Weekly Roundup - Living On Nothing Edition [Survival Today

Thanks granny. Very interesting.

http://www.grandpappy.info/rhickory.htm

Hickory Nuts (Same Tree Family as Pecans)

Hickory nuts are very hard to crack but they are extraordinarily delicious. They may be substituted in any recipe in place of pecans.

Mother Marsh’s Hickory Nut Cake

From “Merry Christmas Cakes,” by Marilyn Kluger,
The Courier-Journal, 11/17/1993, Louisville, KY, Pp. E1, E4
This cake was sent to Margaret Mitchell (Gone With the Wind)
every Christmas since 1936 by her Mother-in-Law

1/2 lb. butter 1 tbsp. baking powder 1.5 lbs. seedless raisins
2 cups sugar 1 tbsp. ground cinnamon 1 lb. currants
4 cups flour 2.5 tsp. ground nutmeg 1/2 cup milk
6 eggs 2 cups hickory nut kernels Optional: 1/2 cup Kentucky Bourbon

Preparation: Grease and flour one large bundt cake pan or two large loaf pans (10”x5”x3”) and line with wax paper. Preheat oven to 300ºF. Cream the butter and sugar together until fluffy. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, and continue beating until well blended. Stir in the flour, baking powder, nutmeg, and cinnamon. (Reserve a small amount of flour mixture to toss with nuts and fruits before adding them to the batter.) Add the flour mixture and milk alternately to the creamed mixture, in about 3 additions. Then gently stir in the floured fruits and nuts. Scrape batter into prepared pans.
Cook: Bake at 300ºF for 3.5 hours if using the bundt pan, or 2 to 2.5 hours in the two loaf pans. Insert a toothpick into the center of the cake to verify doneness (it should be dry when removed). Cook cake on a wire rack. Wrap cake in aluminum foil and store in the refrigerator.
Optional: If desired, wrap cake in a cheesecloth that has been soaked in bourbon. This option was added by Mother Marsh’s brother, Bob, one Christmas when he baked the cakes instead of Mother Marsh, his sister.

Hickory Nut Pie

1/ cup chopped hickory nuts 3 eggs, slightly beaten 2 tbsp. soft butter
1 cup white Karo corn syrup 3/4 cup granulated sugar 1 tsp. vanilla extract
You will also need One unbaked pie shell.
Preparation: Mix the eggs, sugar, syrup, vanilla, and butter. Then add the nuts. Pour into a pie shell.
Cook: Bake at 400ºF for 10 minutes and then reduce heat to 350ºF and bake for another 40 minutes.
Variation: Substitute 1 cup of dark brown sugar for white sugar and increase butter to 6 tbsp. Bake at 350ºF for 40-45 minutes.

Nutritional Information About Hickory Nuts

Hickory Nuts, Shelled, Meat Only
Nutrition Facts
Serving Size: 1 ounce (28.4 g) or 9 Nuts

Category Amount
% RDV
Calories 187.7 9 %
Total Fat 18.2 g 29 %
Monounsaturated 9.32 g
Polyunsaturated 6.25 g
Total Carbohydrate 5.2 g 2 %
Dietary Fiber 1.8 g 8 %
Protein 3.6 g 8 %
Vitamins
Vitamin A 37.43 IU Less 1%
B1, Thiamin 0.25 mg 17 %
B2, Riboflavin 0.04 mg 3 %
B3, Niacin 0.26 mg 3 %
B5, Pantothenic Acid 0.49 mg 5 %
Vitamin B6 0.05 mg 2 %
Vitamin B12 0 mcg 0 %
Vitamin C 0.57 mcg 1 %
Vitamin D 0 mcg 0 %
Vitamin E 0 mcg 0 %
Minerals
Calcium, Ca 17.3 mg 2 %
Copper, Cu 0.2 mg 11 %
Iron, Fe 0.6 mg 3 %
Magnesium, Mg 48.9 mg 13 %
Manganese, Mn 1.3 mg 35 %
Phosphorus, P 95.1 mg 10 %
Potassium, K 123.4 mg 6 %
Selenium, Se 2.3 mg 4 %
Sodium, Na 0.3 mg Less 1%
Zinc, Zn 1.2 mg 11 %
Amino Acids
Alanine 0.189 g
Arginine 0.596 g
Aspartic Acid 0.391 g
Cystine 0.077 g
Glutamic Acid 0.824 g
Glycine 0.202 g
Histidine 0.111 g
Isoleucine 0.165 g
Leucine 0.293 g
Lysine 0.142 g
Methionine 0.086 g
Phenylalanine 0.204 g
Proline 0.163 g
Serine 0.230 g
Tryptophan 0.040 g
Threonine 0.121 g
Tyrosine 0.130 g
Valine 0.209 g
Other
Ash 0.57 g
Folate, DFE 11.43 mcg

