome.com/articles2/rohdenburg81a.html
[This is the end of article]
If you have a need for trail food—storable, transportable, convenient, affordable and palatable calories—maybe we can learn something from the old ways. Jerky, pemmican, hardtack, and parched corn are traditional travel rations that have passed the test of time. They are products that have been produced, relied on, and refined for centuries, even millennia. Just a touch of modern technology and convenience makes them even better today.
Jerky, pemmican, hardtack, and parched corn are ways to put game, livestock, wild berries, and garden produce by in times of plenty. Easily made, transported, and stored, they became frontier staples for travelers, hunters, and warriors. They are still excellent trail foods and emergency rations.
I take jerky, pemmican, hardtack, and parched corn along on wilderness trips. Supplemented by some tea, salt, and rice and whatever I can catch or gather, I can exist pretty comfortably and feel healthy doing it. Even if I take more modern foods along as well, the historical perspective is fun. They’re comforting to have in reserve, too, in case the bush plane doesn’t show up on time, or the wind keeps your canoe ashore for a couple extra days. (Their only drawback as emergency rations is that I’m tempted to eat them before I’m truly hungry).
Jerky
Jerky is said to keep for years, but it’s so good that around my house it’s shelf life is usually measured in minutes. Here’s my favorite recipe:
11/2 lbs. very lean ground meat—(Any meat that isn’t fatty, including fish and birds. Avoid pork or bear.)
1/4 cup soy
1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp. Liquid Smoke
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
1 tsp. onion powder
1 tsp. black pepper
Combine all the marinade ingredients and pour over the meat. Refrigerate until the meat absorbs the solution. (Chilled meat is also firmer and easier to work with.) Roll the ground meat out and cut into strips about 1/4-inch thick and an inch or two wide. The strips can then be dried either on plastic screens or in a food dehydrator. Our forebears often simply draped strips of meat over branches; they built a cool, smoky fire underneath to keep away flies if necessary.
Pemmican
At its simplest, pemmican is only powdered jerky bound together with melted fat. It tastes far better than it sounds. When you’re working hard outdoors, especially in the cold, listen to your body. Pemmican will satisfy your craving for calories in ways that a candy bar won’t. It’s said to provide every essential but vitamin C. The concept of pemmican was borrowed from the American Indians. It begins with lean meat, traditionally of bison, moose, elk, or deer. It was dried over a fire or in the sun and wind. The dried meat was ground and shredded between stones. Sometimes ground dried berries, nuts, or honey were added. Finally, melted fat and/or bone marrow grease were mixed in. Pemmican could be eaten as is, or made into a soup or stew. When available, mint leaves or wild onions could be added for flavor.
Parched corn is easy to make, stores well, and makes a great trail food.
Parched corn is easy to make, stores well, and makes a great trail food.
The Hudson’s Bay Company bought pemmican from the Indians and later the Metis as the staple food of their fur brigades and established a standard of quality. It paid a premium for “sweet pemmican” made solely from the best of lean meats—preferably from bison cows and young bulls—and only bone marrow grease. Pemmican production became the most important industry on the high plains next to the fur trade.
Pemmican was originally stored in the stomach or intestines of animals. Indians shaped it into small round cakes. The Hudson’s Bay Company specified that it be stored in 45-kg. green bison skin bags called “parfleches,” sealed with tallow. As the parfleches dried they shrank, in effect vacuum-sealing themselves. They would keep for years. During the fur trade, it was reckoned that pemmican was nutritionally worth four times its weight in meat. Hudson’s Bay Company pemmican consisted of 50% dried meat and 50% fat/marrow.
“Modern” pemmican
Very dry jerky. Use deer, moose, caribou, or beef (not pork or bear).
Fresh beef suet. (the raw fat from around the kidneys and loins)
Any seedless dried fruit not preserved with sulfites (optional)
Cut the suet into chunks and render (melt) it over low heat, until it becomes a rich golden-brown liquid. Continue to heat until all moisture is removed. It’s important to remove all water from the fat to prevent it from going rancid. Strain it and throw away the solids. Allow it to cool—it will turn white. This is tallow. Rendering twice will make the tallow harder and give it better keeping qualities. Tallow, when cooled, resembles candle wax in color and consistency. In fact, if you have any left over, it can be made into candles. Lewis and Clark took cotton wicking along with them for that purpose, and wrote their journals by the smokey light of tallow candles. Add some beeswax or paraffin to make them burn better.
