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 ...
http://www.backwoodshome.com/articles2/lightfoot78.html
Making baby food at home
By Michele Lightfoot
http://www.backwoodshome.com/recipes/row070224.html
Zucchini custard pie
Courtesy of
Sandra L. Toney
You’ll find this recipe and over 400 more in Backwoods Home Cooking.
Click Here
Ingredients
1 cup shredded zucchini
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 1/2 Tbsp. flour
1 cup sugar
2 Tbsp. butter or margarine
1 cup evaporated milk
1 9-inch unbaked pastry or pie shell
cinnamon
nutmeg
Method
Preheat oven to 450°.
Mix zucchini (and any excess liquid), egg, vanilla, flour, sugar, butter, and evaporated milk in a blender until thoroughly blended. Pour mixture into unbaked pastry shell. Sprinkle top of pie with cinnamon and nutmeg until it is lightly covered.
Bake pie for 20 minutes at 450°. Lower the oven temperature to 350° and bake for 10 minutes more. Let cool completely.
Click here for more recipes
Index:
http://www.backwoodshome.com/article_index.html#mo
http://www.backwoodshome.com/articles2/duffyi110.html
Cinnamon apple squares
I found a healthy dessert recipe from a book called, 500 Best Cookies, Bars & Squares by Esther Brody. I’ve made a few additions and changes to it. I even get to use up some of our chopped apples stored in freezer bags that my friends and I put away this past fall. My boys call it an apple cobbler, but really, it’s more like a cake with batter on the bottom, apple filling in the middle, and more batter on top. With my preprepared apples in the freezer that already have the sugar and cinnamon added for pie filling, this recipe is a 20-minute project from start to finish, plus the baking time. Very quick, very delicious.
For the batter:
1½ cups flour
½ cup whole wheat flour
½ cup dry rolled oats
2 tsp. baking powder
pinch salt
2 eggs
¾ cup sugar
¾ cup canola oil
½ cup cold water
about 2 Tbsp. milk
For the filling:
1½ cups chopped apples
½ cup frozen blackberries
about 2 Tbsp. sugar
1 tsp. cinnamon
For the topping:
2 Tbsp. sugar
½ cinnamon
Preheat oven to 350° F. In small bowl, mix flours, baking powder, and salt. In large bowl, beat eggs and sugar, then beat in oil until blended. Gradually blend in flour mixture, alternately with water and the milk, until just incorporated. In another bowl, mix apples, berries, sugar, and cinnamon gently.
In greased and floured 13x9 inch pan, spread about half the batter evenly to cover the bottom of the pan. Spread the fruit mixture on top. Then spread remaining batter on top. Sprinkle with topping. Bake in preheated oven for 40-60 minutes until golden brown.
Needs a good look:
Super interesting:
http://www.backwoodshome.com/articles2/fedyniak110.html
http://www.backwoodshome.com/articles2/fedyniak110.html
Several new recipes, to me, including rose hip wine:
Making delicious,
unthinkable wines
By Lev G. Fedyniak
Yum...gonna try this soon. I can see doing variations of this with other meats, sauces, etc., too.
http://www.backwoodshome.com/articles2/salloum87.html
[These pies would work well with much of our stored foods, easy to add meat if you have it.......granny]
[end of the article]
Traditionally most pies are stuffed with meats or a combination of vegetables and meats. Only a few, like cheese or spinach pies, are usually made with nonmeat fillings. Long favored by the masses, these vegetarian delights have for centuries been an important food in the kitchens of these lands.
On the other hand, besides cheese and spinach, more innovative cooks, like my mother, throughout the Middle East have replaced the meats with nuts and almost every kind of vegetable. In the process they have created a great number of appetizing and succulent vegetarian pies.
These can be made very small, medium size, or large enough for a one-person meal. The petit and medium versions can be served as appetizers, for snacks, as part of buffet meals, or as supplements to soups and salads. King-size and baked, they make a delectable and filling all-in-one entrée. Also, excellent for lunches and as picnic fare, they add much to the culinary world of sandwich-type foods.
Vegetarian pies can be stuffed with a never-ending variety of nonmeat ingredients and most are simple to prepare. They can be made in advance and frozen, then removed and allowed to thaw half an hour before being baked. Very delightful when served hot, they lose only a little of their mouth-watering taste if eaten cold.
The following vegetarian pies are some of the ones mother used to bake and a number which are my own creations.
Dough for the pies
1 Tbsp. sugar
1 pkg. dry yeast
1 cup lukewarm water
3 cups flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. ground ginger
4 Tbsp. olive oil
Dissolve sugar and yeast in 1/4 cup of the lukewarm water, then allow to stand until yeast begins to froth.
In the meantime, combine flour, salt, and ginger in a mixing bowl, then make a well in the middle. Add the yeast, water, and oil. Knead into a dough, adding more flour or water if necessary. (Do not allow the dough to become sticky.) Shape into a ball, then brush the outside with a few drops of oil. Place on a floured tray or pan, then cover with a damp cloth. Allow to rest in a warm spot until it becomes double in size.
Note: An equal amount of frozen dough will serve equally well for all the following recipes.
Spinach pies
Spinach pies are the most commonly made pies in the Middle East. They are found on the menu of almost every feast.
1 dough recipe
1 pkg. spinach (10 oz.), thoroughly washed and finely chopped
2 medium onions, chopped
3 Tbsp. pine nuts or slivered almonds
4 Tbsp. olive oil
2 Tbsp. lemon juice
3/4 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1/8 tsp. cayenne
Prepare the dough for the pies, then set aside.
Make a filling by thoroughly combining all the ingredients just before rolling out the dough into rounds, then set aside.
Form the dough into 20 balls, then place them on a floured tray. Cover with a damp cloth, then allow to stand in a warm place for 30 minutes.
Roll the balls into five to six-inch rounds, then divide the filling and place two heaping tablespoons of filling on each round, stirring the filling each time. (Preferably the filling should be divided into 20 equal parts.) Fold the dough over the filling, then close by firmly pinching edges together into half moon or triangle shape.
Place the pies on well-greased baking trays, then bake in a 350° F preheated oven for 20 minutes or until pies turn golden brown. Remove from the oven, then brush with olive oil. Serve hot or cold.
Leek pies
Leeks, not much used in cooking in North America, make an excellent-succulent pie.
1 dough recipe
4 heaping cups of thoroughly washed chopped leeks
4 medium onions, chopped
4 cloves garlic, crushed
1 small hot pepper, very finely chopped
2 Tbsp. sumach (Sumach, sometimes spelled sumac, sammak, summag, and other ways, can be purchased in Middle Eastern food markets.)
2 Tbsp. finely chopped fresh coriander leaves (cilantro)
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup lemon juice
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
Prepare the dough for the pies, then set aside.
Make a filling by thoroughly combining all remaining ingredients, then set aside.
Form the dough into 20 balls, and place them on a floured tray. Cover with a damp cloth and allow to stand in a warm place for 30 minutes, then roll the balls into five to six-inch rounds.
Follow the spinach recipe when making and baking the leek pies
Eggplant and tomato pies
1 dough recipe
1 eggplant, about 1 1/2 lbs, peeled and cut into 1/4-inch cubes
1 tsp. salt
6 Tbsp. olive oil
2 medium onions, chopped
1 small hot pepper, finely chopped
4 cloves garlic, crushed
2 large tomatoes, finely chopped
1 tsp. oregano
1/2 tsp. pepper
2 eggs, beaten
Prepare the dough for the pies then set aside
Sprinkle eggplant cubes with the salt, then place in a strainer over a pot. Place heavy weight atop eggplant cubes, then allow to drain for one hour.
Heat the oil in a frying pan, then sauté onions over medium heat for 10 minutes. Add the eggplant cubes, hot pepper, and garlic, then stir-fry for five minutes, adding more oil if necessary.
Make filling by stirring in the remaining ingredients, then stir-fry for a few more minutes. Allow to cool.
In the meantime, form the dough into 20 balls, then place them on a floured tray. Cover with a damp cloth and allow to stand in a warm place for 30 minutes, then roll the balls into five to six-inch rounds.
Follow the spinach recipe for making and baking eggplant and tomato pies.
Potato and tomato pies
Eaten just out of the oven, these pies are simply delicious.
1 dough recipe
4 cups shredded potatoes
2 medium tomatoes, finely chopped
1 large onion, finely chopped
1 small hot pepper, very finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, crushed
2 Tbsp. finely chopped fresh coriander leaves (cilantro)
2 Tbsp. melted butter
1 egg, beaten
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. cumin
1/2 tsp. pepper
Prepare the dough for the pies, then set aside.
Make a filling by thoroughly combining all the remaining ingredients, then set aside.
Form the dough into 20 balls, then place them on a floured tray. Cover with a damp cloth and allow to stand in a warm place for 30 minutes, then roll the balls into 5 to 6 inch rounds.
Follow the spinach recipe for making and baking potato and tomato pies.