http://www.grandpappy.info/rpemmica.htm

Grandpappy’s Pemmican Recipe

A Native American Indian Survival Food

Publication History
A Portion of the Following Article was Published in January 2008 at www.survivalblog.com

Pemmican Bars Ready to Eat Pemmican is a Native American Indian survival food that has a very long shelf life and it requires no refrigeration. It is similar to a Granola Bar except it contains no artificial preservatives. It is a compact energy source that contains protein, fiber, fat, carbohydrates, natural fruit sugars, vitamins, and minerals. It also tastes great because it is a simple combination of meat jerky and your favorite dried fruit.

To make pemmican you only need three basic ingredients:

1. lean meat,
2. animal fat, and
3. fruit or berries.

Pemmican has several very important and desirable characteristics:

1. It uses both the lean meat and the fat from an animal.
2. It conveniently stores your summer food harvest for winter consumption.
3. It requires no refrigeration or canning jars for safe long-term food storage.
4. It does not weigh very much because it contains no significant moisture.
5. It is a complete meal all by itself.
6. It is very nutritious and very tasty.
7. It can easily be made in the wilderness without any special cookware or equipment.

The following recipe uses equal amounts of dried lean meat, dried fruit, and melted fat. However, pemmican is a very flexible food and you can vary the quantities of these three basic ingredients to more fully utilize almost all of whatever food you may have available. For example:

1. Most animals have a lot of lean meat but very little fat. In this situation you should only use just enough melted fat to hold your pemmican together.
2. Depending on the weather conditions the summer wild fruit and berry harvest may be excellent or very poor. Depending on what you actually have available each summer you could use more or less dried fruit or berries in the recipe.
3. During the summer when wild game and berries are widely available you can harvest as much as you can and then process it all into pemmican for winter consumption when little or no food will be available. This is the reason pemmican was such an important survival food for the Native American Indians.
4. If you have more lean meat than you can use, then you can simply convert the extra lean meat into meat jerky.
5. If you have more dried fruit than you can use, then you can simply save the extra dried fruit for winter consumption.
6. If you have very little animal fat, then it is possible to make a simple granola snack for winter consumption by mixing some dried meat and dried fruit together without using any melted animal fat. However, if you have animal fat then you should use it because animal fat is a necessary food for long-term survival.

Instructions for Making Pemmican

Basic Ingredients:
1 Cup of Dried Meat
1 Cup of Dried Fruit or Berries
1 Cup of Melted Animal Fat

Raw Beef Beef Trimmed and Sliced Meat Dried into Jerky Dried Meat Flaky Powder
Raw Beef Trimmed & Sliced Dried into Jerky Dried Meat Powder

Meat: Use deer, moose, caribou, or beef, but not pork. It takes between one to two pounds of fresh meat to make one cup of dried meat. The meat should be as lean as possible. Trim off all the fat. Cut the fresh meat into wafer thin slices about 1/4 inch thick or a little thinner.

Do not add salt at this time. Do not soak the meat in a solution of salt and water. This is not the best time to add salt when you are making pemmican. Salt should be added later in this recipe.

Use either one of the following two methods to process the fresh meat:

1. If you have a meat grinder then grind the fresh meat twice. Spread the ground meat evenly on aluminum foil on a cookie sheet and dry inside an oven at 185 degrees Fahrenheit (85 degrees Celsius) for 3 to 5 hours, or until it is crisp and chewy. Stir the meat every hour. Don’t cook the meat - just dry it.
2. If you don’t have a meat grinder then spread the meat strips evenly and separately on aluminum foil on a cookie sheet and dry the sliced meat inside an oven at 185 degrees Fahrenheit (85 degrees Celsius) for 6 to 10 hours, or until it is crisp and chewy. Turn the meat strips over after two hours so they will dry evenly on both sides. You do not want to cook the meat. You only want to dry it. If the meat snaps or cracks when bent it is done. If it bends it still contains too much moisture. If it crumbles it is too dry but it can still be used.

