Posted on 02/09/2009 12:36:11 AM PST by nw_arizona_granny
Yahoo ran an interesting article this morning indicating a rise in the number of survivalist communities cropping up around the country. I have been wondering myself how much of the recent energy crisis is causing people to do things like stockpile food and water, grow their own vegetables, etc. Could it be that there are many people out there stockpiling and their increased buying has caused food prices to increase? It’s an interesting theory, but I believe increased food prices have more to do with rising fuel prices as cost-to-market costs have increased and grocers are simply passing those increases along to the consumer. A recent stroll through the camping section of Wal-Mart did give me pause - what kinds of things are prudent to have on hand in the event of a worldwide shortage of food and/or fuel? Survivalist in Training
I’ve been interested in survival stories since I was a kid, which is funny considering I grew up in a city. Maybe that’s why the idea of living off the land appealed to me. My grandfather and I frequently took camping trips along the Blue Ridge Parkway and around the Smoky Mountains. Looking back, some of the best times we had were when we stayed at campgrounds without electricity hookups, because it forced us to use what we had to get by. My grandfather was well-prepared with a camp stove and lanterns (which ran off propane), and when the sun went to bed we usually did along with it. We played cards for entertainment, and in the absence of televisions, games, etc. we shared many great conversations. Survivalist in the Neighborhood
1 hour at 170 degrees will not only kill the bugs, but it will also help dry the grain/beans/rice which helps them not go bad. Yep, it will form a nice vacuum - but be sure to simmer the lids in hot water for about 10 minutes before putting them on - this softens the rubber gasket and they seal better.
Actually, I do this process by using my previously used lids. Wash them well and use them for grains - Even if one does not seal perfectly, it is not the catastrophe that wet vegetables would be.
Speaking of re-using lids, I also do another little thing - when I am doing a pressure canner batch and don’t have enough to fill it,(my canner holds 19 pint jars) I put water in jars and put the reused lids on them - When it comes out, I have sterilized vacuum packed water - AND I don’t have to scrub the inside of the jars when I go to can something like I would if they were empty.
I like to keep my jars full - ‘An empty jar is saving nothing!’ quoteth Me.
Freezing grain for at least 24 hours will also kill those pesties...48+ hours is even better. Problem is until I purge my freezer in the early summer (I take out all remaining meat and vegetables that would freezer burn and can them while they are still tasting good. Then they are good for years and years.) I usually don’t have room for the grains.
Lobsters were also very reasonable this year. We had them several times as I refuse to pay $6.00 a pound and over for them. We were able to get them at the dock for $3.00 a pound so had them hot boiled, lobster rolls ,lobster stew and in newburg. It will probably be several years, if ever before they are reasonable again.
>>>>he paid 300 dollars to have a butcher do it<<<<
Oh my, and I was complaining about the $65 one year and $80 the next year to do a deer.
I would definitely do it myself.
Remind him that it is beneficial to have the meat age (as long as the tempreature is down around freezing) as much as a week is not unusual - meat will be more tender and tastier.
You definitely should let it hang at least 24 hours until the rigor mortise has relaxed. If you kill it and process it immediately, it will be tough as all getout.
>>>>It will probably be several years, if ever before they are reasonable again. <<<<<
Maybe not - if the economy continues going South - we may see people selling apples on the street corners for a nickel and lobsters for a quarter. Well, let’s hope not...
>>>the wooden wheel that turns the rope around the log must be at least 15 feet in diameter as it towers over my head. It is probably 6 inches wide,with a groove all around the middle that the big heavy rope sets in.<<<
Wow, that one got me - what a setup... I will have to ask around - but I have never seen one like that and sooo big.
http://www.bigmedicine.ca/southasia.htm#China:_Influenza-like-illness_(IL
NEWS: ASIA
China: Influenza-like-illness (ILI) outbreak in school under close watch [Feb 19 Yau Ma Tei]—The Centre for Health Protection (CHP) of the Department of Health today (February 19) urged members of the public and management of institutions to take preventive measures against influenza by observing strict environmental and personal hygiene.
The appeal was made after CHP received a report of ILI outbreak in a secondary school this evening.
The school concerned is “Newman Catholic College” in Yau Ma Tei. It is noted that the school has decided to suspend classes from tomorrow (February 20) to February 23 for thorough disinfection.
CHP has commenced investigations and shall closely monitor the situation.
