Posted on 02/26/2018 12:12:20 PM PST by CottonBall
I’ve been missing the vast amount of information on prepping, survival, camping, simple cooking, the old ways of doing just about everything – all the things nw_arizona_granny knew so much about and shared with us, along with numerous other posters with a vast array of skills and knowledge.
We have our various related-threads here, a recipe thread, a gardening thread, and even a prepper thread. They are all great and I don’t mean to take anything away from those and the hard work their owners put in.
But I was missing a place to talk about ALL those things, to get the camaraderie that we used to have on granny’s thread.
I learned how to can on those threads! The pressure canner was not my friend, I thought, but I bought one and stared at it for a month, intimidated. Then I read the directions for another month. But with the help and encouragement of posters on granny’s threads, I jumped in and now have my very own food storage room in the basement with lovely jars of shelf-stable meats, vegetables, and fruit. When we moved, I fashioned my food storage room – and insisted upon having a basement – from what I learned on her threads. Getting started gardening was from her threads. Making my own cleaning products….the list is endless.
So I thought I would take the chance and start another comprehensive prepper thread and see how it goes. I used to have granny’s ping list since I made one of the threads for her, but alas, with numerous computer changes, I cannot find it. So please pass this onto any posters you think might be interested.
We’ll just keep it running until..whenever. Granny created a new thread at 10,000 posts or so. I do like the idea of having ONE thread to go to – because often I cannot find or keep track of the weekly threads. I won’t be posting lots of recipes or tidbits myself – to any mods concerned about the size of this thread. I’d just like a place to chat, post questions, post ideas, make new prepping friends.
Here are granny’s threads, if anyone wants to peruse them:
nw_arizona_granny’s Thread #1
Lol, too cute!
I’ve already figured out where I’m going to plant those beans. I’ll put them in my raised beds somewhere, since they need to be far enough from the main garden with the other green beans. The website said about a hundred fifty feet for seed collecting. So I gather these are going to be nonhybrid? I don’t plant too many things that I can’t get seeds from, so they will fit in perfectly with my gardening plans.
Since I have to pay $4.50 shipping, I’ll go ahead and get some Welsh onions. I don’t seem to have much luck with the big onions, so maybe these spring onions will work out better. Plus it sounds like they will seed themselves for the next year.
I think it’s the oil that goes rancid.
I decided on one thing I am NOT going to grow next year – red Swiss chard.
It is beautiful to grow, and pretty when harvested. However, I just made a spinach dip substituting red Swiss chard. I now have a beautiful pink and green dip. My husband finds pink food off putting, so he doesn’t like that and didn’t care for the pink risotto either.
I blanched and froze the red leaves last summer. Apparently blanching it didn’t get out enough of the red coloring. I think I’ll just go back to the green stuff next year. It seems to grow a little easier, the leaves get bigger, and the bugs don’t seem to like it quite as much. And I don’t have to worry about creating pink food :-)
I found it odd that it didn’t really smell bad. It didn’t smell like other things I’ve had that went rancid. Was yours the same way?
It just smelled like nothing. And tasted like nothing. If it smelled bad I wouldn’t have tried it. But the texture was just extra ds we and plasticky. Kind a hard to describe. But it was very disappointing, when one is expecting luscious peanut butter!
We use one of those plastic Kitty litter boxes to contain all the compostable scraps to empty into the pile at our convenience...
Please add me to your prepper list. Thank you
I’m not sure why they specify that much isolation, most beans are good with 50 feet or less. But yes, they’re non-hybrids. Although the growth habit, color, and ripening times will be different for each plant. The “Grex” part of the name means that it has a mix of features. The only thing consistent in them will be the flavor.
Carol Deppe did that on purpose, so that people could save seeds from the ones that worked best in their area. But it means it can’t be grown on large-scale farms using existing techniques. I’m trying to develop some that will work with normal harvesting machines, so that this bean can reach the main markets.
you’re on!
oh here you are ;)
Great idea. Those big plastic kitty litter boxes are very sturdy. In fact I just moved a bunch from my laundry room to the basement, thinking about your suggestion and how I could use them.
I really hate throwing away kitchen scraps so I will make my own little baby compost pile since hubby doesn’t seem inclined to help. Sticking it in something small enough for me to handle is a great idea. Thanks! I used to have one of those white compost things you keep on your kitchen counter. It was actually a pretty disgusting thing to have on my counter! I like your idea better, and I’ll just stick it in the garage or outside.