Pea and zucchini pies
1 dough recipe
2 1/2 cups 1/4-inch cubes of unpeeled zucchini
1 1/2 cups fresh or thawed frozen peas
1 large onion, finely chopped
4 cloves garlic, crushed
4 Tbsp. ground almonds
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. oregano
1/2 tsp. pepper
1/2 tsp. paprika
1/4 tsp. cayenne
Prepare the dough for the pies, then set aside.
Make a filling by thoroughly mixing all remaining ingredients, then set aside.
Form the dough into 20 balls, then place them on a flowered tray. Cover with a damp cloth and allow to stand in a warm place for 30 minutes, then roll the balls into 5 to 6 inch rounds.
Follow the spinach recipe for making and baking the pea and zucchini pies.
Mushroom pies
1 dough recipe
4 cups thinly sliced mushrooms, thoroughly washed
1 1/2 cups chopped green onions
1 medium sweet green pepper, finely chopped
1/4 cup finely chopped parsley
2 cloves garlic, crushed
4 Tbsp. olive oil
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. marjoram
1/2 tsp. pepper
1/4 tsp. cayenne
Prepare the dough for the pies, then set aside.
Make a filling by thoroughly combining all remaining ingredients, then set aside.
Form the dough into 20 balls, then place them on a floured tray. Cover with a damp cloth and allow to stand in a warm place for 30 minutes, then roll the balls into five to six-inch rounds.
Follow the spinach recipe for making and baking the mushroom pies.
Corn pies
This is one of my own creations, similar to others that mother made during our farming years.
1 dough recipe
4 Tbsp. olive oil
1 medium sweet pepper, finely chopped
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1 small hot pepper, finely chopped
4 cloves garlic, crushed
4 1/2 cups fresh or thawed frozen corn
1/2 cup finely chopped parsley
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
1/2 tsp. powdered mustard
1/2 tsp. cumin
Prepare the dough for the pies, then set aside.
In the meantime, heat oil in a frying pan, then sauté sweet pepper, onion, hot pepper, and garlic over a medium heat for five minutes. Add the corn, then stir-fry for further five minutes.
To make the filling, stir in the remaining ingredients, then remove from the heat and allow to cool.
In the meantime, form the dough into 20 balls, then place them on a floured tray. Cover with a damp cloth and allow to stand in a warm place for 30 minutes, then roll the balls into five to six-inch rounds.
Follow the spinach recipe for making and baking the corn and pepper pies.
Chickpeas pies
Often prepared by my mother, chickpea pies are believed to have been eaten by the peasants in the Middle East since pre-Roman times.
1 dough recipe
4 Tbsp. olive oil
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
1 cup chickpeas, soaked overnight and drained
Prepare the dough for the pies, then set aside.
In the meantime, combine remaining ingredients, then set aside.
Form the dough into 20 balls, then place them on a floured tray. Cover with a damp cloth, then allow them to stand in a warm place for 30 minutes.
Roll the balls into 1/8-inch thick rounds, then place on well greased cookie tray. Stir chickpea mixture, then press firmly into the dough a handful of chickpeas on each pie.
Bake in a 350° F preheated oven for 15 minutes or until edges of pies turn light brown. Place under broiler until top browns, then serve hot.
Lentil pies
Since lentils contain an equal amount of protein as lean meat and are much more easily digestible, these pies, besides being tasty are very nourishing.
1 dough recipe
1 cup lentils, rinsed
4 cups water
2 medium onions, finely chopped
4 cloves garlic, crushed
1 small hot pepper, very finely chopped
4 Tbsp. tomato paste
4 Tbsp. olive oil
4 Tbsp. lemon juice
1 tsp. ground coriander
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
1/2 tsp. cumin
Prepare the dough for the pies, then set aside.
In the meantime, place the lentils and water in a saucepan, then bring to a boil. Cover, then simmer over medium heat for 40 minutes or until the lentils are soft. Drain the lentils and allow them to cool, then mash and combine with the remaining ingredients to make a filling.
Form the dough into 20 balls, then place them on a flowered tray. Cover with a damp cloth and allow to stand in a warm place for 30 minutes, then roll the balls into 5 to 6 inch rounds.
Follow the spinach recipe for making and baking the lentil pies.
Thyme and sumach pies
In the Greater Syria area of the Middle East, this is a favored breakfast dish, eaten piping hot.
1 dough recipe
1/2 cup olive oil
3 Tbsp. thyme
3 Tbsp. sumach
2 Tbsp. sesame seeds
1 tsp. marjoram
1/4 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. cayenne
Prepare the dough for the pies, then set aside.
In the meantime, thoroughly mix all remaining ingredients, then set aside.
Form the dough into 20 balls, then place them on a floured tray. Cover with a damp cloth, then allow to stand in a warm place for 30 minutes.
Roll the balls into 1/8-inch thick rounds, then place on well greased cookie tray. Spread the mixed ingredients evenly over top of rounds, then bake in a 350° F preheated oven for 15 minutes or until edges of pies turn light brown. Serve hot or cold.
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Read More by Habeeb Salloum
Read More Food & Recipes Articles
http://www.backwoodshome.com/articles/shaffer58.html
Food Drying
By Marcella Shaffer
[Has plans and info for building simple one tray dryers]
http://www.backwoodshome.com/articles2/larsen86.html
Herb boxes from fence boards
By Maggie Larsen
[Neat Idea, salable to people, empty or planted.
Could be made from the free pallets.
granny]
http://www.captaindaves.com/guide/bugout.htm
Chapter 2: Bug out or Batten Down?
* Should you Stay or Go?
* The Evacuation Plan
* Where to Go
o The Ultimate Survival Retreat
o Caching Goods
* How to Get There
o Route Planning
o What to Bring With You
Should you Stay or Go?
Based on the previous section, you should have a good idea of the potential survival situations you might be facing. Now the question is whether to stay and face them or move to another — hopefully safer — location.
We all have a strong desire to protect what’s ours. Regardless of whether you own the largest house in the neighborhood or rent a ramshackle shack, home is where the heart is, not to mention all the rest of your stuff! And Captain Dave knows you’ve worked long and hard to accumulate that stuff, so abandoning it and running for safety may stick in your craw.
Thankfully, there are times when saying at home makes the most sense. If you can wait out the storm, ignore the heavy snow, batten down the hatches against civil unrest or otherwise stay at home during an emergency situation without endangering yourself, it may be your best bet. There are many advantages to staying home in a survival situation, if you can safely do so:
* The food in your refrigerator and pantry can supplement your survival stash (see the next chapter).
* If you loose power, you can quickly cook much of your food and monitor the temperature of your freezer (frozen food will usually keep at least 24 hours).
* You’ll have more time to improve your home’s chances of survival (move items to high ground, put plywood over windows, etc.)
* It offers shelter against most elements.
* You’ll have access to all your clothing, bedding and other comforts.
* You won’t suffer from boredom as much as you might in a shelter.
* You can protect your stuff from looters.
Of course, there’s a downside as well:
* You could be putting yourself in unnecessary, life-threatening danger. (The fire, flood, hurricane, riot, etc. might be worse than anticipated. We’ve all seen TV coverage of people clinging to their roofs as the house washes down stream.)
* If you decided to evacuate later, it may be too late.
* Without heat, electricity, hot water or other services, home just isn’t the same.
* There is no sense of community, unless other neighbors or members of your local survival group stay home, too. You may feel cut off and alone.
* If a mandatory evacuation has been ordered, you may be prosecuted by local authorities (although this rarely happens).
No matter how much you wish to stay at home, there are times when evacuation is the only choice. These include a nuclear, chemical or biological event as well as any impending disaster that is likely to destroy your home. For example:
* If the warning sirens on that nearby chemical plant go off at 3 a.m., you have no choice but to don your gas masks, grab your bug out bag and drive the opposite direction as quickly as possible.
* If you’re beach-front home is directly in the path of a Force 3 hurricane, staying put might show a surplus of guts, but deficit of brains.
* Likewise the time you spend, garden hose in hand, trying to fend off a raging fire that has already burnt out six neighbors might be better spent salvaging your valuables and items with sentimental value.
So, if the survival situations you outlined in the previous section shows several emergency situations requiring evacuation, you’ll need to put together a plan:
The Evacuation Plan
There are several important elements to your evacuation plan:
* Where to go
* How to get there
* What to bring with you
Where to Go
Sure, you can head to the nearest shelter, but if sitting on cots at the local high school gymnasium or National Guard Armory was your first choice, you probably wouldn’t be reading this.
You need a safe house or survival retreat in a location where the current crisis will not threaten you. The easiest way to set up a safe house is to coordinate with a friend or family member located between 100 and 150 miles away, preferably in a different setting. For example:
* If you’re in the inner city, they should be in a rural area or at least a smaller town, preferably not the suburbs of your city
* If you’re near the coast, they should be inland
* If you’re near a flood plain, the safe house should be on higher ground.
Following these guidelines, you can be relatively sure of several things:
* Whatever disaster you are facing should not affect them, and vice versa. This allows you to trade off, so when they are facing a survival situation, your home can be their safe house.
* You’ll be running towards something, not just away from danger.
* You can get there on one tank of gas, even if there is a great deal of traffic (During the Hurricane Opal evacuation in 1995, it was not unusual for a 100 mile trip on the interstate to take four hours).
