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
bkmk
I like canning jars mostly because they are vermin proof.
Also, they will hermetically seal and if something gets contaminated with bugs, it keeps it contained and from spreading.
The only down side is, drop them and all bets are off.
Well they are easy to pull out of my raised beds, but so is everything. Cover crops - use shovel and turn under - no pulling needed. Roots are exposed top side.
No it’s fine. I plant my cover crops in the fall. Hairy Vetch and clover are my favorites. If you plow them under, they will actually put nutrients back into the soil.
To have a sustainable garden, where you are growing your own green fertilizer and providing organic matter, plant 60% in high carbon plants. Like corn or Wheat - lots of stuff left to put into compost pile to use in the spring.
Then plant cover crop legumes to add back nitrogen. Dig under several weeks before planting season starts and add a scoop or two of finished compost to each 25 sq ft. of garden bed.
Oh right, I don’t know why i was thinking I would have to pull them :-)
It sounds like a win-win! I was searching a bit and found out about pest management & soil enrichment – we have clay soil so that will be great.
I do like to have a fall crop of beats and lettuce, so it sounds like I might need to skip that part of the garden. Or see if whatever cover crop I get will germinate after those others are gone.
Good points.
I still need to get some shelving into my food storage room. Right now my mason jars are sitting on top of super pail buckets in boxes. They would look much prettier on shelves, nicely organized so I can find everything.
I have a question for the Preppers.
A couple of years ago, we bought one of those little butane-fueled stoves; the kind with a single burner. At the same time, we bought a big supply of the butane fuel cans. We’ve never had to use any of it; it was purchased in case of a long power-outage like one we had experienced back then.
Do those cans ‘expire’? I’m wondering how long we can keep them, and have them remain both safe and usable.
Thanks!
“Do those cans ‘expire’? I’m wondering how long we can keep them, and have them remain both safe and usable.”
Basically indefinitely. As long as they’re stored in a dry place and show no signs of rust or decay they’ll be good.
L
Thanks very much!
I’m sorry to hear about your arms. Since I am not as young as I used to be, my L shoulder and lower back are telling me that they’ve worked long and hard and don’t want to do much any more.
If I do yoga exercises, they improve. I just don’t have enough energy lately to exercise, but need to MAKE myself do it!
My “garden” is nothing this year, had back to back viruses, each taking about 4 weeks at least, plus more recupe-ing energy. Maybe I’ll get some kale and collards in.
Regarding storing food, I am very low tech. I never got a food saver. Most I did was get buckets and oxygen absorbers, plus bay leaves. Eating oatmeal and rice from upt to 7 years ago, and they’re all fine. I take everything out of original packaging. I buy grains, cereals, legumes in 25# bags and store in buckets. I only had bugs once, and I know why... Actually I think I had a few bugs in one rice bucket but so few (maybe 3 bugs) I just washed it carefully, as usual.
Thinks like baking chocolate I just take out of package and store in a glass half gallon jar, or sometimes a metal tin. I’ve bought metal tins at thrift stores (cookie tins, fruit cake tins, other kinds) and wash well and use for food or other things storage. The lids generally fit tightly and they’re cheap, last bunch I bought were .25 to .50 depending on size, and sometimes they have pretty pictures on them! :-) Sometimes I fill with goodies and send as presents too.
Other than buckets, I use quart and half gallon mason jars, and also gallon glass jars. I make sure to keep stores goods in a cool dark room; I put a heavy curtain on the window in the summer as it is on the southwest side of the house (bad side for being cool) and it gets hot I have a room A/C I run for a while. I store many herbs there too so it is vital to me the room stays cool.
Keeping dark and cool is vital for food storage and I very rarely have anything get old tasting, stale or otherwise unusable.
Whole wheat flour I only buy 1 bag at a time as it goes bad faster than white flour. DH has a mill but he never uses it so all the wheat berries I have are just sitting there....
FIREFLIES!
We’ve not seen those here for such a long time. About 10 or 12 years ago they were seen in their magical flight. Like the bees, these small creatures are diminishing in population. Traveling through Louisiana one summer evening, they were more than abundant! Unfortunately, a good number of them were found on the windshield of the vehicle.