My gosh, I’m so glad you’re on this thread! You are a wealth of information.
I can’t wait to try these beans! Last night I looked up some wheat berry and bean recipes that I have that make a hamburger-type patty. I’m sure I could substitute these beans and it will be wonderful. And I can make meatballs. Pasta sauce. The number of possibilities are endless!
I’ve been thinking about how I need to utilize my food storage better. I’ve been making whole wheat bread with the superpail of wheat I just opened, but there’s a whole lot more that can be done. And I better get going, because 45+ pounds of wheatberries will last the 2 of us a LONG time!
Years ago, I experimented and found a couple of recipes that were pretty good. I need to try them again. Here they are for anyone else interested:
MEATLESS SLOPPY JOES (My husband actually likes this - and he’s a die-hard meat guy)
2 cups slow-cooked wheat
2 tablespoons dried onion
1 tablespoon dried green pepper (optional)
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1/3 cup beef broth
1 can (15 ounces) red kidney beans, drained, or about 2 cups cooked kidney beans
1 can (10-3/4 ounces) condensed tomato soup
Combine ingredients in a large skillet. Simmer for 15 minutes or until of desired thickness. Serve over buns. Serves 4.
Wheat Meat Patties - really good, a lot like gb patties
butter
2 medium diced onions
1 clove garlic or garlic salt
1 tablespoon parsley
½ teaspoon basil
½ teaspoon marjoram
¼ teaspoon thyme
½ teaspoon salt
black pepper to taste
2 teaspoons soy sauce
¾ cup whole wheat
½ cup whole wheat bread crumbs
6 eggs
1 cup of grated zucchini (optional)
Preparing the Wheat:
The night before you make the wheat patties start preparing the wheat.
Put ¾ cup of wheat in the bottom of a thermos. Fill the rest of the thermos with boiling water. Put the lid on the thermos and let the wheat cook overnight. These are also known as wheat berries or flask wheat.
Cooking the wheat this way gives it a chewy, meat texture.
Note: You’ll need a thermos that’s about 32 oz (1 quart). If you have a large family, you might want to get a larger thermos so you can make a double batch.
Making the Patties
Sauté onions in a little bit of butter and add herbs, salt, and pepper. Add cooked wheat, breadcrumbs, eggs, and zucchini, if using. Form into patties and fry in a pan. Brown well.
“Grab the cannolis.”
Please add me to your prepping ping list.
Thanks
Thursday bump
You got it!
thank you, AW!
hey dp, Here is the link to the pizza oven pictures we were talking about on freepmail.
I love the oven, it is so cute in my backyard. I picked the yellow color because the only other option was brick red. The house is brick red, the barn is barn red, and the deck is Redwood colored. I thought some variety would be a better thing, lol.
But don’t be too envious yet. I haven’t had too many successes cooking pizza. I do better with focaccia. The pizzas tend to get stuck on the peel and I usually end up with the pizza at either folded over, or the ingredients sliding off the crust, or the pizza ending up in the ashes. or some combination. They make it look so easy on YouTube!
after all that work getting the fire going for several hours and getting the VPN crust made with 00 flour made early in the morning, then assembling all the appropriate VPN ingredients (DOP San Marzano tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, Kalamata olives, prosciutto, and artichoke hearts) – it has been just disappointing. There was a place in Los Angeles that’s had authentic Neapolitan pizza, it was only about 10 bucks and that was so much easier! And the waiters spoke Italian :-)
Well, when TSHTF I know I’ll still be able to cook something in it. I may not be able to have my survival pizza however :-(
I used cornmeal, but in googling after the last catastrophe, I read to use semolina instead. I will try that, as well as a less-hydrated dough. I thought I WANTED a high hydration, but alas, that comes with drawbacks!
The wood oven is between 700-900 degrees when it’s pizza-baking time, so a pizza peel is imperative. Even parchment can’t hold up to those temps so I don’t want to have to fight with the parchment too.
It CAN be done! I’ve seen it on youtube and various pizza oven websites. I just need to learn how. I thought I’d take an afternoon, make lots of dough out of cheap AP flour and just practice, practice, practice! There’s a technique I need to learn, obviously - just like in spreading the dough without using a rolling pin. I tend to tear it ;(
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