* You won’t be turned away at the inn (Hotel rooms are quickly filled, and often at inflated prices).
If you plan in advance, you can leave a few changes of old clothes, a toiletries kit, necessary prescription drugs, ammunition, some MREs or anything else you might need at the safe house. This will make your evacuation easier.
While many will find that a friend or relative’s house is the easiest and most cost-effective safe house, the ultimate safe house or survival retreat would be a second residence located in a very rural location. During normal times, this survival retreat can double as your vacation home, hunting lodge or weekend getaway destination. But when the flag goes up, you can evacuate to a safe house fully stocked with everything you need for self sufficiency.
Captain Dave’s ultimate survival retreat would be:
* Well off the beaten track, ideally reachable by a single dirt road. This seclusion will offer you a good bit of protection. For example, you can cut a large tree down across the road to help eliminate unwanted guests.
* Not too ostentatious, so that it doesn’t draw a lot of talk from locals and become a target for vandalism. Nothing wrong with a solid one-room cabin with a sleeping loft.
* Near a spring, well, stream or other natural source of water.
* Equipped with at least one fireplace or wood stove for cooking and heat.
* Within 10 to 20 miles of a village or small town where you can go (by foot, if necessary) for additional supplies, news and other contact with the outside world, should the emergency stretch into months or longer.
* Have enough arable land for growing your own vegetables and other crops.
* Near a natural, easily harvestable food source (usually wildlife for hunting or fishing).
* Provisioned with enough food to keep your family safe for at least three months, preferably a year.
* Provisioned with tools necessary for long-term self sufficiency, should it become necessary.
* Stocked with enough weapons and ammunition to defend it from small groups of marauding invaders, should it come to that.
If you are worried about caching goods in a unattended house, where they could be stolen, you can cache a supply nearby. While most caches are buried in hidden locations, a simple solution to this dilemma is to rent a commercial storage unit in a town close to your retreat. This has several advantages:
* As long as you have access to the facility 24 hours a day (one of those outside storage areas where you use your own lock is best) you can get to your supplies when necessary.
* It will be much easier to make a few trips to and from the nearby storage facility and your safe house than carry everything with you from home.
* It’s easier to check on the status and add materials to this type of cache than one buried in a secluded location.
* In a worst case scenario, you can hoof it to the storage area, spend the night inside and hike back the next day with a full backpack.
Of course, for the ultimate protection, a buried or other hidden cache is hard to beat. The is especially true for the long-term storage of ammunition and weapons that are or may one day be considered illegal. Here are some specifics on establishing this type of a cache.
How to Get to Your Safe House
Whichever option you’ve chosen for your safe house, the best way to get there is by car. It’s convenient (most of us have them), offers some protection, is relatively fast and allows us to carry much more gear than on foot or bicycle.
Of course, there’s nothing wrong with taking a train to a safe house in a nearby city. Captain Dave is partial to boats, and even a bus beats walking, but for most, the car is our escape vehicle of choice.
While everyone chooses a car that fits their lifestyle and budget, a large four-wheel drive vehicle is the best bet for evacuating to your safe house. The bigger, heavier the vehicle is, the better. Not only do larger vehicles have greater ground clearance and the ability to ford higher waterways, they offer the most protection and carry the most gear. They also offer you and your passengers better protection in a fender-bender. When the entire city seems to be running from an impending disaster, you don’t want to be stuck on the side of the road because of minor accident.
Four-wheel drive is critical if you need to go off-road to avoid accidents, road blocks or other evacuation-related snafus.
So, since an army surplus army truck is probably out of the question, a large four-wheel drive pick-up with a cap may be the best bug out vehicle available. But the fact is, whatever vehicle (or vehicles) you have at hand is the best bet.
And the old saw about never letting your car’s gas tank get below half makes a lot of sense. Captain Dave also recommends keeping a couple of five gallon tanks of gas on hand “for emergencies.” Even if you use it to fill your tank, carry it with you (strapped to the roof, perhaps) because you never know when you might find more. If you are very serious, you can have a second tank installed in your truck.
And while we’re on the subject of cars, make sure your is is good mechanical condition.
Taking the High Road
One of the most critical factors is route planning. You should have memorized several routes to your safe house or survival retreat and have maps on hand so you can identify alternate routes around accidents or other problem areas. The routes should include:
The fastest, most direct route.
This will be your first choice when you are getting out early, before the crowds. If you’re smart enough to beat the rush, predict an upcoming disruption, or just feel like being far away from any federal buildings on every April 19, you can take your main route.
A back road route.
This may be your best bet when the interstates are clogged with lines of cars all trying to leave “ground zero.” Sure, it would normally take longer, but it in this situation, it may be your best bet.
An indirect route.
There may be a time when you need to get away, but don’t want anyone to know where you’re going. There may come a day when it make sense to go north 200 miles out of your way to end up 150 miles east of your destination. This is also the route to choose if you have reason to believe you may be followed.
What to Bring With You
Captain Dave keeps a bug-out bag in the closet. A bug-out bag is the first — and possibly only — thing you grab when you’re bailing out. When the fire alarm is going off, for example, grab the kids, the bug-out bags and get out.
Bags, you say? Yes, bags. Each member of the family should have his or her own bug out bag.
What should you include in your bug-out bag? Ask 100 people, and you’ll get 100 answers, but here’s what Captain Dave suggests:
Must Haves Nice to Have
At least $500 in cash, including plenty of small bills for incidentals and change for phone calls. (When the power is out, many stores can’t use their cash registers and insist on either exact change or to the closest dollar.) Traveler checks. Gold or silver coins. Dimes, quarters and half-dollars minted before 1965 contain 90 percent silver. A gold Maple Leaf or other large coin may be too big for day-to-day transactions, but smaller gold coins are available.
Spare or duplicate credit cards with plenty of credit available. A bank card for local and national ATMs. (This assumes the electricity is not out.)
A few spare checks and anything that could be used for ID if you do not have your wallet with you. A duplicate drivers license.
A spare set of keys, including car, house, safe-house/survival retreat, storage facility, safe deposit box, etc. You can stash a spare set in your vehicle for emergencies.
A change of clothes, preferably durable heavy-weight clothes that can stand up to abuse. A season-appropriate jacket and other outer gear, such as gloves and hat. Clothes suitable for layering (T-shirt, flannel shirt, etc.).
A pair of old, comfortable, already-broken-in shoes that still have some good miles left in them. A couple pairs of extra socks and at least one change of underwear.
At least a quart of water per person. Juice boxes or pouches.
A few MREs or other easily transportable food items, including some quick snack foods.
Prescription or over-the-counter drugs you rely on. Unfilled prescriptions you can take to a pharmacy anywhere to be filled.
A spare pare of eyeglasses (perhaps your old prescription) and/or contacts and solutions. A duplicate of your standard opthamalic eye-wear and/or a few pairs of daily or extended-wear contacts.
A basic first aid kit, including bandages, an ace-type bandage, aspirin or other analgesic, first-aid cream, alcohol pads, etc. A more advanced first aid kit, including sutures, antibiotics, pain killers, etc.
A phone book listing all important numbers, including friends, family, neighbors, work, school, doctor, insurance, etc. A cellular phone and/or CB radio.
A good work knife and/or Swiss army-type knife. A Leatherman survival tool.
For those so inclined, a basic pistol, such as a revolver chambered for .357 or .38 special, and at least 50 rounds of ammunition. Loaded speedloaders or magazines and a comfortable belt and holster.
Now that you know where to go, how to get there and what to bring when you leave in a hurry, you can take a look at long-term survival planning. The next chapter covers the three basics of any survival plan: Water, food and shelter.
| Top | Home | Introduction
Table of Contents | Chapter 1| Chapter 3
http://www.captaindaves.com/guide/food.htm
Chapter 3: Preparing Your Basic Survival Stash
* Food Storage
* Water Storage and Purification
* Survival Shelters
If you’ve given any thought to survival, you know the big three — food, water and shelter — are the foundation of any long-term survival plan. If you prepare to provide these three items for yourself and loved ones, you’re farther ahead than probably 90 percent of the public.
Many would say water is the most important of the three, but we’ll address them in the order above: Food, water and shelter.
Food Storage
You may be able to survive a few weeks or even a month without food, but why would you want to? Without food, you will become weak, susceptible to illnesses, dizzy and unable to perform survival-related tasks. Sure, water may be more critical to short-term survival, but it’s much easier for even the unskilled survivalist to find water in the wild (the safety and purity of the water is another story, but we’ll tackle that next).
This section will deal with several key areas:
* How much food do you need?
o Why so much food?
o Using and storing traditional, commercial foods
* Rotating foods
o Baking items
* Special “survivalist” foods
* Home-made survival foods
* Hunting and gathering in the wild
How Much Food do you Need?
Here’s the short answer: You can never have too much food stored away for hard times.
How much is the minimum for you and your potential survival situation is an answer you’ll have to come up with after reviewing the table you developed in Chapter 1. (You did do that exercise, didn’t you?)