In a blender, grind the dried meat to a powder. Chop or grind the dried fruits and mix them with the dried meat powder. (Many who have acquired the taste for pemmican, myself included, prefer it without any fruit.)
Heat the tallow again. Make sure it is as hot as it can get without smoking. (Smoking means burning.) Pour the tallow into the dried meat mixture, adding just enough to moisten the particles. If it’s too cool you will have to use a lot of it to stick the mixture together and the pemmican will be too rich and fatty. At this point, if the tallow is cooling down too quickly to allow it to soak in properly, you can microwave the whole mixture to warm it up.
Form the warm pemmican into blocks or bars or patties. Allow them to cool and wrap in waxed paper or store in plastic bags.
“Peanut butter” pemmican
If you can’t quite bring yourself to eat the real thing yet, try this substitute:
1 part jerky
1 part peanuts or pecans, unroasted
1 part raisins
1 part any seedless dried fruit(s) not preserved with sulfites—apples, peaches, blueberries, etc.
Peanut butter and honey, in a two-to-one ratio
Cayenne pepper, to taste (optional, but contrasts nicely with the sweet fruits and honey.)
Four easy to make, easy to carry, and energy-packed trails foods, clockwise from left: parched corn, hardtack, pemmican, and jerky.
Four easy to make, easy to carry, and energy-packed trails foods, clockwise from left: parched corn, hardtack, pemmican, and jerky.
Powder the jerky in a blender. Add fruit and nuts. Microwave honey and peanut butter to soften them, then blend them into the mixture. (Use less than you think you’ll need, just enough to bind everything together. If you get it wrong, it’s easier to add more peanut butter and honey than to add more of everything else.) Add cayenne pepper, working it in thoroughly. Store in plastic bags.
Hardtack
Essentially a very hard cracker, hardtack was the standard traveling fare for soldiers, sailors, and pioneers up through WWI. Originally made from only salt, flour, and a little water, it was universally despised. It was traditionally either dipped in coffee, or soaked in hot water and then fried in bacon drippings. This updated version is far more healthy and tasty, and just as easy to store and transport.
2 cups fresh whole wheat flour (Best if you grind it yourself—wheat berries lose nutritional value rapidly once ground.)
2 cups fresh corn meal (Again, best if you grind it yourself right before baking.)
1/2 cup wheat germ
1/2 cup rolled oats
1 Tbsp. brown sugar
1 Tbsp. salt
13/4 cups water
Mix dry ingredients thoroughly. Add water. Knead until moistened but not sticky. Roll 1/4 inch thick. Cut into 3-inch squares or rounds. Place on ungreased cookie sheets. Score with a knife to facilitate breaking later. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Can be stored indefinitely in an airtight container.
Parched corn
Corn was the staple grain on the American frontier for pioneers and Indians alike, as it was (and is) relatively easy to grow, harvest, and process without machinery. There are four basic types: flour, dent, flint, and sweet. All may be dried on the cob, and may then be stored indefinitely. If you want to go modern, then just buy frozen whole kernel corn at the grocery store and dehydrate it.
Parching corn makes these hard kernels softer for your teeth and much more digestible. It’s a lightweight, high energy food that was carried by Indian warriors and hunters. It was also considered a treat by pioneer children. It can be eaten as is, or ground and added to soups and stews. You’ll be surprised at how it revitalizes you.
Heat a small amount of butter or lard or oil in a skillet on low. Wipe the skillet with a paper towel so that only a thin coat remains—just enough to prevent the corn from sticking. Pour in enough dry kernels to almost cover the bottom of the pan. Stir constantly to prevent burning. The kernels are done when they swell and turn light to medium brown and begin to pop. It takes from about one to five minutes. Dump the corn out onto a plate lined with a paper towel to soak up any remaining oil or grease, then re-oil your skillet and do some more. Enough for a day will fit in a plastic bag in your pocket.
On your next outing, try traveling light. Jerky, pemmican, hardtack, and parched corn will keep you going all day, without utensils to clean, or trash to dispose of, or the need to stop and cook. For dinner, pemmican stewed with whatever greens or tubers you’ve foraged, thickened with parched corn and served with hardtack will give you a literal taste of days gone by.
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[Also Peanut Butter, Spam, those Oatmeal bars for nutrition that are sold........You are said to be able to march one day, on one fourth of a can of Spam............granny]
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