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
I lived for a bunch of years in an Italian-American neighborhood where a lot of i vecchie (the old people) still spoke the language, and also traveled to Italy a number of times, top to bottom, side to side. In between trips, I took Italian lessons for several years. I had already studied several other languages, so that made it easier, but immersion in the culture is the best way to cement your learning.
See if you can find a class at a university, so that you will be forced to converse. Many have summer or night programs. Also, today there are those handy cellphone translation apps to use while traveling. Type in the English and show the Italian onscreen to the salesclerk, hotel manager, etc. One used to need a Europe-compatible phone, although tech may have improved since my last trip pre-9/11; and you probably still need a Europe-compatible charger.
I moved away from that neighborhood, sadly; but still try to keep up by looking at Italian newspapers online, seeing Italian-language films, etc.
Here is a fun site: Duolingo.com
And here is a pan-European news site in English: The Local, Italy edition
Herbs can be perennials even in the north and look good to boot.
In my garden I have English thyme, lemon thyme; sage, and Greek oregano all perennials and huge.
Rosemary will not over winter here but I get a new plant every year.
Fresh sprigs of spice garden fresh herbs make the BEST spaghetti sauce.
Echinacea is a great garden flower with health benefits. You could plant other medicinal type plants as well.
I’ve heard blueberry bushes called the ultimate in landscaping planting. It’s truly an all season bush. Beautiful flowers in the spring, berries in teh summer, and beautiful red foliage in the fall.
Great ideas, thanks mm!
i have thyme and oregano in the raised beds, but didn’t think about them for landscaping. They are pretty-and fragrant!
I planted chives in the front of the house last year and they are coming back now. They look as good as the ornamental grasses and are useful as well:)
I love the blueberry idea as well. I have 7 b.b. bushes in the yard - they are my pride and joy since i brought 3 that were here when we bought the place back to life. And planted 5 more. I don’t think i could ever have too many blueberries! It’s been a challenge giving them an acidic environment, but maybe it’s the children with difficulties that give the most pleasure when they do well, lol! Some in front of the house is a great idea. They are pretty and do stay green well into fall. And grow to a good size. i just need to check with hubby about our foundation and keeping the b.b. moist. Maybe i can plant them away from the house a bit.
Lots of great tips, thanks AW. I just checked and East Tennessee State University doesn’t offer Italian :(. I could take Greek but not Italian.
I might forget what i learn without constant practice but i have to keep trying!
I took a look, also, and the nearest course to East Tennessee is at UT–Knoxville. If you have friends over there where you could stay over, might be worth it.
The only others I saw were in Murfreesboro and Nashville.
that’s pretty neat, sounds like they offer a lot more than just Italian courses. It would be immersion into Italian culture.
Unfortunately, I can’t relocate!
Grazie!
that’s funny, I just got this in the mail today from a friend. She didn’t even know I was looking for edible landscaping forwarded an email with this website in it:
It has all sorts of suggestions for edible landscape, including yours for blueberries, oregano, rosemary, etc.
This is your ping to the All Things Prepping, Simple Living, Back to the Basics Thread
We are at post #230 now, so check in to see what is new!
This is an ONGOING thread, meaning drop in when you want and chat. There is no one topic or story, but ongoing sharing with prepper friends. I figured I’d see how granny’s thread scenario worked out, if anyone was interested in an ongoing thread vs. a weekly one – it’s up to the group to keep it going, since I run out of things to say (eventually)!
If you want off/on this list, just let me know.
Something I’m interested in is homemade items. Both to save money, to know what’s in the products, and to reduce dependency on outside sources by using what’s readily available.
My favorite bathroom cleaner - for sinks, showers, and tubs is this one - it’s cheap and easy to make, keeps well, and smells great! My hubby hates the perfumy smell of most cleaners but likes this one. It’s not overpowering but says “I’ve cleaned today”.
Bathroom Cleaner
1 cup white vinegar
1 tbsp. cornstarch
2 tbsp. Dawn (or any other dish soap)
Mix cornstarch and vinegar. Microwave for 2 min. It will become a little gel-like. Add Dawn to a spray bottle. Stir the vinegar mixture and add to the bottle and shake gently. Spray on and let sit for about 10 minutes then wipe it with a damp washcloth. Can leave on up to 30 min but do not let dry. It keeps in the bottle indefinitely, as far as I can tell. It has never clogged up on me.
Noticed your comment “I Love BARLEY”. LOL, count me in as well. Love it so much that on occasion add it to a can of Campbell’s soup which begins with the ingredient...but NEVER enough of it.