Will three days of food be enough, as many suggest? Or do you need a year’s worth? Captain Dave can’t tell you what’s best in your situation, but he suggests that two weeks or more is the minimum for anyone in any potential survival situation. One to three months? Now you’re talking. A year? Let’s hope you never need it. A year may be excessive for most, but hey, better safe than sorry (have you heard that one before?) If you’re wondering how you can afford a month’s worth of food, see Chapter 7.
Why should you stock up on so much food if the worst you’re planning to prepare for is a heavy winter storm? Several reasons:
* It may take a while for store shelves to be replenished. Think back to the heavy storms that hit the East Coast in the winter of 1995-96. 30 inches in cities such as Washington, D.C., and Philadelphia shut the city down for more than a week. And the trucks carrying supplies were stranded on the side of an interstate highway somewhere in the midwest.
* You may be asked to feed friends or neighbors. Think how you’d feel if on the sixth day of the storm you and your family were enjoying a delicious, rich, beef stew while poor old Mrs. Frugal next door was down to a used tea bag and the bread crusts she usually gives the birds? Or what if friends were visiting for the weekend and unable to return home because of the inclement weather, earthquake or other emergency?
* Food rarely goes down in price. What you buy now will be an investment in the future. If you shop carefully over time (see Chapter 7) , you can lay in stores of goods on sale or at warehouse club prices.
* You will be protected from price gouging. Do you really think the last load of milk and bread into the store before the storm hits will be discounted? Shelves are often cleared out right before a blizzard or hurricane is set to hit. And food isn’t the only item likely to be in short supply; one grocery chain reported that when storm warnings went out, they sold more rolls of toilet paper than there were people in the city. Batteries, bottled water, candles and other staples are also going to be in short supply (see the next chapter for more on non-food survival items).
* You will be prepared for a crippling blow to our food supply system. As I write this, many are predicting our food supply is tottering on its last legs. Whether its a drought (like we saw in 1996 in Texas and Oklahoma), a wheat blight, the destruction of traditional honey bees necessary for crop fertilization or simply the world’s exploding population, they will tell you our food system is falling apart. Captain Dave will let you make up your own mind, but wouldn’t a few hundred pounds of red winter wheat and other grains sealed in 5 gallon buckets make you feel better?
Let’s say you decide to start small and plan to stock up a week’s worth of food for your family. While the “survivalist” foods such as MRE’s are a great supplement, you should be able to get by for this short a time (a week or two) on the traditional, commercial foods in your larder.
This existing food reserve should not include food in your refrigerator or freezer because you cannot count on those items remaining edible for more than a day (fridge) or three (freezer), at most. So half a cow or deer in the freezer is great, but you may have to cook, smoke and/or can it on short notice, should the power be out for a long time.
A quick examination of your cupboards and cabinets will tell you how much you need to add to ensure you have enough food for a week. If you have a few packages of pasta, some cans of vegetables, a box of crackers and a jar of peanut butter, you’re halfway there. But if you have a habit of dropping by the deli every time you’re hungry, or shopping for the evening meal on your way home from work (as many single, urban dwellers do), you’ll need to change your habits and stock up.
A detailed list of suggestions and food storage information is available in the Food Storage FAQ but you should generally buy canned (including items in jars) or dried foods. Review our list of commercial food items and their suggested storage times when making up your personal list but keep in mind your family’s eating habits, likes and dislikes. Also, remember that you may not have access to a microwave and other modern conveniences, so pick food items and packaging that can be prepared on a single burner of a camp stove or even over an open fire.
Rotation Systems
The main difference between the commercially prepared foods you buy in the grocery store and the specially prepared “survival” foods is the shelf storage. You can’t store grocery store items for five to ten years, as you can with specially freeze-dried or sealed foods packed in nitrogen or vacuum sealed. As a result, if you go with a larder full of grocery items, you can’t develop your food stash and walk away. You need to rotate your stock, either on an ongoing basis or every two to three months. This will ensure you have fresh food (if you can consider canned and dry food “fresh”) and do not waste your food and money.
There are many systems for rotating your stock:
* Captain Dave finds the easiest is to put newly purchase foods at the rear of the shelf, thus ensuring the oldest food, which will have made it’s way to the front, will be consumed first.
* You can also number food packages with consecutive numbers (a “one” the first time you bring home spaghetti sauce, a “two” the next, etc.) and eat those with the lowest number first.
* If you store your survival stash in a special location, you’ll need to physically remove and replace 20 to 25 percent of it every two months (thus ensuring nothing sits for more than eight or 10 months). The materials you remove should be placed in your kitchen for immediate consumption.
As a general rule, traditional canned foods should be consumed within a year. For cans with expiration dates, such as Campbell’s soups, you may find you have 18 months or two years before they expire. But for cans without a date, or with a code that consumers can’t translate, mark them with the date purchased and make sure you eat them before a year passes.
Generally, canned foods will not “go bad” over time, unless the can is punctured. But the food will loose its taste, the texture will deteriorate, and the nutritional value drops significantly over time.
If you find you have a case of canned peas, for example, that are nine or 10 months old, simply donate the to a soup kitchen, Boy Scout food drive or similar charity. This will keep them from being wasted and give you a tax deductible donation.
Baking
Simple raw materials for baking, such as flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, oil and shortening, can be assets in a survival situation. With these staple items, you can make everything from pancakes or rolls to breading fresh fish.
For those looking for a simpler answer, mixes for muffins, corn bread and pancakes mean you do not need to add eggs or measure ingredients. These ready-made or pre-mixed ingredients can be a boon. Of course, you may need a Dutch oven or griddle for that stove or fireplace.
For long-term survival storage, honey stores for years and can replace sugar in recipes. Rather than storing flour or meal, purchase the raw grain and a hand mill. Then you can mill your own flour whenever necessary. Red winter wheat, golden wheat, corn and other grains can be purchased in 45-pound lots packed in nitrogen-packed bags and shipped in large plastic pails.
Survival Foods
Storing two to four weeks of “commercial” food isn’t too difficult. But when you get beyond that, you really need to look at specialized foods prepared specifically for long-term storage. These generally fall into several categories:
* Vacuum-packed dried and freeze-dried foods
* Nitrogen packed grains and legumes
* Specially prepared and sealed foods such as MRE’s (Meals, Ready-to-Eat) with a five-to-ten year shelf life
All offer one main advantage: long storage life. Some, such as MRE’s and packages sold to backpackers, are complete meals. This is handy and convenient, but they tend to be expensive on a per-meal basis. Others, such as #10 cans (about a gallon) of dried items, are usually ingredients which can be used to prepare a full meal. These ingredients include everything from macaroni elbows or carrot slices to powdered milk or butter flavor. Your best bet is a combination of both full-meal entrees and bulk items.
As the name implies, MRE’s are ideal for a quick, nutritious, easy-to-prepare meal. They are convenient to carry in the car, on a trip or on a hike. They have very long shelf lives (which can be extended by placing a case or two in your spare refrigerator). On the downside, they are very expensive on a per-meal basis and they do not provide as much roughage as you need. (This can lead to digestive problems if you plan to live on them for more than a week or two.)
Large canned goods, on the other hand, are difficult to transport. But if you’re stocking up your survival retreat (see chapter 2) or planning to batten down the hatches and stay at home, the large canned goods are easy to store and can keep you well-fed for months. While individual cans can be purchased, most popular are sets of multiple items. These are designed to provide a specific number of calories per day (they’ll recommend 1,800 per day, but you’ll probably want more) for a set period of time, often three months, six months or a year. Remember, however, if you have four people in your family or survival group, purchasing a one-year supply of food will only equate to three months worth for the family.
Captain Dave recommends purchasing the largest set of these canned, dried foods your budget can handle. Then supplement the set with items tailored to you and your family or survival group. Also, MREs and MRE entrees are excellent supplements, because prepared sets of #10 cans are primarily vegetables, pasta and grains, while MRE entrees are usually meat-based.
You may also want to add a few special items, such as hard candy or deserts, to reward yourself or for quick energy. That’s one area where MREs and MRE deserts can be a great supplemental item. It’s pretty tough to store pound cake or brownies for several years, but the MRE makers have managed it. They also offer crackers and peanut butter, bread and some great side dishes.
While we’re on the topic of supplements, don’t forget to add vitamins and mineral supplements. Fruits, green vegetables and other items rich in vitamin C and other nutrients may be scarce, so a good multi-vitamin is well worth the space it takes up in your stash.
NOTE: Since the guide was written, Captain Dave has started selling long-term survival foods and other related supplies. If you are interested, please visit our Survival Shop.
Home Made Survival Foods
There’s nothing like a cellar full of canned goods you grew and put up. From spaghetti sauce to your own jam, canning goods is a tradition that will come in mighty handy in a survival situation.
But Captain Dave doesn’t pretend to be an expert. Whenever you’re dealing with canning fruits, vegetables or meats, its important to follow the latest specifics from the true experts. (OK, so maybe government isn’t all bad.) See our list of links for canners and others looking to preserve food.
You can also dry, vacuum-pack and otherwise prepare food for storage. Vacuum pumps are available commercially or can be constructed in your own home. You can use them to seal dried food in mason jars and other containers.
