/johnny
Posted on 04/26/2013 1:17:09 PM PDT by Kartographer
we've slowly accumulated a stock of pretty much everything one buys at a store from dry and canned food stuffs, to other goods like storage bags, wrapping paper, soap, laundry detergent, cleaners, tooth brushes, paper products, and so on and on. We've really gone out of our way to identify everything that might be applicable, even if they are items we use only irregularly. When we run out of something, we check storage, pull out another one if we have it, and add it to the shopping list - so that when we go shopping, we are mostly replenishing storage and not stuff in current use.
(Excerpt) Read more at ferfal.blogspot.com ...
“You guys really need to expand your thinking to include the power politics of post-SHTF Amerika. It’s the big picture you should be looking at, not just the small ball of dried beans and backup generators."
"But resist how? By retreating to our hidey-hole to make some kind of irrelevant stand? By buying survival rations? We are so far from that point it’s not even funny."
"There are so many levels engagement available to us that are so much more relevant and effective. This kind of fantasyland avoidance of the issue is a complete distraction."
"It is completely ceding the relevant ground to left, who will gladly take it from us. This prepper BS would have us give it to them like candy from a baby.”"
By his own words, he has stated that we are already too far gone for any preparation to make a difference. He says we need to be doing something else.
Yet, when asked more than once, to share his advice as to just exactly we should be doing instead-we get SILENCE. CRICKETS CHIRPPING! NADA!
Seems to me, if he thought there was anything else we could do he would share that omnipotence with us all. I say again he is the REAL DEFEATIST.
Back in the early 70’s our family used to go on float trips and do some hiking. One of our hobbies during that time was searching out edible plants.
I remember eating yucca and spring beauties specifucally and it seemed we identified all the native plants, but memory being what it is (use it or lose it), I don’t remember a lot of it.
So I went to the bookshelves at home: “Stalking the wild Asparagus” by Gibbons. “The Weed Cookbook” by Crowhurst, and “The Flower Cookbook” by Crowhurst are the ones I can remember. Haven’t found the Gibbons book yet, but I did find the other two.
The weed cookbook is organized from A to Z, and starts with the mighty acorn for example. Acorns are a good source of protein, calcium, magnesium and phosphorus and have been used as a staple in the diets of Duropeans and many tribes of the American Indian.
Boiling and roasting is necessary to get rid of the tannins which give an astringent/bitter taste. Then they can be eaten whole, rolled in honey, or ground into flour.
ACORN BREAD RECIPE
2 cups milk or stock 2 Tbls dry yeast
2 Tbls oil or butter 1/3 cup lukewarm water
1/3 cup honey 4&2/3 cup acorn flour
2 tsp salt
Basically follow the same method for bread making found in any cookbook-letting the mixture rise, punching down and seperating into 2 loaf pans to rise again. Bake for 40 minutes @ 375 degree oven. Brush top with melted butter.
We have more Oak trees here than any other tree. So I plan to collect enough acorns this fall to give it a try. It should be interesting.
I was so happy to think of these books. At zero cost today, that’s a real find.LOL
Turns out you can eat the succulent tips. I didn't know that, but I'm not Cambodian either.
I tried one, and it's not bad.
Something else for the larder, and Lord knows I've been trying to kill the briars out, but they keep coming back.
/johnny
What great fortune to find additional food already growing without additional effort from you. You know, a briar patch around the perimeter might not be so bad.
Discourages two legged critters if you know what I mean.LOL
Duropeans = Europeans
/johnny
/johnny
LOL. No doubt. That’s an interesting set up. Do you ever bake bread using solar power?
Solar won't cut it for bread.
A regular oven without a slab of marble in the bottom makes me unhappy.
Convection ovens torque me hard enough that I'll disconnect the fan if it doesn't have a switch to turn the fan off.
I'm harsh about bread.
/johnny
/johnny
I see it. I LOVE bread. Especially hot out of the oven, and slice off the heel. I used to make bread daily when I was first married; we couldn’t afford to buy it.
At first it was kinda lousy, but hot it still tasted better than commercial anyway. I never heard about the marble though. Granny didn’t use it, and she’s the one who taught me.
I've made my own bread for 15 years. Including hot-dog buns, hamburger buns, buns for sub sammiches, whatever kind of bread I need, I make.
/johnny
Being a former engineer and able to do thermal mass transfer equations... I found a large scrap of marble that had been used in the school renovations. I directed the cutting of it, and it helped the oven a LOT.
I was the oldest guy in culinary school and my nickname was McGyver. ;)
/johnny
Granny kept hers wrapped in a towel made of flower sack and placed inside a granite ware water bath canner with the lid on. Just sliced as needed. It usually kept for about a week. Got a little dry by the end of the week though.
Towards the end of the week we used to mix molasses and homemade butter together, and toast some slices then cover with the molasses/butter spread while it was still hot. A big ole slice of bread and glass of raw milk.
It was a great snack to hold me till supper time.
McGyver seems an apt nickname.
That's really the thing about prepping. If you prepare for bigger things, when small events come along, you can still continue with your day as if very little happened. You don't have to face the mad rush to the grocery store when an ice storm or hurricane is predicted. If you happen to have six months worth of supplies and the power goes out for a week (such as in a big ice storm), those supplies can also be used to help neighbors and family.
One thing missing from his ‘staples’ list at the end of the article is mentioned here a lot, is cheap, and can substitute for a lot of these supplies. Baking soda.
You can use it as toothpaste, laundry soap, a ‘dry’ bath, deodorant, laundry soap (or at least help stretch that out) and so much more. I know big five pound bags of the stuff is only about $3 at Sams and probably could be found cheaper at pool supply stores. I haven’t figured it out yet, but I have a feeling several bags of this could replace some of the items on this list by a large magnitude.
http://kenanderson.net/hardtack/recipes.html
I have teef.
I just don't know where the teef are, and those teef breakers require some teef to eat 'em.
/johnny
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.