CHP appealed to all schools to report suspected infectious disease outbreaks to CHP as soon as possible.
To prevent respiratory tract infection, the public are advised to adopt the following measures:
* Build up good body immunity by having a proper diet, regular exercise and adequate rest, reducing stress and avoiding smoking;
* Maintain good personal hygiene, wash hands after sneezing or coughing, and wear a mask when having symptoms of respiratory tract infection;
* Maintain good ventilation; and
* Avoid visiting crowded places with poor ventilation.
Members of the public, particularly children, elderly people and those with chronic diseases, should wear face masks and consult doctors promptly if they develop symptoms of respiratory tract infection.
China: Mucormycosis infection of a QMH patient [Feb 19 Hong Kong]—The following is issued on behalf of the Hospital Authority: In response to the cases of gastrointestinal mucormycosis found at Queen Mary Hospital (QMH), the spokesperson of the hospital today (February 18) gave the following updates:
This afternoon an intestinal mucormycosis is just found in one of a total of approximately 20 body fluid samples of a deceased 42-year old female lymphoma patient. Patient was admitted for chemotherapy.
At present, there are five affected cases under treatment. The paediatric patient is recovering. The two symptomatic adult patients are under critical conditions. One is due to his terminal cancer and the other one is due to the complications developed after the Bone Marrow Transplant. The condition of two other asymptomatic adult Bone Marrow Transplant patients is stable. QMH will continue the surveillance on patients with immunosuppressed due to leukaemia/lymphoma and the chemotherapy.
QMH understands the Bone Marrow Transplant patients’ concern for the resumption of new admissions to our bone marrow transplant unit. However, the hospital has to ensure the patient safety and service quality.
Mucormycosis is a rare disease due to Murorales. These fungal spores are ubiquitously found in environment, food and wooden material. Most patients who developed this disease are very immunosuppressed due to leukaemia/lymphoma and the chemotherapy.
Extensive investigation indicates pre-packed food is the most likely source in the affected patients. Education and instruction to patients on safe food and drinks have been strengthened. No more pre-packed foods are provided for the leukaemia/lymphoma and the chemotherapy patients.
The Centre for Health Protection and Hospital Authority Head Office are informed.
Great! Thanks for the info, GG.
Let me made sure I have this - I fill my clean jars and then put them in the oven at 170 for one hour? And then seal with lids that have been simmered?
How far are you from the mountains? I notice on the map that King’s Canyon isn’t too far away. Looks like the lake is in the foothills.
http://www.komando.com/downloads/
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Kim Komando 2/21/2009
The best online job sites
The above is only featured for today, tomorrow will be new.
This is Kim’s page of free to download computer programs.
Kim Komando of the radio computer program.
Yep - put the simmered lids on and screw the band down snug and listen for the music. The pings are music to the ears of any canner... It is the dome lids popping down as the air inside the jar cools and contracts.
and if the sheep would start to get near the border I had set out, he would very very slowly start moving till I would sit up, then he was off at a trot to herd them back where they belonged - I was more or less a passenger, enjoying the ride. He took that job very seriously!<<<
Yes, they do take the safety of a rider into consideration.
My Lady, was that way.
I got careless and didn’t check/tighten the cinch strap on the saddle the third time, got on and rode up up a mountain, with loose rocks, back down and went to the coral to let the Appaloosa out, so he could go with us, he was only 2 and not broken.
When I went to get off Lady at the gate, the saddle went underneath her belly.
I wasn’t hurt, but I also learned in a hurry why a Wyoming friend kept ragging at me for “just going for a ride and no one knew it or what direction I went”!!!
I tried to tell people that Lady was a trained show horse, and they would say “Uh Huh”, and think “she is just an old kids horse”.
On Sundays, I set them free and would while doing things in the house watch them and Lady was teaching the Apa to dance and keep to the program, I swore that I could hear music, she was so perfect.
In front of the mobile was the best flat land, so there is where she did her teaching.
When it came time to sell her, friends bought her and the older daughter had a friend who knew how to dance Lady and they said that Lady was fantastic to watch.
The first time that I let them out, they took off running, down the driveway and all I could do was watch and think “well they are gone now, that is the end of my horses”.
I knew the gate was open to my land, and it was several hundred feet away, the property line and old barbed wire fence was on the far side of a 200’ deep wash.
The horses ran to the fence line, stopped dead and turned around and raced back to me.