When packing foods for storage, you want to eliminate oxygen (which is why a vacuum is so good). Bugs, such as weevils, and other organisms that can destroy your food need the oxygen to live, just as we do. That’s why commercial companies who prepare survival food pack grains, cereals, pasta, beans and other food in nitrogen-filled containers. You can accomplish a similar packaging yourself by using dried ice.
Simply take the 10 pounds of noodles (or 25 pounds of rice or other dried food) you picked up from the warehouse and put them in an appropriately sized plastic bucket with a lid that can create a good seal. The add several chunks of dried ice. As it sublimates, your bucket will fill with carbon dioxide, which will displace all or most of the oxygen (since carbon dioxide is heavier, the oxygen should rise to the top and out of the bucket). Place the lid on the bucket, but don’t seal it all the way until you think the dry ice has completely turned to gas. This is a fine line, since you want to seal it before oxygen starts leaking back into the bucket. Remember, as soon as you open the bucket, whoosh! the air will rush back in.
Hunting and Gathering in the Wild
Image this scenario:
A small nuclear conflict erupts in the Middle East destroying several countries and much of the world’s oil supply. Airbursts knock out more than half of the world’s satellite communications systems. Due to favorable weather conditions and plain dumb luck, fall-out over the United States is not life threatening — as it is in part of Europe, Japan and the Far East — and the EMP damage to our electronic systems is minimal. However life as we know it is disrupted as fuel prices reach $10 and then $20 per gallon.
Fruits and vegetables grown in Florida and California can’t reach markets in other states. Corn and wheat crops are abundant, but farmers don’t have the fuel to run harvesters. And those that do, fill their silos, but the grain can’t reach the market. Store shelves are emptied in two days of panicked buying that sees a five-pound bag of flour go from $1.69 to $8.99.
The economy goes into a tailspin, and inflation reaches 300 percent in the first two weeks. You’re lucky you still have a job, but you wonder how on earth you’ll get there without the car.
The president tries to regain control of the country, by releasing stocks of food and oil, but it’s just a drop in the bucket. In a measure of how bad things have become, he declares marshal law and nationalizes all oil, refineries and oil reserves. Suddenly, Uncle Sam is the only gas station on the block, and they’re not pumping for anybody, no matter how much silver you cross their palms with. Riots break out in seventeen major cities and the national guard has to be called out. LA burns (again) as does Philadelphia. There’s a national curfew and trouble makers are hauled off to camps. 60 Minutes runs a story on these concentration camps, which nobody ever admitted were in existence, but they experience technical difficulties and the broadcast is cut off in the middle of the story. FEMA becomes a four letter word.
Suddenly, the two weeks of food in your larder looks frighteningly small. You wish you had more room on your credit card, but then, smart merchants are only accepting cash. You can’t wait for the few tomato plants and cucumbers you have growing in the back yard to bear. But you know it won’t be enough. Winter is coming, and the papers say the utilities can’t guarantee there will be enough gas or electric to heat peoples’ homes.
Maybe it’s time to look to nature to help feed you. That’s great if you are a farmer or have five or more acres of tillable land. But if not, or if it’s too late to plant crops, that means a return to hunting, trapping and gathering.
If you can identify wild plants that can supplement your existing diet, good for you. If not, better go out and buy a few guide books right away. Get ones with pictures, you’ll need them. Just hope everyone else doesn’t have the same idea, or berry bushes and apple trees will be stripped clean in seconds.
Captain Dave has eaten all sorts of wild plants, from salad greens he probably would have tromped over on any other day to wild mushrooms to the heads of milkweeds (properly prepared, of course). Its not his first choice, but its better than tightening the belt.
Captain Dave supports hunting as a great American past time, an important tool in game management and a terrific source to supplement your traditional menu during these good times. But will it be enough to put food on the table during a survival situation? Don’t count on it.
If you’re a hunter, you know how crowded it usually is on opening day. Could you imagine what the local patch of forest would be like if everyone’s dinner depended on hunting? How quickly would we strip this continent of all edible game? Planning on fishing? So are all your neighbors.
There are some areas of the country where the ratio of people to wildlife will still support sustenance hunting. But for most of us, that’s not the case. You may be able to supplement your food supply with some game, but don’t count on it.
What does Captain Dave recommend you do if the above scenario comes to play?
* At the first hint of trouble and rising prices, visit the local food warehouse and grocery stores and buy as much as you can afford. Get the 50 pound bags of rice and the 25 pound bags of flour. Use your credit cards and part of your emergency cash stash, if necessary.
* Hunker down at home and protect what is yours.
* Keep a low profile and avoid contact with others, except fellow members of your survival group. Avoid trouble and confrontations.
* Hope that within six months the country will have recovered or at least stabilized. If not, the population will probably be a lot smaller when winter is over.
Food Storage and Preservation Links
Food Storage FAQ
This tome is a complete guide to storing food for survival needs. It is much more in depth than the above information. Available in both html for on-screen viewing or as a downloadable file.
Rec.Food.Preserving and Rec.Food.Preserving FAQ
The place to ask questions and learn more about home-preserved foods. According to their charter: Rec.food.preserving is a newsgroup devoted to the discussion of recipes, equipment, and techniques of food preservation. Current food preservation techniques that rightly should be discussed in this forum include canning, freezing, dehydration, pickling, smoking, salting, distilling, and potting. Foodstuffs are defined as produce (both fruits and vegetables), meat, fish, dairy products, culinary and medicinal herbs. Discussions should be limited to home-grown or home-preserved foods.
Here are a few more. The site’s name generally says it all:
Home Canning Tips
Captain Dave’s Survival Shop
Grain Supply Update... By Geri Guidetti
Walton Feed’s Self Reliance Pages
This might be a good time to offer a couple of hints that I learned the hard way.
A Mormon friend was moving out of state and asked if I wanted to come and get her very out of date storage food for the animals and chickens........I came home with a pickup load of it, her entire stash, that she had allowed to “get too old”, it was the old gas packed type of canning and it stinks when you open it.
A month later, I was too sick to hold a job and it was not long until I was opening cans for me.......some were bad, others fine.
I learned to open the can and then let it breathe for a day or two, easy if you put a paper towel over the top.
I also learned to put a pinch of baking soda in it while cooking, to sweeten it.
There were many cans of wheat, that had a 50 % sprout rate when I made sprouts with it, keep in mind that after years in the house, they had been parked in a shed, no cooling in the Arizona heat.
My grandmother always added a teaspoon of sugar to her canned vegetables, said it made them taste sweeter.
This is the same wonderful little Scots lady, that when I asked her how to make cornbread, told me:
“First you buy a box of Cinch CornBread mix”.
We have these Linden trees in our yard in the midwest. Mom always likes making tea from the flowers, although her favorite for everything that ailed us was Chamomile tea.
Anyway, I thought I’d share this info:
Linden Tea and Leaf Benefits
Linden grows in temperate climates of Europe, Asia, and North America. There are many different species of linden that are used medicinally. Regardless of species, the flower of the plant is the part that is most frequently used in medical preparations. While sometimes referred to as a lime flower, linden is not related to the lime fruit. Linden has been used in European folk medicine for centuries for a wide range of health conditions.
Today linden is used by some cultures in connection with anxiety, although no clinical trials have confirmed the herbs effectiveness for anxiety. Some trials have produced results indicating that linden flower tea can help people with mild gallbladder problems, upset stomach or dyspepsia, and excessive gas causing the stomach to press against the bottom of the heart (also known as the gastrocardiac syndrome).
When taken as a hot tea, linden flowers act as a diaphoretic. Diaphoretics induce a mild fever, thereby possibly helping to increase the immune system’s ability to fight infections. The fever usually does not go very high because the diaphoretic also causes sweating, which in turn cause the body to cool off. In a few European countries, linden has received approval for the treatment of colds and cold-related coughs.
Different parts of the linden are used in connection with specific conditions and symptoms.
Flowers: colds, cough, bronchitis, infectious diseases, and headache (particularly migraine), and as a diuretic (increases urine production), antispasmodic (reduces spasm), and sedative
Leaves: internal use-intestinal complaints; external use-ulcers in the leg
Wood: liver and gallbladder disorders, cellulitis (inflammation of the body’s connective tissue)
Dosage and Administration
To prepare linden tea add 1 to 2 tsp flowers in 8 oz of water and steep cover for 20 minutes. Tea is to be taken 3 times daily. As a liquid extract linden is to be take 3 times daily in doses of 3 to 4 mL. Similarly, as a tincture linden should be taken 3 times daily in doses of 4 to 10 mL.
Adjust the recommended adult dose to account for the child’s weight. Most herbal dosages for adults are calculated on the basis of a 150 lb (70 kg) adult. Therefore, if the child weighs 50 lb (20 to 25 kg), the appropriate dose of linden for this child would be 1/3 of the adult dosage.
http://www.nutrasanus.com/linden.html
http://www.nodoom.com/chapter15to16.html#15
Chapter 15
The Biological Threat
“Mere months before the attack on Pearl Harbor shocked America out of its slumber, millions listened to and preferred to believe, those who told them that they need not rouse themselves, and that all will be well if only they continue to do all the pleasant and profitable and comfortable things they would like to do best.”
