Native Teas and Beverages
Sassafras Tea (Ga-Na-S-Da-Tsi)
Tribe: Cherokee
Ingredients:
Red Sassafras roots, Water
Directions
To make a tea, boil a few pieces of the root in water until it is the desired strength.
Sweeten with honey if desired. Serve hot or cold.
Traditional Way: Gather and wash the roots of the red sassafras.
Do this in the spring before the sap begins to rise.
Store for future use.
Some natural food stores carry sassafrass root in a dried form.
The “store bought” type works just as well.
Sassafras tea tastes like watered down rootbeer and is really very good.
Note: it is wise to dilute your sassafras tea by adding an equal portion of regular tea.
Too much sassafras tea or drinking strong sassafras tea can bowel upset.
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Juniper Tea
Tribe: Unknown
Servings: approx. 1 quart
Ingredients:
20 tender young sprigs of juniper, washed 2 qt. water
Directions
Place the sprigs and water in a large saucepan. Bring to a boil, then cover and reduce heat.
Let it simmer gently for 15 minutes.
Turn off the heat and let the tea steep for another 10 minutes.
Strain and serve. May be sweetened with honey, if desired.
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Wild Mint Tea
Servings: approx. 2 quarts
Tribe: Unknown
Ingredients:
10 large stalks fresh mint, washed
2 qts. water
Directions
Place mint and water in a large sauce pan and bring slowly to a boil.
Turn off the heat, cover, and let the “tea” steep for 5 or more minutes (to desired strength).
Strain and serve. Sweeten with honey if desired.
Wild mint is not as strong as other, mints making this a very mildly flavored tea.
For those unaccustomed to mint teas, you can further dilute it by mixing 1 part mint tea and 1 part regular tea.
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Honey Drink
Servings: 1 quart
Tribe: Unknown
Ingredients:
1 qt. water
2/3 cup honey
Directions
Place water and honey in a large container with a tight fitting lid.
Shake well to blend the two ingredients. Chill thoroughly and serve iced in small glasses.
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Sumac Tea
Tribe: Unknown
Ingredients
Sumac berries
Water
Directions
Bring a pot of water to boil. Toss in some sumac berries, then let it come to a boil again.
Reduce heat and allow to simmer for 5-10 minutes.
You can let it cool or drink it hot. No sweetening is needed.
“A good, refreshing drink. The berries should be picked in early September; even a few days after frost is okay. Bring them home.
Spread them out on a sheet in the sun or on newspapers on your floor to dry.
Do not use the leaves and do not let the tea boil longer than 10 minutes or it will become very bitter.... Delicious and refreshing!”
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Spicewood Tea (Gv-Nv-S-Dv-Tli)
Tribe: Cherokee
Ingredients:
Small twigs of Spicewood
Directions
Boil twigs in water and serve hot. Sweeten if desired. Molasses or honey makes the best sweetening.
Gather spicewood twigs in the spring when the buds first appear.
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Peppermint Tea
Tribe: Cherokee
Ingredients:
Peppermint stalks
Water
Directions
Gather peppermint (the kind that grows along the branches).
Crush the leaves and pour boiling water over them. Strain the liquid and serve hot.
May be sweetened with honey if desired.
“Branches” are streams.
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Hominy Corn Drink (Gv-No-He-Nv)
Tribe: Cherokee
Ingredients:
Corn, field dried or parched Wood ash lye Water
Directions
Shell the corn (if still on the cob), and soak the kernels in wood ash lye until the skin can be removed (slipped).
Remove from the lye and rinse with clear water. Drain.
Beat the corn in the corn beater (ko-no-na) until it is the size of hominy.
Sift the meal from the larger corn particles.
Cook the larger particles in water until they are done.
Thicken with a little meal.
Drink this hot or wait until it sours and drink it cold.
The drink may be kept for quite a while unless the weather is very hot.
This was a customary drink to serve to friends who dropped by for a visit.
The hominy referred to in this recipe is the equivalent of modern hominy grits.
source:
http://www.angelfire.com/fl/mlwatchs/teasandbeverages.html
NATIVE AMERICAN BREADS
CHEROKEE CORN PONES
2 c Cornmeal
1/4 ts Baking soda
1 t Salt
1/2 c Shortening
3/4 c Buttermilk
3/4 c Milk
Butter
Combine cornmeal, baking soda, and salt; cut in shortening until mixture resembles coarse meal.
Add buttermilk and milk, stirring just until dry ingreients are moistened.