I think the weeks that they were penned up, they kept making bets on who would win the race.
Their corral was over an acre, it wasn’t a small pen.
I miss that good feeling of being on a horse and just ‘riding’.
Some of us do not forget our roots, it is in our dna.
If I had all the money that I have spent keeping animals over the years, I would be rich today.
But I honestly think that I would have a dead soul.
Economy Spurs the ‘Urban Chicken’<<<
I set up a google alert for Urban Chicken, it is good for laughs and some info, as it is amazing what is happening with the movement.
There are the folks like we are that want a few chickens and then the articles on the California Liberals, who hire a Architect to design a mansion of a chicken house.
[For about 3 chickens]
The Guard had planned a four-day urban military operation in tiny Arcadia, Iowa, population 443, sending troops to take over the town and search door-to-door for a suspected weapons dealer.
This does not upset me any longer, it is going to come.
Back in the 1990’s we had almost the same articles and our troops were training for urban warfare and we were all upset.
But NOW, we know how valuable that training was for them, as they use it 24 hours a day in Iraq.
Obama will no doubt use it for his own benefit, not ours or our troops and there isn’t a lot that will stop him and his Executive Orders.
Soros said the turbulence is actually more severe than during the Great Depression, comparing the current situation to the demise of the Soviet Union.<<<
Is Soros after credit for something he did not do, or not alone?
Soros reminds me of the Hitler plan to rule the world, he said that he and his top men would not be able to do so, if the war failed, but that their sons would do so.
At least Obama does not look like Hitler’s breeding experiments.
The snippet below, I found on a group of Russian supporters, from all over the world, including some of the U.S. University Professors, it was in the conversation about “how wonderful smart Russsia would survive, when the U.S. and Ukraine failed to survive the depression.
LOL, some days, it is difficult to control my urge to tell them what I think, but I managed to join, only days before it was closed to unknown folks, so keep quiet and learn a little now and then.
“As long as the Chinese keep buying T-bills....but apparently in return
for doing that, they want to be able to buy up US companies without
being hassled by Congress all the time.”
Made sense to me.
This canning book is an excellent post, thank you for posting it, as I am too far out of date on canning, to offer any help.
I would prepare a biscuit receipe using a little sugar and work in as many apples as I could. Then I made a sauce similar to the caramel icing only thinner. Poured over the hot apple biscuits, it was delicious and inexpensive.<<<
That sounds very good.
Several of the icings, I remember my mother making.
She was famous for a Wintergreen Coconut Cake that she made.
Back in the 1950’s when my brother was in Alaska in the Air Force, she decided she would send him a cake for his birthday and the above was his favorite.
She baked it, froze it, and wrapped it in a wool shirt she had bought for him, and with her Congressman’s help, managed to get it on a Military airplane and to Ray in good shape.
I didn’t get a chance to check all the recipes on that page site or the other ‘old’ books they show there.
>>>>Yes, they do take the safety of a rider into consideration.<<<<<<<<
They sure do... I could do anything with Dolly - the Percheron I rode to school in the first grade. I could walk between her legs pull her tail, anything and she knew that I was young and vulnerable so she was always careful.
She did have one quirk though - anytime I would go out to catch her, she would run off and hide - well, she always hid behind a tree that was about 4” in diameter and as big as a Percheron is, hiding behind that tree was ridiculous. She would peek around the trunk as though her whole back end was hidden.
Wish I could post pictures on here. I would send pictures to see if anyone knows of one like it. Maybe it is just the invention of the old butcher-farmer-jack of all trades who owned it. When he died, the family just wanted it out of the barn and of course, my hubby just had to have it. A local butcher looked at it in awe, and said we ought to put it on E-Bay but number one, my hubby NEVER sells anything and number two- who would want it? It was an awful job just transporting it the few miles to our house and then erecting it and placing the hugh rope pulleys.
My hubby processes at least one deer nearly every year as there are “sportmen” around here who hunt just for the pleasure of hunting and only want a few steaks and are willing to give the rest away if someone else does the dirty work. Yes, if the weather is cold we like to age the deer for several days in the barn, but the moose season was the first week in October and the butcher said many of the moose he processed suffered from improper handling in the heat.
Let me made sure I have this - I fill my clean jars and then put them in the oven at 170 for one hour? And then seal with lids that have been simmered?<<<
Cal is the one for answering canning questions, he is still doing it and I can’t and am out of date.
[HUG]
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