Fireflies, lightening bugs, these will always fascinate the young and young at heart.
Stopped by to leave a link to more home remedy suggestions:
https://newengland.com/category/living/home-remedies/
Do hope your arms and hands are receiving some much needed TLC.
If you enjoy fireflies make a summer pilgrimage up to Elkmont in the Smokies. Rare synchronous fireflies, they all go off at once. Mesmerizing. It’s gotten so popular that tour buses show up with park rangers on hand to direct traffic. Bring your lawn chairs.
To be able to view something like that must be amazing! When we were able to sit outdoors in the summer evenings and actually have these performing for us, we were mesmerized. Thought we had seen it all until we took a trip to Puerto Rico and visited Phosphorescent Bay.
https://vieques.com/island-bioluminescent-bay/
Neat, I like the cross thread posting :-)
I didn’t realize fire flies were becoming endangered. That would be so sad. Perhaps I should look at what they eat and put some out or make little homes for them.
Yes, I was just informed by a local who was mowing my grass that they are called lightning bugs. I don’t think I’ll remember that one, fireflies just sound cuter. Although I was pretty disappointed when I finally saw one up close, they are indeed, a bug!
Buggy I can remember, instead of shopping cart. It’s a cute name. It’s really cute to see some big he-man ask where the buggies are. lol!
Thanks for the well wishes on the arms. I think they are getting better, slowly. They would do better if I was smarter. But every time they start to feel better I just automatically do something. I hate to just sit around. Last night they were doing OK so I planted some basil. Just seeds. Not real strenuous and not a lot of work, but still… I should’ve waited.
i’ll look into your website real quick now!
I’ll have to try the vanilla recipe for a skunk odor. My little 5 pound Yorky has been sprayed six times now. And he’s been here for two summers. When I told the vet about that, telling her that we were hoping he learned his lesson, she told us we better give up. With that many sprays, he’s not figuring it out.
We’ve been doing the concoction on MythBusters, we swear by that show :-). It’s a quart of hydrogen peroxide, mixed with baking soda, I think about a quarter cup, and a couple of drops of dawn dish detergent. The only problem with that is you can’t get it around his eyes. And he always seems to get sprayed in his face. And then it turns his coat and interesting shade of red, after two or three washings in one summer. That was when we took him to the vet, and she said she had never seen a Yorky quite that shade of red, lol! So I had to confess about his little skunk habit.
You mean they blink at the same time? How neat! I wonder if it’s a special species that has adapted to do that.
Wow, that must’ve seemed like something out of a movie! He certainly has created wondrous things for us.
I’m going to go stretch my arms now and then ice them. I took some cardboard to the dump today. It was light and I had to do was put One piece at a time in the dumpster. But still, now my arms are tingling a bit- telling me the pain is on its way. Nice to get a warning :-( I’ll check in in a while.
When our dog was skunk sprayed, we gave her a bath of canned tomato juice. Plopping her in the tub, wetting her down, pouring the juice over her back and ‘shampooing’ her just as if it were soap. After scrubbing, we rinsed her with clean water and allowed her to air dry. It worked. How and why is still a mystery other than the fact the acid in the tomato might have had something to do with it. Dog smell — why do dogs smell so rank when they get wet? That odor is almost as bad as the skunk attack
ICE: your comment reminded me of an ad seen this week from Wally World. A counter top ice machine. About the size of a crock pot, toaster, or percolator It makes ice cubes for you ...FAST. Saw the ad on line, never noticed the actual product on the store shelf. Just something new and unfamiliar with them.
BTW, you’re more than welcome to visit; but after the transition to tapatalk, the place is a mess and there has been little time to work on house keeping. Lost a lot of info (over 10 years worth) and at this old age wonder if it is time to just give up the ghost and wash my hands of it. LOL If Fraiser was able to give up an obsession, perhaps it can be duplicated.
They try to blink at the same time but it ends up looking rather like a fast moving wave of light running down the tree line or through the woods. They’re the only ones in the Western Hemisphere but to my knowledge they’re still Photinus Carolinus, the native species of firefly or lightning bug.
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