Form batter into eight 1/2 inch thick cakes.
Place on a hot greased griddle.
Bake at 400 degrees for 15 minutes.
Turn and bake an additional 15 minutes.
Serve hot with butter.
NAVAJO FRY BREAD
1 cup white flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup honey
vegetable oil
Mix dry ingredients.Add water to dry ingredients, mix well.
Knead dough on a floured board till it becomes elastic.
Let dough rest 10 minutes, covered.
Roll out dough till it is 1/2 inch thick. Cut into squares or circles.
Deep-fry at 370F till golden brown; drain on paper towels.
Drizzle with honey and serve.
INAGAMI-PAKWEJIGAN (SOFT BREAD)
1 3/4 c Water
2/3 c White corn flour
3/4 ts Salt
Margarine or shortening
Sunflower seeds
Bring the water to a boil.
Mix together the flour & salt.
Pour the boiling water onto the dry ingredients while stirring.
Continue to stir until the mixture becomes thick & uniform.
Serve in a bowl topped with margarine & the sunflower seeds.
ANISH-NAH-BE PAKWEJIGAN (REAL INDIAN BREAD)
Ojibway
1 Recipe soft bread
2/3 c Sunflower oil
1/2 c Blueberries or raisins
Let the soft bread dough cool to room temperature.
Mix in the blueberries & put the dough into a bowl. Chill until it thickens.
When the dough is firm, cut it into 1/2” slices & fry until it is a golden color.
Serve hot with maple syrup.
Cherokee Acorn Bread
Yield: 1 Loaf
1 c Acorn meal
1 c Flour
2 T Baking powder
1/2 ts Salt
3 T Sugar
1 Egg, beaten
1 c Milk
3 T Oil
Sift together, acorn meal, white flour, baking powder, salt and sugar.
In separate bowl, mix together egg, milk, and oil.
Combine dry ingredients and liquid ingredients.
Stir just enough to moisten dry ingredients.
Pour into a greased pan and bake at 400F. for 30 minutes.
Corn Bread se-lu ga-du
Cherokee
1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup polenta (course ground corn meal)
1/2 cup regular corn meal
1 teaspoon salt (or to taste)
3 teaspoons baking powder
1 heaping tablespoon of sugar
Mix dry ingredients, then add:
1 cup milk (add a little more if needed)
1 whole egg (slightly beaten)
Mix all together.
Preheat oven to 450. Slightly cover the bottom of a 9” cast iron skillet or 8x8 square pan with oil or margarine.
Sprinkle corn meal in the bottom.
Preheat pan in oven. Pour in corn bread mix and bake at 450 until golden brown , about 20 minutes.
source:
http://www.angelfire.com/fl/mlwatchs/breads.html
SOUPS , STEWS AND CASSEROLES
Chicken Posole (NAVAHO)
Servings: 8
Ingredients:
1 whole chicken
2 Tbs. vegetable oil
4 chopped carrots
4 sliced celery ribs
1 chopped bell pepper
1 chopped onion 2 lbs. frozen or canned hominy
4 chopped garlic cloves
1 Tbs. fresh oregano leaves -or- 1 tsp. dried oregano leaves
2 Tbs. red chili flakes
Salt to taste
Preparation:
Place chicken in a large pot, and cover with cold water. Bring water to a boil over medium-high heat, then reduce to low.
Cover and simmer for 45 minutes or until chicken is fully cooked. Remove chicken from pot, and allow chicken to cool.
Reserve cooking liquid in another container. When chicken is cooled, pull meat from carcass, and shred into large pieces.
In the pot used for cooking the chicken, add oil, and heat over medium heat. Add carrots, celery, bell pepper and onion, and sauté for three to four minutes.
Add remaining reserved broth, chicken and hominy, and simmer over low heat for 20 minutes. Add garlic, oregano and red chili flakes and then cook for five more minutes.
Season with salt to taste.
YELLOWJACKET SOUP
Tribe: Cherokee
Gather ground-dwelling yellowjackets whole comb early in the morning.
Place the insects over heat (right-side up) to loosen grubs, then remove them.
Place comb over heat again until the cover parches.
Remove and pick out the yellowjackets and brown them in a 350-degree oven.
Make soup by boiling in water. Season to taste with grease and salt.
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Old Fashioned Squirrel Stew
Tribe: Unknown
Directions
Salt and pepper squirrel to taste. Boil in water until very, very tender, Debone.
