They are still available.
Glad to see another 'pack rat'.
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
The older Jeeps had so many attachments and equipment... I had a 3 point hitch that bolted in the back, and there was a hydraulic pump that mounted on the pulley on the drive shaft in front.. With that, you could use just about any 3 pt. equipment (except when you needed a PTO which it didn’t have.)
When we used to get some pretty big snows, I would put chains on all 4 wheels, put 3 - 55 gallon drums in the back, take out the passenger seat, and I would haul heating fuel, groceries and mail to shut-ins.
With the weight (about 900 pounds)from the fuel oil, it would go most anywhere as long as the ground was hard. I have even pulled a 1200 gallon tank truck out of a field, through the ditch and back up onto the road. It was awesome, particularly when I used the winch too.
But these old bones do enjoy the soft seats, better ride, power steering, good heater and air conditioner in my TJ.
There are times that the Lord will pull a few strings and you are marching down a path that is all new.
It is wonderful that you have found the right place for you, for so many do not know where their ‘right place’ is.
Yes, do keep us posted and know that you will be in our prayers, for it is a job setting up a place and there is far more involved than many know.
For me it has been so long, that I have forgotten much of what I learned.
Wonderful that you have found things here that are usable for you, that makes the efforts of all worth while.
Will you be able to plant a garden this year?
>>>Frost predicted tonight<<<
Boy, glad we are a bit warmer... (47º called for tonight)
I always jump the gun on my garden too - last year I had to plant corn 3 times before it was warm enough to ‘take’. But it sure is nice to have the early veggies.
If you have a small area place large rocks or bricks around plants they will absorb the sun’s warmth during the day and keep the plants warm at night.
Am adding s small greenhouse “6 x 10” this summer so we can do a better job of growing from seed and wintering over.<<<
If possible, build at least a 10 x 10’ greenhouse, for the small ones will change temperatures too fast and are almost impossible to keep in the range you want.
For me, they didn’t make them big enough, I prefer a leanto type attached to the house, so both change heat and cool air and with barrels of water or other passive solar heating in the greenhouse.
I have worked with both styles over the years and love the attached ones.
Your grandmother was a wise woman, making money is possible even today, as there is often ads in the free cycle group for “come and get it today, as we are moving”, and some of the things exchanged are interesting.
When we moved up here, we started going to the one near the casino area of the county, once we found 27 sheets of plywood, stacked high, someone had torn down a construction building or fence and hauled it to the dump.
The Master Gardners are a wonderful source of information, it takes a lot of learning to earn the title.
LOL, I laugh at the greenies, and their Organic this and that, for it was around long before they found it.
I have added your name to my ping list and should send out a ping, as I do sometimes, and should more often.
Thank you for finding us.
We have several AMish communities in Indiana and often buy items they produce, butter, cheese, bread, noodles. <<<
Sounds like a dream world to me, as here they would not even know what you were talking about.
You are lucky.
They often came in the old “K-rations”. I still have several of them around here someplace. <<<
There you are, wonderful gifts for all your family, a good keyring and a can opener on every one, would be a fine gift.
I do not remember where I got mine, Bill may have still had his or ?
The older Jeeps had so many attachments and equipment... I had a 3 point hitch that bolted in the back, and there was a hydraulic pump that mounted on the pulley on the drive shaft in front.. With that, you could use just about any 3 pt. equipment (except when you needed a PTO which it didn’t have.)<<<
Those old ones were real work horses.
The new ones will never replace them.
The first car that I bought for me, was a 40 Chevrolet business coupe.
Mine will be a lean to next to the corn crib/garage. It will have two doors one to the outside and one to the crib. Crib has large doors and windows to keep the air flowing.
Plan on collecting rain for water that will be connected to water storage in greenhouse and will be erecting a small windmill that will produce electricity to power that structure and the log cabin/guest house.
>>>If you have a small area place large rocks or bricks around plants they will absorb the sun’s warmth during the day and keep the plants warm at night.
<<<
Works well for small area, but I have 2,500 ft² with woven plastic ground cover, and about an acre and a half total garden area, with about half of that in wheat for flour and chickens.
LOL Rocks are a novelty here on the ‘sand hill’. Most of the rocks you will find around here were brought in by the Indians for ceremony, utensils or tools, so they are few and far between.
http://www.blm.gov/or/oregontrail/
Oregon Trail Interpretive Center
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The National Historic Oregon Trail Interpretive Center offers living history demonstrations, interpretive programs, exhibits, multi-media presentations, special events, and more than four miles of interpretive trails.
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* Dutch Oven Cooking Workshop at Interpretive Center 05/13/09 - (PDF)
* Pioneer Wagon Encampment at National Historic Oregon Trail Interpretive Center 05/11/09 - (PDF)
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* Interpretive Center Offering 19th Century Activities Day 04/27/09 - (PDF)
Hours of Operation
continues.
you’re farmin not gardenin.....
http://www.essortment.com/all/pioneercovered_rjtw.htm
Inside a pioneer covered wagon
A look at what pioneer women stocked in their wagons for the long journey west, this article also includes some diary excerpts.