This reminds me that it is possible to make barley into a side dish...just need to search for a few recipes.
Pickled hard-boiled eggs are something I’ve been doing for years.
They’re ok after three months in the brine, decent after six, just about there at nine. When they’ve been soaking for a year they are perfect.
Don’t forget to toss in a handful of hot peppers and some onion slices.
Good stuff...
I’ll have to try that, I only leave them about a week.
That is interesting. I don’t have a microwave and can’t stand the smell of any artificial perfumes including Dawn, but that sounds good for a lot of people. Many cleaners have all kinds of toxic ingredients and a lot of people find that when they quit using them skin and breathing problems are better or clear up.
I clean with white vinegar, borax, baking soda, and a squirt of dish soap, depending on what I’m cleaning. Baking soda and vinegar together of course foam up; for instance when I clean the bath tub I will squirt white vinegar around to dampen, then sprinkle some borax and b. soda around, and let it sit a while. Then go back and get a quart yogurt container with warm water and a squirt of essential oils and wet a scrubby and scrub the tub, rinsing as I go with the warm water and EOs. Then rinse all and it’s as clean as this human can do it.
I find net or mesh type scrubbers work very well, in fact I have a couple of those nylon “Japanese towels” that are sold in HI and maybe oriental stores; folded up they are excellent tub and sink scrubbers, better than anything else I’ve used.
I also make my own sanitizer based on neem which is anti- all kinds of microbes including mold. Not a one time cure but keeps baddies at bay. I also use Orange or Eucalyptus essential oils for fresh smell and also sanitizing.
I have NOT forgotten the vegie/prep thread, just have not solved computer problem yet but probably soon! Then I will have access to my nutrition and recipe files.
Those are all great tips, thank you!
What I like about making homemade stuff is that we can utilize the same ingredients over and over. Vinegar, baking soda, Borax, washing soda, general soap - Put together in various ways, we can have our bathrooms clean, windows clean, floors clean, counters clean, and our clothes clean!
If you don’t like the dawn, substitute any other kind of dish soap. Use your own homemade :-) I like this particular recipe because it’s easy to use and everything is in one bottle. It’s cleaning gets too complicated for me, I tend not to do it often. OK, I don’t do it often anyway. But I would do it even less often…
Barley is awesome! Give me a bit of time and I will dig up some of my recipes and post them.
I never thought about adding barley to canned soup, but that’s a great idea. I’m thinking it might be good in tomato soup too. Doesn’t Campbell’s have a tomato and rice version? You can substitute barley in most things for rice.
My sister is diabetic. She just loves Chinese food (American version) and searched for a rice substitute. After trying both barley and cauliflower buds - she agrees - Barley is certainly the ‘go to’
When making soups or stews that call for noodles, barley and such, I tend to go overboard on the amounts. Can ‘never’ have too much of a good thing.
“Can ‘never’ have too much of a good thing.”
Hey, that’s my motto too!!! LOL! Too bad I don’t think of exercising or cleaning as a ‘good thing’.
We buy the Almanac every year; but I didn’t realize they had such a great website.
To make using barley easier, I cook up a big pot then divide 2 cups at a time into a sandwich bag. I put those into ziplock* bags and freeze them.
*I now hate ziplock bags with a passion. The brand name. They are getting so cheap and thin the freezer bags should be called storage bags. Being a hoarder by nature, I have ziplock bags from years ago. Every time the company ‘improves’ the zipper part, the rest of the bag gets thinner. Comparing the 3 versions I have, the new ones are so flimsy you’d have to use 2 of them. I order mine from the Webstaurant store and they are top notch. They are like what ziplock used to be 10 years ago...ok, done ranting...
Here are some barley recipes that I’ve collected: sorry to the recipe adverse here, but this is a tribute to granny also ;)
Barley Stroganoff (this is my current favorite! the chewiness of the barley really makes the dish, IMO. And it picks up the flavors of the beef and sour cream well)
1 lb ground beef
2 tsp OO
3/4 cup chopped onion
1 tsp oregano
8 oz mushrooms
3/4 cup chopped celery
1 tsp salt & 3/4 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp marjoram
1 cup sour cream
2 cups cooked barley
1 tsp flour
1/2 cup half and half
Cook ground beef until brown and crumbled in large pieces. Drain and remove from pan. Add OO, onion, and mushrooms and cook 4-5 min. Season with oregano, marjoram, s&p. Cook 4 more minutes. Stir in half and half. Blend together sour cream and flour. Stir in sour cream mixture, barley, and neat. Cook over low heat until bubbly and heated.