Take 1/2 cup of cooled liquid in which squirrel was cooked and make dumplings with self-rising flour.
Put deboned squirrel back in borth and add cut strips of dumplings to broth and squirrel while cooking.
Add a little butter; if you wish, you may drop three or four eggs into this mixture. Do not stir until eggs are done.
(You may add about 1/2 cup of sweet milk to the dumplings before adding eggs if you wish.)
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Venison & Wild Rice Casserole
Tribe: Ojibwa
Directions
In a small roasting pan mix 1 cup of wild rice with 2 cups of water and 1 small can of cream of mushroom soup.
On top of mixture place about 3 to 5 venison chops or steaks.
Place 1 small onion (sliced) in pan and three strips of bacon over venison.
Cook in oven at 350º until rice and venison is done.
About 45 minutes. Eat and enjoy!
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Venison and Wild Rice Stew
Tribe: Ojibwa
Ingredients:
3 1/2 pounds shoulder of venison, cut into 2” cubes
2 teaspoons salt
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
2 quarts water
2 yellow onions, peeled and quartered
1 1/2 cups wild rice, washed in cold water
Directions
Place the venison, water, and onions in a large, heavy kettle and simmer uncovered for 3 hours or until venison is tender.
Mix in the salt, pepper, and wild rice. Cover and simmer for 20 minutes more.
Stir, then simmer uncovered for an additional 20 minutes more, or until rice is tender and most of the liquid is absorbed.
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Corn Soup
Tribe: Unknown Woodland
Directions
Take fresh corn, rub it on a grater to make the milk to run, scrape the whole works kernel & milk into a pot.
Cook the soup, add scrap pork, fat back or smoked ham hocks or what you have, and a little water to thin for cooking.
Adding water as needed while the pot boils, to make a creamy broth. Add fine chopped green onions and salt and pepper to taste.
Skim the soup when the meat is tender and falling apart.Add more water as need to thin to a good consistancy.
(frozen corn on the cob can be substituted in the winter)
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Green Corn Soup
Tribe: Cherokee
Directions
Green Corn soup was also made for Green Corn Ceremony using corn in the “milk” stage, also with wild onions.
Chop up a whole onion, and one or two green onions as well as one or two sprouted garlic cloves.
The garlic, gives it a touch of the flavor of wild onions, which are as much garlic as onion in flavor.
Cook in oil in a large pot. While that is cooking, peel and dice some potatoes. If using “new potatoes”, scrub them and leave the skins on.
Throw in the pot with the onions and cook it all until the onion is transparent.
If the potatoes brown a little, all the better.
Just barely cover with clear chicken broth and cook, covered, until the potatoes are done. Add a dash of milk, salt and pepper to taste, and a big pat of butter.
Serve with fry bread on the side and you have a very filling meal that is really healthy.
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Ogwissimanabo (Yellow Squash Soup)
Tribe: Tuscarora
Ingredients:
1 med. Yellow squash, diced
4 Shallots (with tops), chopped
4 cups Water
2 Tbsp. Maple syrup (real, not imitation)
5 1/2”-thick slices of Cucumber
1 Tbsp. Salt
1/4 tsp. Black pepper
Directions
Place the squash, shallots, water and syrup into a large soup pot and simmer for 40 minutes, until the squash is tender. Add the cucumbers.
Pour everything into a large mixing bowl and “mash” until it forms a thick, creamy paste. Pour the paste back into the soup pot, season with salt and pepper, and simmer for another 5-10 minutes.
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Peanut Soup
Tribe: Cherokee
Ingredients:
1 9.25 ounce jar, dry roasted peanuts
2 cups water
2 cups milk
2 5.4 gram packages instant chicken broth
1 tablespoon minced chives
Directions
Chop the nuts fine or puree in a blender. Place the nuts and remaining ingredients in a large saucepan and heat, stirring for 5 to 20 minutes. Serve hot.
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Potato Soup (Nu-Nv Oo-Ga-Ma)
Tribe: Cherokee
Directions
Peel white potatoes and cut them into small pieces. Boil in water with an onion or two until potatoes and onions mash easily.
After mashing, add some fresh milk and reheat the misture. Add salt and pepper if desired. This soup is best when eaten hot.