The inside of a pioneer wagon, or ‘prairie schooner’ as they were often called, was designed first for utility and then for comfort. Enough supplies to last the occupants for up to six months had to be packed into an area usually ten feet long and four feet wide (about the same amount of room as the inside of a VW van).
The labor involved in preparing for a journey west was generally divided equally between women and men. The men built the wagons and prepared the livestock, while the women prepared and stocked food and clothing for the journey, as well as decided what household essentials to pack. Keturah and George Belknap, who traveled overland from Iowa to Oregon in 1848, outfitted their wagon with a minimum of space and maximum storage in mind.
George put together a sturdy traveling wagon, making by hand the bent wood bows, probably four or five, to support the top cover. The cover was made by Keturah, who spun the linen for it in the long winter evenings leading up to the trip. Most likely she treated the material with linseed oil to make it waterproof. Next, George built a box at the front on which he would sit while driving the wagon, and in which Keturah stored bacon, salt and other staples. The top of the box was made with holes in each corner so that it could be lifted off and used as a table when sharpened sticks were inserted into the holes for legs.
Keturah filled an old chest with clothing and other items for use along the way. “Will start with some old clothes on and when we can’t wear them any longer will leave them on the road,” she wrote in her diary. Before the journey began, she washed and packed everything suitable the Belknaps owned, and also spent most of the winter cutting and sewing several new suits of clothes for them to use when they arrived in Oregon. (Some women recorded cutting material beforehand to save room in packing, others carried bolts of uncut cloth in order to be prepared to meet whatever need arose).
The clothing chest was packed in behind the food storage box, and to keep it from slipping around in transit, George fastened a system of cleats to the bottom of the wagon bed. Then Keturah put in a chair to ride in, leaving a small space on the floor for her son to occupy while he played. After that another trunk was put in containing dishes (most likely china) and household goods set aside for use when they reached Oregon. A washtub and a basket containing the dishes she planned to use on the trip (most likely tin) were stowed in a corner. Then George loaded four 125 lb. sacks of flour and one of corn meal, then bags of dried apples and peaches, beans, rice, sugar and coffee.
“The wagon looks so nice,” Keturah wrote. “The nice white cover drawn down tight to the side boards with a good ridge to keep from sagging. It’s high enough for me to stand straight under the roof with a curtain to put down in front and one at the back end...I have made 4 nice little table cloths so am going to live just like I was at home.”
Her iron ware was stashed in a box that hung outside the wagon, and her butter churn was put in by the washtub. When all was packed and ready, she added a feather mattress and pillows, which would be laid on top of the boxes and over a side of shoe leather at night, with two comforters on top “and we have a good enough bed for anyone to sleep on”.
Keturah spent the last few days before their departure from Iowa in her kitchen, making provisions to get them through the first week of travel–baking bread, frying doughnuts, stewing dried fruit and cooking a chicken and a ham.
Keturah Belknap’s preparations for the journey were typical of most travelers. Large amounts of staple food like flour, corn meal, and bacon, were the foundation of any wagon outfit. “Put nothing in your wagon except provisions and clothing and such articles as are indispensably necessary on the road,” cautioned Louisiana Strentzel, after surviving a harrowing overland journey in 1849. Many travelers who packed luxury items would end up throwing them overboard along the way to lighten the burden of the overworked oxen or horses.
Wagons were typically arranged in a similar fashion to the Belknaps’, with boxes or trunks filling the floor space and providing a flat surface on which to make up a bed for sleeping at night. Margaret Frink, who traveled west with her husband, searching for gold in 1849, could afford to spruce up her wagon a little. “The wagon was lined with green cloth, to make it pleasant and soft for the eye, with three or four large pockets on each side, to hold many little conveniences–looking glasses, combs, brushes, and so on.”
One other important item mentioned in most diaries of the overland westward journeys is the ‘India rubber water bottle’ (somewhat similar to a very large hot water bottle). Margaret Frink carried two, each with five gallon capacity, in her wagon. She also carried an India rubber mattress, which could be filled with water, providing convenient storage and a comfortable sleeping pad. Louisiana Strentzel recommended that a wagon be able to store about fifty gallons of water. She, too, preferred the India rubber bottles.
Because women were often responsible for the growing, storing and preparing of food at home, families relied heavily on their knowledge and experience when calculating how much and what kind of supplies they would need on the trail. A well-stocked, wisely packed wagon made all the difference on a long journey where travelers were likely to find themselves without food, water, or shelter if they had not planned carefully beforehand.