- Walter Lippmann
The first recorded instance of biological warfare goes back to 1348 and 1349. The Tartars used catapults to hurl the bodies of black plague victims (yersenia pestis) over the walls into the city of Caffa in the Ukraine. The black plague eventually spread from this city to Europe where it killed one third to one half of EuropeÕs population. Bubonic plague has killed hundreds of millions of people during the span of recorded history. In 1754 American colonists intentionally distributed blankets from people infected with smallpox to the Indians. Due to their lack of immunity, the resulting smallpox epidemic killed 90% of the Indians exposed. Over the next 100 years the epidemic continued to move westward and facilitated the expansion of European populations on the North American continent. The Spaniards likewise brought smallpox and measles to Mexico and South America. The total death toll to Native Americans by white man’s diseases is estimated to have been about 75 million. It was the white man’s diseases more than his technological edge that caused the decimation of the indigenous populations on the North and South American continents.
The Japanese had an extensive biological warfare research program during World War II. Evidence indicates that the Japanese used biological warfare in China against the nationalist forces there.
Chapter 16
Chemical Warfare
Chemical warfare is the use of poison gases and other toxic chemicals in time of war to kill or incapacitate an enemy. Modern nerve gases and chemical warfare agents are a by-product of insecticide research. They are composed of organic chemicals known as organophosphorus compounds that inhibit the production of cholinesterase. These chemicals are widely used for insect control and in higher concentrations they are lethal to mammals.
The Historical Use of Chemical Warfare
Chemical warfare was used extensively during World War I. In 1935, Italy used chemical warfare agents and caused nearly 15,000 casualties in its war against Ethiopia. The Japanese used chemical weapons in their war against the Chinese just prior to World War II. Since 1945, chemical weapons were used in Yemen in 1962, Red China in 1969, Cambodia in 1978 by the Vietnamese, North Vietnam in 1979 to repel the Chinese, Iraq in the Iran-Iraq war starting in 1980, the Soviets in Afghanistan from 1981 to 1990 and in the Ethiopian-Eritrean Civil War by the Soviet bloc forces starting in 1978.
The U.S. used CS and CN tear gas and a hallucinogenic called BZ during the Vietnam War and in Laos in 1975. In its war with Iran, Iraq used mustard gas and the nerve gas agents GA and Tabun. In 1986 Libya used chemical agents against Chadian troops.
Chemical aerial bombs, rockets and artillery shells are inexpensive to produce. Small and efficient processing plants can turn out chemical weapons by the ton.
Effects
Chemical agents usually cause burns, asphyxiation and neurological damage. Symptoms resulting from the exposure to chemical agents include sweating, tearing, excessive salivation, difficulty in breathing, nausea, vomiting, dizziness, weakness, convulsion and death.
The psychological effect of chemical agents on troops in the battlefield has proven to have a greater effect than the actual physical danger of the chemical weapon itself. Much of a chemical wea pon’s effectiveness lies in the panic and disorientation it produces in unprotected soldiers and civilians.
Desert Storm and Chemical Warfare
There were rumors circulating after Desert Storm that some U.S. troops had encountered a new type of chemical war gas which penetrated or compromised the current military-issue activated carbon N.B.C. air filters and masks. This chemical agent is purported to be a strain of hydrogen cyanide called, Prussian Blue. It is further alleged that it was developed in the U.S. by a company called Product Ingredient Technology (P.I.T.) of Boca Raton, Florida. This P.I.T. plant was financed and constructed by a Dr. Barbouti of Ishan Barbouti International (I.B.I.) who also built the Pharma-150 chemical-biological complex at Rabta, Libya. P.I.T. exported Prussian Blue to Iraq a year or so before the Persian Gulf War.
An informant, Peter Kawaja, who tried to alert the federal government about P.I.T. was raided in 1990 by eight heavily armed federal agents who removed evidence, tapes and documents not only implicating the involvement of foreign agents but also high ranking U.S. government officials. The evidence has been sealed by a federal magistrate under the guise of “national security.”
The Ongoing Russian Chemical Weapons Program
The Soviet war machine places a high priority on the use of chemical warfare agents. As much as 30 percent of the Soviet Union’s arsenal is related to chemical warfare.
The October 27, 1992 edition of the Washington Post had an article which gave some new insight into the Soviet chemical warfare program: “A scientist who objected to what he calls Russia’s ongoing development of chemical weapons has been jailed for allegedly revealing state secrets. The arrested scientist, Vil Mirzayanov, had earlier stated in an article appearing in the Moscow News that Russia has been pursuing research on a new, more toxic chemical weapon.” This is a nerve gas called Novichok which is five times as deadly as conventional nerve gases. It is purported that 40,000 tons of Novichok is enough to kill all human life on earth. This alleged development runs counter to the public statements of President Yeltsin, who has urged a global ban on such chemical armaments. According to the Washington Post article, this new Russian chemical weapon is “more toxic than anything in the U.S. arsenal. The new weapon was tested in early 1992 in Uzbekistan.”
What compounds the seriousness of this development is the fact that the Soviet military strategy relies heavily on the use of chemical warfare agents
Tactical Use and Limitations
The use of chemical warfare is limited by the excessive bulk of the chemical agents. This restricts the size of the area which chemical agents can be applied to. Weather, wind and the practical limitations of dispersal would generally limit chemical weapons to use against concentrated targets as opposed to large geographical areas. Chemical weapons can be very effective against troop concentrations, military facilities, fortifications and highly populated areas. Chemical agents do not pose much of a threat to a geographically dispersed civilian population.
Having chemical weapons in a nation’s stockpile deters the enemy from using its weapons on that nation. The United States has unilaterally destroyed much of its chemical weapons stockpile, which has weakened the deterrent factor in recent years.
Known Chemical Warfare Agents
NERVE AGENTS
Tabun (GA) - cholinesterase inhibitor
Sarin (GB) - cholinesterase inhibitor
Soman (GD) - cholinesterase inhibitor
GP - cholinesterase inhibitor
Thickened Soman (GD or VR-55) - cholinesterase inhibitor (U.S.S.R.)
Thickened Soman (VX) - cholinesterase inhibitor (U.S.)
Yellow Rain - Unknown compound that causes bleeding and rapid death. May include mycotoxins produced by the genus Fusarium fungi.
Black Rain - Unknown compound that causes instant death; used by U.S.S.R. in Afghanistan.
Novichok - Recently developed choline sterase inhibitor (U.S.S.R.). May affect human genes and thus damage could be genetically transmitted to offspring.
BLISTER AGENTS
Ethyldichlorarsine (ED) - blister agent
Lewisite (L) - irritates nasal passages, causes skin and membrane burns,
poisonous.
Mustard (H, HID, HS) - causes skin and membrane inflammation, blindness
Phosgene Oxime (CX) - destroys skin and membrane tissue
BLOOD AGENTS
A blood agent is absorbed into the body through the lungs where it is then picked up by the blood and carried to the rest of the body.
Arsine Trihydride (SA) - causes gasping and choking, asphyxiation
Cyangen Chloride (CK) - causes convulsions, asphyxiation
Hydrogen Cyanide (AC) - causes convulsions, gasping, choking, asphyxiation
Hydrogen Cyanide (PB) Penetrates current issue U.S. military gas masks. Allegedly used against U.S. forces by Iraq during Persian Gulf War. Causes convulsions, gasping, choking, asphyxiation
CHOKING AGENTS
Chlorpicrin (PS.) - causes severe coughing, lung edema, choking, asphyxiation
Chlorine (CL) - causes severe coughing, choking, skin and membrane burns, asphyxiation
Phosgene (CG) - causes severe coughing, choking, asphyxiation
TEAR GASES
Tear gases cause eyes to smart and tear and irritate nerves in mucous membranes including nose, mouth, throat and airway.
Brombenzylcyanide (CA) - long acting
Chloracetophenone (CN) - short acting
Chloracetophenone in Chlorpicrin (CS)
Dibenz (CR)
NAUSEA GASES
Adamsite (DM) - arsenic compound, causes sneezing, nausea and depression
Diphenylchlorarsine (DA) - causes sneezing, nausea and depression
OTHER
Buzz (13Z) - Hallucinogenic LSD derivative (U.S.)
Blue X - Unknown composition. Incapacitating variously estimated for 1-2 and 8-12 hours (U.S.S.R.)
Protecting Yourself from Chemical Warfare Agents
The only way to protect yourself from chemical agents such as nerve gases, CN, mustard gas and others when you are outside in the open is the use of a protective suit and a military grade activated carbon gas mask. The suit has to be airtight, and the mask must fit snugly and filter all air through canisters of chemicals that deactivate the chemical agent being used.
These suits and masks are used for hazardous materials handling and can be obtained from safety supply companies. The military has special chemically impregnated suits which are very expensive and difficult to obtain. When worn, these suits are hot, claustrophobic and clumsy. It is hard to manipulate equipment or to walk or run. Exertion produces more body heat, which increases the discomfort. Visibility is limited by the lens openings on the face of the gas masks which also tend to steam up. Hearing is reduced by the thick material of the hood.