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Pumpkin Soup
Tribe: Unknown NE Woodland
Ingredients:
1 small Pumpkin, or 29oz Canned Pumpkin
1-2 TBSP Peanut Oil or Sunflower Oil
1-3 TBSP Maple Syrup or Honey
1/4 -1/2 tsp Ground Spicebush Berries or Allspice
3-4 cups Chick or Beef Broth
Thinly sliced Green Onion Tops
Chopped Hazelnuts
Roasted Pumpkin and Sunflower Seeds for garnish
Salt & Pepper
Directions
Place pumpkin in saucepan. Season with salt, pepper, spiceberry, and syrup. Slowly stir in broth to consistency desired.
Simmer over med heat for about 5 mins until hot. (If desired, serve in small pumpkin or squash shells).
Garnish with onions, nuts and hulled seeds.
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Sunflower Seed Soup
Tribe: Ottawa
Ingredients:
2 cups hulled sunflower seeds
6 cups chicken broth
3 small green onions, thinly sliced
2 tablespoons chopped fresh dill
salt and ground pepper to taste
Directions
Place sunflower seeds in a large saucepan. Add chicken broth and green onions. Cook uncovered, over low heat for about 1 hour.
Stir in dill and season with salt and pepper to taste.
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Savory Venison Stew
Tribe: Northeast Woodland Region
Ingredients:
1/2 cup corn oil
1 1/2 pounds trimmed venison, cubed into bite-sized pieces
1 medium onion, coarsely chopped
3 large cloves garlic, finely diced
8 small red potatoes, quartered
3 celery stalks, diced
3 carrots, cut into 1/2 inch rounds
2 bay leaves
1 cup wild mushrooms, cut into bite-sized pieces
1/4 teaspoon dried, finely crumbled sage
1/4 teaspoon dried parsely, chopped
1/4 teaspoon coarse salt
ground pepper to taste
1/4 teaspoon any hot sauce (such as tobasco)
2 cups water, vegetable, or meat stock
1 8-ounce jar, prepared salsa, mild or according to taste
Directions
In a large cast-iron skillet or pot, heat oil over medium-high heat. Add venison and quickly brown on all sides, stirring frequently.
Add onion, garlic, and potatoes, stirring well. Add remaining ingredients, blending and stirring well.
Cover and cook for 30 minutes or until the venison and potatoes are tender. Balance the seasonings to your taste.
If stew ends up to spicy, serve with sour cream.
source:
http://www.angelfire.com/fl/mlwatchs/soupsandstews.html
GRAINS AND NUTS
HASHED HOMINY
Two cups strained hominy
Four eggs (beaten)
Butter (as needed)
Salt and Pepper
Brown hominy in skillet over medium heat.
Use about one tbsp. butter or cooking oil.
Blend in eggs and hominy. Season while stirring.
When hominy is brown it is ready to serve.
Connuche (Kenuche)
Cherokee
A Recognized Dish of Honor
Always save back some balls for your family at Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years with what ever other special dishes you fix, they freeze very well.
This is a side dish that reminds you where you came from and your ancestors can smell the connuche and find your table.
Even those who haven’t tasted it before down deep inside remember it and are happy. Most families have one or two prime gatherers.
Beat up so-hi (hickory nuts) very fine until it can be formed into balls. Balls are big like softballs. This is meat and shell both.
Take how much Connuche you want from ball. Each ball can feed enough for about 20.
Place in a sauce pan and cover with boiling water.
Stir well separating the shells from the “goodies”.
Strain through a cloth or fine sieve.
The shells will sink to the bottom and the meat has mainly cooked up into a base broth.
You can see an oil come to the surface from the boiled nuts.
If you pour it careful just use a pasta strainer. Now I add rice and cook it.
Add hominy, homemade or from a can. Mash about half into the the soup mixture.
Some mash the hominy, others like it whole golden kernels.
Try adding sliced mushrooms from the store.
Season with lots of salt.
Or leave out the mushrooms and add sugar instead.
Or add small pieces of deer meat. Fix it the way your family likes it. If the base was Connuche everyone knew it was a special meal. They were honored.
“con-nu-che a-gwa-du-li” means (I want Connuche) and it is always good if you serve it with se-lu-ga-du. (Cornbread)
MEATS, GAME FOUL AND FISH
Apache Fried Rabbit
Tribe: Apache
Servings: 4
Ingredients
Rabbit
Bacon or pork drippings
Salt
Directions
Dress swamp or cotton-tail rabbit. Wash, cut up, and cover with water. Cook until nearly done.
Take pieces out of liquid, dust with flour and salt, and fry until brown in a skillet of pork-fat.