Written by Robin Flinchum - © 2002 Pagewise
http://www.essortment.com/all/oldwivestales_opt.htm
What are some ‘Old Wives Tales’?
What are some ‘Old Wives Tales’? Learn about them here.
There are lots of old wives tales that have spawned common myths and sayings. Did you ever wonder which are based in fact and which are not, or where the sayings came from? Well, let’s have a look at a few of them.
One of the most popular old wives tales is about colds and flu. This is one that people often get mixed up. Do you feed a cold and starve a fever? Or is it the other way around, starve a cold and feed a fever? I’ve heard this one told both ways.
One explanation is you feed a cold, getting the vitamins you need, which in turn will help you from getting a fever. However, this isn’t really starving a fever, its more like staving one off. Another explanation is when people have high temperatures, they burn more calories, thus you want to feed it with liquids.
When someone has a cold, without a fever, there are no calories lost, and usually no appetite, thus, no need to take in more calories. Just like fuel on a fire, this refers how to restore balance to one’s body temperature, by using food.
Whichever way you look at this saying, you will probably be right because whatever you do about them, these ailments will usually get better on their own, in their own time. The trouble is that the infection often gets better despite what is recommended, rather than because of it!
There is another old saying that when planting peas and beans, the rows should always run north and south. This makes sense since the sun moves from east to west and gives the plants maximum sunshine.
The wild foxglove is a fairy plant in folk-tradition, and has several other names such as Fairy Weed, Dead Men’s Bellows, Bloody Man’s Fingers, and Witches’ Thimble. The Irish believe that foxgloves in the house are unlucky. It should never be taken aboard a ship. To pick the Foxglove is to offend the fairies that live within the flowers and will bring bad luck, even death, to the picker and his family.
The truth of this saying probably lies in the fact it contains a chemical known as digitalis. Used in proper dosages it is often used in modern medicine to treat heart disease, since it slows the rhythm of the heart. However, taken in larger doses, the heart will slow completely until death results.
You have probably heard the saying, “You can make ice faster by starting with warm water.” Is this statement truth or fact? Actually, it is true because hot water is steaming, and the process of evaporation (the steam rising) is a cooling process, thus actually causing hot water to freeze faster than cold.
The phrase “getting out on the wrong side of the bed” usually refers to someone having a bad day, or feeling grumpy or crotchety. This goes back to the superstition that, by going to bed on one side at night and getting up out of the other side in the morning, one formed a protective magic circle. Not to do so was bad luck.
The lucky horseshoe is a throwback to a time when it was thought that witches rode on broomsticks because they were afraid of horses. Nailing a horseshoe over your door kept witches from entering.
Speaking of witches, that’s an old wives tale that isn’t true. Witches weren’t really afraid of horses. The reason they ride broomsticks is so that they can fly. Almost everyone knows that! The broomstick (with the bristles forward, please) is a symbolic horse, and used to be commonly used as such by children, when it was called a hobby horse. Why witches were thought to use brooms rather than real horses probably has to do with the poverty most old women endured. The women who were thought to be witches were generally too poor to own a real horse, but almost anybody can own a broom.
The reasoning behind the phrase “Breaking a mirror brings seven years of bad luck” originates in a period of time when the cost of a mirror was so much, it would take approximately seven years to save enough money to replace it.
Another tale I heard often growing up was “let a dog lick a wound because a dog’s saliva is antiseptic and will kill germs.” This is totally untrue. Dog mouths are infested with the germs of everything they put into them. If you or another animal receives a dog bite, it is like injecting yourself with a large dose of germs, which is why infection is almost inevitable.
Don’t let your dog excessively lick his own wounds, either. Veterinarians often give wounded dogs Elizabethan collars or buckets for their heads to prevent the dog from keeping his wound open or ripping out stitches. On the other hand, a mother licking her pup’s wound can debride the area allowing faster healing, which is what probably brought about this saying.
“Humpty Dumpty” dates back to the English Civil War. One of the sides had a siege engine called “Humpty Dumpty” because it was a rickety contraption. During one castle siege as “Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall,” the engine finally fell over and shattered and “Humpty Dumpty had a great fall.” Thus, “All the King’s horses, and all the King’s men couldn’t put Humpty Dumpty together again!” The Egg idea for Humpty Dumpty came when the rhyme was written down in a children’s book and the illustrator decided Humpty Dumpty was an egg.
Starting in the early 1600s tobacco was often used as an alternate for currency, it was often said to be “As good as gold.”
Only the wealthy could afford real floors. The rest of us were “dirt poor” and had to settle for the bare ground.
Hopefully, this will enlighten you just a little about these sayings. There was one, though, that I just couldn’t figure out: Why is it bad luck to say the word “Pig” while at sea?
© 2002 Pagewise
Interesting blog on Pioneer foods.
http://pioneerfoodie.blogspot.com/
Hearth Cooking
Previously, CowboyCurtis asked for information about dutch oven cooking.