The clumsy handicap which this protective equipment creates was verified by military experience in combat training exercises where soldiers had to wear chemical protection equipment. The obstructed vision resulted in poor visual target indemnification and 25 percent casualties to “friendly fire.”
Airtight shelters with the right carbon air filtration filters are the best protection. Maintaining a positive air pressure inside the shelter, slightly above normal pressure, insures that chemical agents will not leak into the shelter.
Breathe No Evil, by Stephen Quail and Duncan Long, is probably the most comprehensive book on the subject of chemical and biological agents available to civilians today. This book can be obtained from Safe-Trek Publishing, 90 Safe-Trek Place, Bozeman, MT 59715, (800) 424- 7870.
History of Biological Warfare
The first recorded instance of biological warfare goes back to the 1300s. The Mongol army used catapults to hurl the bodies of plague victims over the walls into the city of Caffa in the Ukraine. The plague eventually spread from this city to Europe where it killed one third to one half of Europe’s population. The early New England colonists intentionally distributed blankets from people infected with smallpox to the Indians. The white man’s diseases, more than his technological edge, resulted in the decimation of the indigenous populations of the North and South American
continents.
The Japanese had an extensive biological warfare research program during World War II. Evidence indicates that the Japanese used biological warfare in China against the nationalist forces there.
Plagues are not something strictly relegated to the ancient past. The influenza of 1918 killed over 20 million people throughout the world, including vast numbers in the United States.
Global Government and Biological Warfare
Dangerous new organisms have been produced in laboratories and at least one has been released upon an unsuspecting and defenseless world. There is substantial evidence indicating that AIDS is the direct and intentional product of the global government’s population control program. It is well documented that the outbreak of AIDS was caused by the U.N. World Health Organization’s immunization of central Africans with a contaminated smallpox vaccine. Every person who was immunized developed AIDS. The origin and spread of AIDS has nothing to do with green monkeys. AIDS is a synthetically created virus.
It was discovered that between 1976 and 1985 some of the oral polio vaccines in the United States were made from a virus which was grown on the kidney tissues of African green monkeys. This resulted in the contamination of the vaccines with simian retroviruses. These retroviruses were found to cause leukemia and cancerous tumors in laboratory animals.
We are periodically seeing new reports of strange diseases and viruses appearing out of nowhere. The real possibility exists that some of these are perhaps being created and intentionally released into the world as part of the global population reduction scheme.
Gulf War Bio Warfare
Research done by Drs. Garth and Nancy Nicolson of the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer center resulted in the discovery of micoplasma incognitus as the cause of Gulf War syndrome. Normal laboratory blood tests do not detect micoplasma incognitus. The only way to detect this micoplasma is to use a sensitive genetic marker analysis. Even with this method it is still difficult to detect because it is found mainly inside the cells and not in body fluids like a conventional bacteria.
Micoplasma incognitus causes chronic fatigue, recurring fever, night sweats, joint pain, stomach upsets, stomach cramps, headaches, skin rashes, heart pain, kidney pain, thyroid problems, and in extreme cases, autoimmune-like disorders. The effects of micoplasma incognitus are suppressed by the antibiotic doxycycline but it does not cure the underlying disease.
The big question is how did such a wide spectrum of U.S. service personnel, including some who never left the U.S., contract micoplasma?
Almost all military personnel who participated in the Gulf War were inoculated with one or more mysterious vaccines. The standard F.D.A. approval sequence for this vaccine, as determined by the Food, Drug and Cosmetics Act, was bypassed. The DOD could legitimately give these drugs as an “Investigational New Drug,” but only after informing a person of the potential risks and benefits, and giving them the freedom to choose whether or not to participate.
Interviews of Persian Gulf War veterans indicates that immunizations were mandatory and were given without informing personnel of the risks involved. In some cases individuals were ordered under threat of court martial not to discuss the vaccinations they received with anyone including their physicians.
Persian Gulf War veterans were administered botulism toxoid, pyridostigmine and in some cases anthrax vaccine. One survey indicated that as much as 90 percent of the veterans have suffered illness since serving in the Gulf war, and as many as 10,000 have died as a result. Interestingly enough 700,000 service-related immunization records have inexplicably disappeared and now blood samples from some sick veterans are showing traces of a compound called squalene, a component of an experimental HIV immunization.
Starting in December of 1997, the U.S. Department of Defense started inoculating all members of the armed forces with anthrax vaccine. Tests have determined that this vaccine is only marginally safe and that it provides little or no protection from airborne anthrax, Airborne anthrax is the only form of anthrax which can be effectively used in bio-warfare.
Conclusion
The bioengineering of new viruses and the subsequent creation of incurable diseases poses a significant threat to life on this planet. Evidence would indicate their creation and application is part of a global population reduction program.
Required reading on this subject is the book, Emerging Viruses – AIDS & Ebola by Dr. Leonard Horowitz, (800) 336-9266, Web
http://www.tetrahedron.org/horowitz.htm
Information on Gulf War Sickness can be obtained from Captain Joyce Riley of the American Gulf War Veterans Association, (800) 231-7531, E-mail gulfwar@flash.net Web http://www.gulfwarvets.com/links.htm
It’s driving me absolutely nuts, but we will get through it. Both hubby and I have job interviews tomorrow. Neither is what either of us want, but a job is a job at this point.<<<
Good news, I pray.
Somehow, in the future, you will look back at this and it won’t be nearly as scary as it is today.
Good morning, everybody...
Looks like the thread has gotten off to a good flying start — it’s taken a while to get caught up, and there’s a lot of good information in here already.....
Thanks, everybody!!
1- I’m especially interested in hearing about everybody’s planning process — what assumptions are we basing our planning on??
2- Are we looking for drastic and permanent changes in our country, or for temporary conditions that will sooner-or-later return to ‘normal’? And how do we prepare for either eventuality?
3- Are DHS guidelines realistic and helpful?? Do they really address the eventualities that we’re likely to be facing??
4- Did our experience of New Orleans/Katrina have an impact on our thinking, and, if so, how??
5- I guess what I’m asking for is some discussion that goes beyond “what” and gets to the “why” and “how”....
6- (Or maybe I’m all wet... ;~))
I feel lazy today, so have taken your post #447 and added the numbers, so I won’t get lost, with my answers.
#6 - I looked, the sun is shining and there are no clouds, so you must be dry..........Smile, I am joking.
No, you were not all wet, your questions are good and should be discussed. If we do not know the Why of it, how will we know what we are doing?
1- The simple answer for me is, hard depression, terror, efforts to over take our country, communism, anarchists and Venezuela and his other communist cronies.
If one has read about the heyday of 1929, they know that when the people start forgetting the value of a dollar and go into credit and get rich schemes, pushing prices up and then they will come down with a crash.
The news media are not telling us the truth, to do so would mean exposing the clintons and the democrats in Congress and elsewhere.
When I started on the internet, about 1998, all I found were get rich schemes, click here and make money.
The stock reports were full of companies, whose stock was going up, at rocket speed, but they had never earned a dime.
Let me be clear, I do not claim to know it all and do not have enough education to talk about stocks, etc. I have lived a long time, can remember the depression and dust bowl, forcing us out of Texas and into the life of a fruit tramp in California.
I was a Real Estate Broker in the state of Arizona, but we do not have fancy investments or condos, etc in my area, so there is much that I only knew enough about to pass the test.
If you had wanted raw land or acreage, I was the agent you wanted to work with.
Over the years, I listened to the old timers talk about the depression of 29.
The first thing that they always said was “there was no money”, finally I found someone who could tell me what that meant, as it sounded to me like “no jobs, no paycheck”.
Not at all, “no money”, meant that the gov pulled it in and there was none to be had.
Ira told me how in the logging town in Oklahoma, there was no money to be had, only one grocery store was still open.
Towards the end, the lumber mill got a small contract, but had no money to pay the men. So, he made a deal with the grocery store to accept his self printed script, that he paid the men, as money, until he could get real money....
And Ira got one of the jobs and for him, he was ending the depression.
Are we seeing the same thing today?
I think we are, a year ago, they were begging us to refinance our homes, today, they are closing the mortgage companies.
The money is drying up, try to get your hands on it, a loan or a new credit card.
We are being taken over, by loans and purchases of our properties and businesses by the Mid-East and China.
Our jobs are sent out of country, our food comes from out of country, even our military supplies are imported.
Our borders are wide open.
Where will people live? At least when I was a kid, we were prepared to live in a tent or the plywood box that my dad put on an old car frame.
How many men of today, even have the knowhow to make a simple plywood shelter on wheels.........not the younger ones.
They say Bush caused the depression, yes he did, he beat Gore and took office in 2001 and all of a sudden it was news in the paper that we had a depression coming and nary a word about the fact that it hit in 2000.
My brother and sister lost their investments in stock in 2000.
So we have a depression to prepare for. That calls for most of the things on this list yesterday.
Next is the terror, it is here and has been going on since long before 9-11.
[dig in this and the other 10 threads, there is little chating and lots of history and news on terror:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1940757/posts?q=1&;page=4051
Clinton kept it out of the news.
Several cases, all of a sudden have come to trial this year, that we were told “This is not a terror incident”.... 5 or 6 years later it is the same name and it is terror, as many of us thought in the beginning.