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Fish and Mush
Nation/Tribe: Cherokee
Ingredients:
Barbequed fish
Cornmeal Mush (follow directions on cornmeal package) Water
Directions
Cut barbequed fish into small chunks and boil in water to make a thick soup.
Eat the fish soup with the mush. This dish was always used for sick people when fish was available.
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Knee-deeps (Early frogs - Du-S-Du)
Tribe: Cherokee
Directions
Catch early frogs - called knee-deeps. Scald and skin. Parboil and cook like other meats.
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Iroquois Fish Soup
Tribe: Iroquois
Ingredients:
Fish
Water
Coarse cornmeal
Wild onions
Wild greens
Directions
Boil fish of any kind in a pot with a quantity of water.
If fish is not filleted, remove bones. Stir in coarse cornmeal to make a soup of suitable consistency.
If wild onions and greens are available, toss them into the soup pot to add both color and flavor.
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Fish Soup
Tribe: Cherokee
Directions
Clean and bake a fish very brown. Put the fish into a pot of water and cook until done.
Serve this soup with mush.
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Bear (Yo-Na)
Tribe: Cherokee
Directions
Cut the meat in strips and dry before the fire. Hang these strips across the rafters of the cabin on a basswood strip to keep dry all winter.
It is best to cover the dried meat with a cloth if you have one.
When you get ready to eat the bear meat, take it off the stick, beat it in the corn beather until it is like cornmeal.
Put this in a pot of plain water and boil until the soup tastes good.
Eat this with mush if you want it to taste the best.
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Groundhog (O-Ga-Na)
Tribe: Cherokee
Directions
Clean a nice fat groundhog and parboil until tender.
Remove from the pot, sprinkle with salt and both red and black pepper, then bake before the fire or in the oven until brown.
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Opossum (Oo-Ge-S-Ti)
Tribe: Cherokee
Directions
Clean an opossum and parboil in plain water. Remove from pot and season with salt and pepper before browning.
Most people can eat ony a small amount of this because it is extremely greasy.
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Quail (Gu-Que)
Tribe: Cherokee
Directions
Dress quail, put on a stick before the fire or over hot coals.
Roast until very brown. Put browned quail in a pot of water and boil until well done.
Thicken the soup with a little cornmeal and add salt.
Eat by itself with bread or with mush.
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Squirrel (Sa-Lo-Li)
Tribe: Cherokee
Directions
Throw freshly killed squirrel into the fire to burn off the fur, remove, scrape with a knife or sharp rock.
Repeat this until the squirrel is rid of all fur. Wash the squirrel well with water and wood ashes until the skin is white.
Remove the insides, cook in the oven or before the fire until brown, then stew or fry until done.
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Venison Steak
Tribe: Unknown
Ingredients:
1/2 cup peanut oil
1 clove garlic, diced
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1/4 teaspoon pepper
8 tender venison steaks
Directions
In a medium fry pan over medium heat, quickly saute the garlic in the hot oil for about 3 minutes.
Add all the remaining ingredients except the steaks.
Brush the warmed “dressing” over the venison steaks, covering both sides, and immediately place steaks on a hot grill about 6 inches above the glowing charcoal.
Sear quickly on one side for 5 mintues, then flip steak over and gril 4 to 8 mintues on the other side.
Remove grilled steaks to a broad platter and keep warm until ready to serve.
VEGETABLES
Mohawk Indian Corn
Servings: 4
Tribe: Mohawk
Ingredients:
1 can whole kernel corn
1 small package black walnuts
1/2 teaspoon black walnut flavoring
2 tablespoons butter or margarine
Directions
Empty a can of corn packed in water (not creamed corn) into a pot.
Add sufficient water and heat, also adding a small package of black walnuts. Then add about 1/2 teaspoon of black walnut flavoring which is available in grocery stores.
Heat with 2 tablespoons butter and serve.
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Ojawashkwawegad (Wild Green Salad)
Servings: 4
Tribe: Algonquin
Ingredients:
Salad
1 cup Wild onions (sub: leeks), well chopped
4 cups Watercress
1/4 cup Sheep sorrel (sub: wood sorrel)
1 1/2 cup Dandelion leaves
Ingredients Dressing
1/3 cup Sunflower seed oil
1/3 cup Cider vinegar
3 Tbsp. Maple syrup
3/4 tsp. Salt
1/4 tsp. Black pepper, fresh ground
Directions
Toss together the salad ingredients.
Combine the dressing ingredients and mix well.
Drizzle the dressing over the salad and re-toss. Serve cold.