Early emigrant Annie Taylor Dee remembered of her experience on the trail, “Most people cooked in camp kettles.”
Some settlers such as “Mrs. Lorenzo Roundy” in Kanarraville continued cooking directly on the coals well after the arrival of the railroad. In a previous query someone asked how the arrival of the railroad might have impacted foodways in Utah.
Most directly, the railroad made it cheaper to buy a cook stove, because the freight issue on cast iron became more affordable. Even so, Patty Sessions brought a cook stove with her in the vangard company of 1847.
So then, having established that most people cooked directly on the coals (i.e. hearth cooking) before 1870, let’s draw out what that means. Hearth cooking usually happens at ground level, so cooking utensils (such as lid lifters, coal shovels, spoons & spatulas)tend to have longer handles— this as an effort to eliminate stooping. Think of your common fireplace set with its poker, tonges, shovel, and broom. Also the cooking pots must have legs to situate themselves on the coals. Legs are either cast directly into the construction of the pot, or pots can be set on a trivet or spider. And of course some pots were suspended from tripods or cranes. A crane is an L-shaped bracket on hinges mounted into the masonry of a fireplace so that suspended pots can be easily rotated into and out of the fire.
So much of cooking (as with any other pursuit in life, such as carpentry or bicycle mechanics) is a matter of having the right tool for the job. Count how many kitchen utensils and implements you have in your kitchen— dutch oven cookery requires similar (though uniquely adapted) tools. And just as some chefs get by with one crappy knife and a terrible pan, some early Mormon hearth chefs got by with just one frying pan and no dutch oven.
As for the cooking part, most elements there are the same as cooking on a stove top. It all comes down to careful regulation of heat. In modern day dutch oven competitions, people cook just about anything you’d find in a fine French or Italian restauraunt. Some dishes call for frying, others for stewing and yet others for baking. All of these operations are done with the same pot (or multiple incarnations of the pot), but with different approaches to heat regulation. More coals equals more heat. Closer to the coals equals hotter. For beginners, try experimenting with frying bacon and not burning it to a scorched crumble. This takes patience on a moderate heat. Like many beginning stove-top chefs, too much heat is the beginning dutch oven chef’s common mistake. When you can do this reliably without a lot of hassle, then you might step up to stewing. A long slow simmer without burning to the bottom takes a bit more effort. Baking is most tricky as it requires hot coals on the lid as well as underneath. Modern competition chefs use a formula of charcoal briquettes for establishing precise temperatures; historic chefs used coals from burning logs and did it by gut feel. I prefer to cook with wood rather than charcoal briquettes. They just seem so artificial. If you want to get really fancy you might try chunk charcoal, still in wood form (not compressed).
Well, there’s the quick and dirty for you. Don’t burn yourself!
Posted by Brock
http://pioneerfoodie.blogspot.com/
Mormon Tea: another thought
So a while ago I wrote a couple of thoughts about the supposed “Mormon Tea” Ephedra varietals, and hinted that it was perhaps not used during the pioneer era, i.e. pre-1870. Further research is tending to corroborate this conclusion.
First, the OED puts a time stamp of 1910 on the label. Even if we assume a significant lag on its coinage to publication, the likelihood of pioneer era usage is a stretch. Further, botanical notes on the indigenous species note that while e. nevadensis and other varieties are native to the desert regions of the West, generally they show up at lower altitudes, vis a vis the deserts of the four corners region. In previous entries we noted that circa 1870 St. George, the common tea was a mixture of cayenne, cloves, bayberry, and other herbals. The wild ephedra at question was not in the mix.
When we consider that colonization to points further south and at lower elevation occurred in the late 19th century, the dovetailing of the “mormon tea” with the southern colonies begins to hint that this ephedra tea was likely a product of a later era and not part of the lore of Brigham Young’s time. The more common tea of the pioneer era is described by Brigham’s daughter Clarissa Young as follows:
“4 oz. each of bayberry, poplar bark and hemlock; 2 oz. each of ground ginger, cloves and cinnamon; and 1 ounce of cayenne pepper... take a small bit on the end of a spoon, fill the cup with hot water, and use plenty of cream and sugar.”
Until I find a better citation, I think this is the most likely “mormon tea” for the pioneer era. That being said, there was also a significant amount of Earl Grey and other traditional English varieties as well as coffee sold by retail grocers during the era. It seems this cayenne tea was more a medicinal than a drink for pleasure in common consumption. Further, as per our previous discussion of old world/new world, research is showing that Brits stuck with tea, while Danes held stubbornly to coffee. So there’s a recipe for ya!
p.s. the hemlock referenced is not the poisionous kind that makes you think of Socrates and Hamlet. Herbal shops carry a powdered hemlock bark suited to this composition.
Posted by Brock
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