Stuffed Napa Cabbage - you can sub barley in any stuffed cabbage recipe. This one is ok. I usually use the one in the Betty Crocket cookbook, but this one had barley in it already.
1 cup uncooked barley
2 heads Napa cabbage
1 large shallot, finely chopped
1 carrot, 1/4-inch dice
1 rib celery, 1/4-inch dice
1 bell pepper, 1/4-inch dice
1 tomato, seeded&diced
1/2 cup raisins
1 pound lean ground turkey
1 1/2 tsps ground cumin
1 tsp ground coriander
Pinch of cayenne pepper
Pinch of ground nutmeg
Pinch of ground cloves
1 3/4 tsps salt
1/2 tsp ground pepper
1 T plus 1 tsp EVOO
1 medium onion, 1/2-inch dice
3 cloves garlic, minced
14 ounce can tomato sauce
2 tsps light-brown sugar
2 Ts flat-leaf parsley
2 sprigs fresh oregano, plus 2 Ts chopped
Heat oven to 350 degrees. Bring a pan of water to a boil. Stir in barley; reduce to simmer. Cook until tender, 20 to 30 minutes. Drain in a colander or fine sieve, and rinse with cold water. Cover, and set aside. Fill saucepan with water; boil. Remove cabbage’s large outer leaves.You’ll need 24 large leaves. Add half to boiling water; simmer until tender, about 4 minutes. Drain in a colander; cool. Repeat with remaining leaves; set aside. In a large bowl, combine shallot, carrot, celery, pepper, tomato, raisins, turkey, cumin, coriander, cayenne, nutmeg, cloves, 1 1/2 tsps salt, 1/4 tsp pepper, and 1 cup reserved barley. Using hands, mix. Chill until ready to assemble. Heat 1 T olive oil in a highsided saute pan on medium heat.Add onion and garlic; cook until soft, about 3 minutes. Add tomato sauce, brown sugar, parsley sprigs, and oregano sprigs. Stir to combine; bring to a boil. Reduce to gentle simmer; cover. Cook while assembling cabbage. Once cooked, the sauce can be pureed if desired. Lay 2 cabbage leaves side by side, slightly overlapping, on a work surface. (If leaves are large, use one.) Place a heaping 1/3 cup turkey mixture on the stem end. Roll into a tight cylinder, folding in ends. Repeat with remaining leaves and mixture. Uncover sauce; place cabbage rolls in a baking pan. Spoon sauce over tops; cover. Bake 1 hour. Meanwhile, toss reserved barley and remaining tsp oil, 1/4 tsp salt, and 1/4 tsp pepper. Cover; set aside. After 1 hour, remove rolls from oven. Serve over room-temperature barley mixture, topped with sauce and chopped herbs.
Barley Risotto Primavera - the textures of barley and arborio/carnaroli rice are very similar. BTW, I’ve mylared those rices in my food storage along with some polenta and semolina - I finally feel ready for anything to happen, lol!
1 tsp vegetable oil
2 carrots, diced
1 zucchini, diced
3 small yellow squash, diced
4 1/2 cups chicken broth
1 tsp vegetable oil
1 small onion, diced
2 tsps minced garlic
1 tsp dried thyme
1 cup pearl barley
2 Ts butter (optional)
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
Heat 1 tsp vegetable oil in a large skillet over medium heat; cook and stir carrots 2 to 3 minutes. Add zucchini and yellow squash; cook until tender, 5 to 10 minutes. Heat chicken broth in a large saucepan over medium heat; reduce heat to low and keep warm. Heat 1 tsp vegetable oil in a separate large skillet over medium heat; cook and stir onion until lightly browned and tender, about 10 minutes. Add garlic and thyme; cook until fragrant, 1 to 2 minutes. Cook and stir barley into onion mixture until lightly toasted, 2 to 3 minutes. Pour about 2 cups warm broth into barley mixture; reduce heat to low, and simmer, stirring occasionally, until broth is absorbed, 5 to 10 minutes. Add remaining broth, 1/2 cup at a time, allowing broth to absorb before each addition, until barley is tender, 15 to 20 minutes. Stir in carrot mixture, butter, and Parmesan cheese until cheese melts, 1 to 2 minutes. Season with salt and black pepper.