Maybe the best example, the electric blackout in New York, Canada and other areas. “unknown cause”, turned out to be a computer intrusion, at the main computer in Ohio. [from memory, so you may find a mistake or two].
For the people in New York, “it had hit”.
I saw photos of fancy suits, sleeping on the sidewalk and real babes, in suits, using their briefcases for pillows. All out in the open, on sidewalks.
Why?
NO Electric.
No electric, meant no elevator to the 30th floor, no way to open the door to the apartment house and in the fancy places with the fancy locks that use a coded card for a key, there was no way to open the door to their apartment, if they were in the hallway, and for most, no food or spoiled food and no water or air conditioning............the most primitive conditions.
No ATM’s, credit card readers, and I can’t even guess at all the things that did not work.
There is a real threat of 9-11 type terror, nuclear bombs, etc.
There are several people in this world who have waited and planned for years, for the destruction of America.
The communists never went away, the media simply quit using the word, and they became socialists.
The media does not tell you that there are more communist attacks in the world, than al-qaeda attacks on any given day.
Nor do they identify the communist groups, when they attack as communists.
Mexico has many communists in it and that is what you see marching down the street, wanting to reclaim America for Mexico.
Go take a look at the protests in America, note that the anarchists who hate us, march with the illegals and in the anti-war protests, with the muslims and all have the raised marxist fist, their signal around the world.
Venezuela and his associated communist countries,including Iran and Cuba are ready and raring to go, threats every day.
Throw in Russia and its daily threats, add China and N. Korea and you have a slew of communists willing an attack on us.
This muslim war, is another viet nam type action, tearing our country down, costing us 4,000 Americans and lots of money.
You are missing 20 million Americans, they were killed before birth, by groups that have muslim and communist roots.
That is 20 million they do not have to fight.
America is already close to 50% communist, half of America voted for Gore.
Our youth was brainwashed in school or introduced to dope and are brain dead.
2- It will be drastic, as when a war is fought on the American soil, we will be fighting our own relatives.
We are too split, to ever go back to the 1940’s.
It will be a long one, as we will not see our enemy, they are sneaking around and causing trouble.
And more will come over the borders.
We are not as well prepared today as we were in 1940.
If China says “nothing to America” in days, we will have nothing on the shelf.
In 1940, people were tough and knew how to survive, grow food, hunt and make what they needed.
Not so today.
3- DHS does not even understand what is going on in the world of terror.
Nor do they understand what will be needed.
I rarely find anything to post from their site/releases, as it says only “something might happen”.
They were to help our police forces “get ready”, I have listened to the San Diego police scanner for 5 or 6 months, many hours a day........their radios do not work, the computers in their cars do not work, and I mean day after day, hour after hour.
You would be amazed at how many police cars break down, on patrol, the other night one quit in the middle of a high speed chase..........
I do listen to other scanners, but not as much, and to kdwn.com radio in Las Vegas, it appears their equipment is about the same as San Diego, recently there was something about the New York Fire Department still not being able to talk to police on their radios.........to me that is a criminal act by the gov and local leaders.
4- New Orleans is a perfect example of what is going to happen in an emergency, but all over the country.
Dr. Bill Wattenberg was one of the DHS scientists for New Orleans disaster. [kgo.com radio, he has a site there], he told us many things on his programs, the reason the stadium was full, is that is where the dope dealers went.
The people in the stadium were only a 5 mile walk out, with one ankle deep creek to wade across and help waited on the other side.
On the talk shows, I listened to the N.O. people call in, some wanted even more, than they had been given, but there were also callers who said, “hey, I am here, I and all my kids are enrolled in school, they have given us a chance and we are going to take it and never go back”.
So, with all the goofs, I cannot say I learned a lot at New Orleans, except how to work the gov and that the gov has not a clue on how to solve a real problem.
5- Maybe I am not much help, I have stated my opinion.
I expect to be hit by disease/bioweapons, before nuclear and more of the attacks or faked attacks that wear down the law enforcement, until they get careless and then the big one will hit.
Cuba has labs that experiment in bio weapons, as does Iran and Russia and N. Korea.
It can hit at any minute from a dozen directions.
We are seeing the depression, Freepers cannot find work and are in danger of doing without.
All of us are tightening our money spending, food is getting too expensive and the list goes on.
No, I do not expect anyone to agree with me, it is as I see it, from my own mind and from the many articles that I normally read in a day, on war and terrorism.
Zawhiri put out a new tape 2 days ago, it called for muslims to strike Americans and Jews, where ever they found them.
There are always a few mentally ill people who want to be known in history for doing something and killing a few folks will get them on the front page.
My opinions and no one else’s above this point in this post.
But most important, I had fun yesterday, all of you made it possible............tired today, but still glowing from all the smiles and friendship we shared.
To all of you “THANK YOU’!!!
Alas, nothing to report. There may be some opennings where I was in May, my husband will not hear anything from where he went until last week.
But I assure you your prayers are greatfully accepted and appreciated.
Somehow, in the future, you will look back at this and it won’t be nearly as scary as it is today.
I know you are correct, but I really thought I was finished with this kind of stuff after dealing with a divorce 20 years ago. My husband and I can deal with it, been there, done that, and have the T-shirts :) Our concern is for our daughter. There is a piercing pain in my chest every time she prefaces a sentence with "When we have some money, do you think we can........."
Thankfully she is a very resilient child and enjoys many of the things I enjoy. While my friend and I were having our interviews today, both of our daughters were here (hubby was home) peeling potatoes and we spent the afternoon making potato pancakes, which we had for dinner after the girls and I got back from the Moose Lodge. I tend bar there on Tuesday afternoon/evenings and it was wonderful having the girls there today because they fed our herd of cats. Usually they are at Girl Scouts so I feed the cats, but they are on Easter break this week and it was truly endearing how both girls were looking forward to taking over that chore today.
My friend Sue isn't big on kitchen stuff and cooking, so Becky always looks forward to coming here because I always have some plan for some kind of a cooking project. I love being in the kitchen and having willing sponges to teach makes it even better.
I had to walk out of the kitchen at one point this afternoon because I didn't want either of the girls to see that I had totally teared up when Becky told me she loves coming here as much as going to her Graw's (her great-grandmother) because she always learns something new. That was a compliment I will hold in my heart forever because I know her great-grandmother and she is an awesome woman.
I can hear the 2 of them giggling downstairs over a show they are watching on animal planet. They've toned down the riotous laughter of earlier because my husband just reminded them both they need to think about sleep because we have a busy day tomorrow. It may be Easter break, but they still have a science fair project they have to work on. Also Jax has been on me to make crepes and Becky said she would like to learn how to make them, so we'll be making crepes. I also have more seed starting pots that need to be filled with potting soil and seeded. And all of that has to be done by 4pm. Then we all have to get cleaned up because we have to drop Becky off at home to go to karate class, Jax is missing it this week because she has softball tryouts, but before he takes her to the tryout hubby has to drop me off at the Moose Lodge because he and I cook there on Wed nights for Bingo. After he finishes with softball he's going to bring Jax to the karate school because she's spending tomorrow night at Becky's and then get back down to me at the Lodge to help finish up in the kitchen.
I keep wondering how I'm going to be able to accomplish all of this kind of silliness if I go back to having a "real" job. LOL!!!!
Stocking Up is a good book, I still use my copy of it.
My books go back many years for food, but there are some things that call for the latest information or as close as you can get.
Welcome to the thread and thanks for the link, others may want to buy it.
Thank you, it appears that you are going to learn a lot, don’t miss Velveeta’s post on Linden in post #488.
You have posted so many really cool things. In fact I’m probably going to purloin at least one of them for this week’s gardening thread.
I also plan to include a link to this thread on the gardening threads. The more folks we get interested/involved the better as far as I’m concerned. As I said yesterday, cross referencing our threads will be a good thing, IMNSHO :) When I post the thread I’ll put a link for it here as well.
Thanks for all of your pings today, my apologies for getting behind, but my previous post, I hope, explains a little bit about why I have been so scarce.
I like the cabbage family.
What will you do about the moose?
Are you in Alaska?
You might think about building on a solar greenhouse for growing all year.
Welcome to the thread, please join us and share your knowledge.
I have not made this version of the tortilla pie, but did invent my own.
I used flour tortillas, the hamburger meat, corn,beans, onion slices, the green chili slices, cheese, just kept making layers, and I think I might have dumped a can of either mushroom soup or diced tomatoes over the layers as I went, knowing me it was both.
Baked it an hour or so at 350 degrees.
My brother came to visit and he liked it, what was left, I froze for instant meals.
Thank you for posting the information on Linden.
I did not know it had so many uses.
There are so many things that we cold use, if we only knew about them.
Our parents knew and we did not pay attention.
My grandmother tried to get me to put a little salt in my palm and some warm water, then ‘snuffle’ it up my nose, so I would not have so many sinus infections.
I broke up laughing the other day when I heard it advertised on the radio, salt and water for the nose.
Bookmarking!
Thank you, your link is indeed a good one to check out, as there were many of the hints that I will try to remember.
http://www.apinchof.com/cookingqanda.htm
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