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Cherokee Succotash (I-Ya-Tsu-Ya-Di-Su-Yi Se-Lu)
Tribe: Cherokee
Directions
Shell some corn and skin it with wood ashes lye.
Cook corn and beans separately, then together.
If desired, you may put pices of pumpkin in.
Be sure to put the pumpkin in early enough to get done before the pot is removed from the fire.
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Swamp Potatoes (Tla-Wa-Tsu-Hi-A-Ne-Hi Nu-Nv)
Tribe: Cherokee
Directions
Gather and wash swamp potatoes. Bake in oven or in ashes until they are done.
Beat the cooked potatoes in the corn beater until they are like any other meal. Use as meal is used.
During winter famines, many Cherokees had no other meal except that made from the swamp potatoes.
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Ramps (Wa-S-Di)
Tribe: Cherokee
Directions
Gather young ramps soon after they come up. Parboil them, wash and fry in a little grease.
Meal may be added if you wish. They may be cooked without being parboiled, or even eaten raw if the eater is not social minded!
Note: Ramps are a very strong flavored wild onion.
Use discretion when eating the “real” thing.
To obtain a ramp flavor, mix onion and garlic, with emphasis on the garlic.
If you’re in the area, there is a Ramp Festival every spring in Cosby, TN.
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Baked Pumpkin with Wild Rice
Servings: 6-8
Tribe: Unknown
Ingredients:
1 pumpkin, seeds and “pulp” removed
Broth or water
Wild Rice
Directions
Add water (or broth) and wild rice inside and you get two veggie dishes in one.
Serve the pumpkin in shell and scoop out rice and pumpkin flesh at the table. A nice savory treat.
Different, but a beautiful and healthy fall dish.
Goes great with game dishes, such as Maple Glazed Rack of Venison.
Full article source:
http://www.homeland-defender.com/Article1.htm
Emergency Preparedness Article
1st Draft - by Bruce Elmore
When my friend Neil Wright asked me to write an article on the subject of emergency preparedness I responded with an enthusiastic “yes”. While there is a plethora of good information available on the subject, there’s also a lot of bad information out there as well.
This article is meant to serve as a primer for some, as a refresher for others, and is by no means definitive or all encompassing. There’s no way it could be. What it will be is a solid foundation for you to prepare yourself and your family so that you will be able to care for yourselves for a period of several days in the event of an emergency or wide spread disaster.
Every family in America should be able to care for themselves for 72 hours at a minimum during a disaster. That’s the minimum. As we all saw during Katrina, help can be longer in coming. And indeed when it arrives it may not be very much help at all. This isn’t meant as a slap to the literally thousands of government workers who responded during that hurricane. They were quite simply overwhelmed by the scope of the disaster. In some cases aid didn’t arrive for a couple of weeks.
You are ultimately responsible for the safety, security, and the well being of yourself and the ones you love. Therefore you had better start planning now. Trying to locate food, water, and shelter during a disaster is a recipe for, well, disaster.
First of all, you need a Family Emergency Plan. A very basic, and I do stress basic, is available at www.ready.gov. It contains places for you to fill in simple information about schools, doctors, contact information, and the like. I think it’s a pretty good start. You and your family should pick two places known to all where you can meet following a small scale emergency such as a house fire and a secondary spot farther away in the event of a larger incident which precludes you from getting to your primary local meeting place.
Keep it simple. Something like ‘the big tree at the house across the street’ or ‘the swing set at the neighborhood park’ are good local meeting places. Secondary ones could be your church, the local library, a local school, or a police or fire station. These are all good in the event your neighborhood is evacuated.
Next you’re going to need a basic Communications Plan. This would include any cell phone numbers you have, pagers, work numbers, and the like. What really needs to be included are some out of state contacts as well. If you have friends or relatives who live farther away it’s an excellent idea to include their numbers as well. During 9-11 the local phone circuits quickly became over loaded while the long distance circuits continued to be available. Be sure you let these folks know you’ve included them in your family plan and offer to become part of theirs.
Our communications plan is written on some large index cards which I then laminated to make them sturdy and waterproof. Each member of my family has one in their 3 Day Kit, which I will address next.
Your Native tea and recipes post is excellent, I will copy it for my sister.
Thank you.
LOL, I had my post open on the toolbar all day, didn’t feel like digging it out of the digest of posts, so you can imaging how surprised I was to read yours, before I even got to mine.
Simple food and wild food, it is important knowledge for all of us.