Barley, Bean, and Sausage Soup
1 lb dried kidney beans
7 cups water
1 cup barley
1 lb smoked sausage, sliced
2 cloves garlic
3 bay leaves
Soak beans overnight. Drain and add to crockpot with rest. Cover; cook on high 4-6 hours.
Barley Cream Soup - I like this one. It’s very simple but is good. It’s rich.
4 oz pearl barley
3 1/2 cups stock
1 cup mik
1/2 cup cream
1 oz butter
2 tsp chopped fresh parsley
Blanch the barley for 1 minute in boiling water, then drain. Add to the stock and simmer for 2 hours. Pass through a fine mouli or liquidise. Add the milk, cream, salt, pepper, and butter. Serve with parsley.
Cream of Barley Soup
1 tsp dried parsley
1/2 tsp dried thyme
2 bay leaves
1 cup pearl barley
1 cup onions, chopped
1 cup celery, chopped
3 1/2 quarts chicken broth
6 T instant mashed potatoes
1 cup cream
1/2 cup leeks, chopped
3 ham hocks or 1/2-1 cup diced smoked ham
Combine all except mashed potatoes and cream in crockpot. Cook on low 4-5 hours. Remove ham hocks and bay leaves and discard. Add instant mashed potatoes, then add cream. Cook on high 15 minutes longer.
Barley Leek Soup
2 T OO
2/3 onion, diced
1 leek, diced (white only)
1/4 cup barley
4 carrots, diced
2 stalks celery, thinly sliced
40 oz veg broth salt and white pepper
1 tsp dried rosemary or 1/2 stem fresh
3 leaves basil or 2 tsp dried
Heat oil. Add rosemary, basil, and onions. Cook till translucent. Add chopped leek, celery, and carrot and cook 4-5 min. Add s&p to taste. Add broth. Bring to boil and then simmer. Add barley and simmer 1 hour. Add water so isn’t too thick and boil for 3-4 minutes.
Lima Bean and Barley Soup - I LOVE the combination of barley and beans. I’ll just cook up some of each and throw them together, skipping the soup idea.
1 cup dried large lima beans
2 1/2 T EVOO
3/4 cup barley
1/2 lb smoked ham hock
1 onion, minced 1 bay leaf
2 T chopped parsley
Soak beans overnight. Or boil 1 min, let sit 1 hour. Heat OO in skillet and saute onion until soft, about 10 min. Put beans and their soaking liquid in a large pot with the barley, ham hock, and bay leaf. Add the onions and 1 quart water. Simmer 45 min, covered, until barley and beans are tender. Remove ham hock, cool, and shred. Thin if need to, heating gently. Season with s&p or paprika.
Slow Cooker Beef and Barley Soup
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 small onion, finely chopped
1 to 1.5 lb beef stew cubes
2 carrots
2 celery stalks
1 medium zucchini
4 cups beef stock
1 large can of diced tomatoes
1/2 cup barley
1/2 tsp dry thyme
1/2 tsp dry rosemary
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground black pepper
1/2 cup fresh parsley
Place chopped onion in a microwave safe shalow dish, mix in 1 Tbsp olive oil and microwave for 2 minutes, just until the onions are translucent. With a sharp knife, chop the meat cubes into smaller, bite size cubes. Dice the vegetables into similar bite size pieces. Place meat and vegetables in slow cooker. Mix in all the rest of the ingredients (except the parsley) and cook on high for about 3 hours, or on low for about 6 hours. Add chopped parsley and serve, decorated with some more parsley if desired. Optional: if you want to add some richness to the soup, mix 1 Tbsp tub margarine with 1 tsp flour and microwave for 1 minute. Pour the mixture into the hot soup and mix well.
Lentil, Chickpea, and Barley Salad
1 onion, chopped
1 garlic clove, minced
1½ cups pearl barley
4 cups vegetable broth
1 zucchini, chopped
2 cups cherry tomatoes, halved
19 oz can chickpeas, rinsed&drained
19 oz can lentils, rinsed&drained
¼ tsp each salt and pepper
10 dill sprigs, chopped
¼ cup feta cheese, crumbled
Over medium-high heat, sauté onion and garlic in canola oil in a large saucepan for about 2 minutes. Add barley and cook additional 2 minutes. Stir in vegetable broth and bring to a boil. Cover pan and reduce heat. Let simmer for 30-35 minutes or until barley has soaked up most of the liquid. Stir in zucchini, tomatoes, lentils, chickpeas, salt and pepper. Cover and cook 5 minutes. Stir in dill. Serve with optional sprinkling of feta on top.
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