Grind or crush the dried meat almost into a powder. If you have an electric blender then blend the meat into a fine pulp.

A Few Fresh Blueberries A Few Dried Blueberries Dried Blueberry Powder
A Few Fresh Blueberries A Few Dried Blueberries Dried Blueberry Powder

Fruit or Berries: Use one or two types of fruit or berries, such as blueberries, huckleberries, currants, raisins, apples, apricots, or cherries. Cut the fruit into thin slices or pieces and allow them to dry in the sun. Or dry them in the oven at the same time you dry your meat jerky. Or use an electric food dehydrator. Grind the dried fruit into a powder but leave some of it a little lumpy to provide for extra texture and taste.

Mix the dried meat powder and the dried fruit powder together in a bowl. If you have an electric blender then add the dried fruit to the dried meat in the blender and mix them together.

Optional Salt: If you have salt, then you should stir some salt into the mixture to enhance its flavor. The addition of salt at this time will distribute the salt throughout the mixture which includes both the dried meat powder and the dried fruit powder so the salt can help to protect both ingredients. Salt will increase the shelf life of the pemmican and it will help to retard the future growth of harmful microorganisms that may try to attack the pemmican from the surrounding environment. The salt will not kill those microorganisms but it will help to keep them from multiplying. If you do not have any salt then you should keep your pemmican in a sealed glass jar, or a sealed food grade plastic storage container, or a sealed heavy-duty plastic freezer bag in order to help protect it from any harmful microorganisms that may be present in the surrounding air.

Optional Ingredients: Add a little honey. Or add some minced dried onion for flavor. Or add a few crushed nuts. However, nuts contain oil and the nuts will shorten the shelf life of your pemmican. When adding these optional ingredients you should begin with a very small batch of pemmican. This will permit you to experiment and determine if the results are agreeable to your family’s taste requirements without ruining a huge batch of pemmican.

Optional Granola Snack: If you have nuts, such as acorns, then a better use for them would be to crush them and mix them with your extra left-over dried meat and dried fruit to make a granola type stack. Granola is easy to mix together if you have the ingredients and therefore it should not be prepared before you are ready to eat it. If you prepare it too soon and one of your ingredients goes bad then it will ruin all your granola. But if you wait until you are ready to eat it, then you can easily detect the bad ingredient and discard it and not put it into your granola mix.

Melting Pork Fat (Lard)
Melting Pork Fat (Lard)

Animal Fat: Use fresh beef fat or pork fat or bear fat. Animal fat will quickly become rancid and it should be melted (rendered) as soon as possible. Cut the fat into one-inch cubes and melt it over medium-low heat in a very small amount of clean rainwater in a clean cook pot. Do not allow it to smoke. If it starts to smoke then you are burning the fat.

Meat & Berry Mix Melted Fat Added Finished Sliced Pemmican
Dried Meat & Berry Mix Melted Fat Added Finished Sliced Pemmican

When the fat is completely melted gradually pour it over the meat-fruit mixture in the bowl and stir until the mixture is well coated and sticks together. Then spread it out like dough and allow it to cool completely. When cool cut it into pieces about 1 inch wide and 4 inches long.

Storage: If possible, wrap the pemmican in plastic wrap or store it in ziplock bags or in plastic storage containers with a tight fitting lid. Pemmican can be safely stored for 8 months. If you can keep the temperature between 40 to 75 degrees Fahrenheit (4 to 24 degrees Celsius) then pemmican can be stored for several years.

Salt Footnote: Salt does not kill or neutralize the harmful microorganisms that may be present in the meat or the fruit. Salt only inhibits their future growth. Any harmful microorganisms that might be present will be killed by the heat during the meat drying process, and during the fruit drying process, and during the fat melting process.

Optional “Brine” Solution of Salt and Water for Meat Jerky: If you have more lean meat than dried fruit then you could convert the extra lean meat into meat jerky. After slicing the meat into thin strips you could soak the meat strips in one-quart of water that contains 1/8 cup salt. Soak the sliced meat in the salt solution for 30 to 60 minutes, depending on the thickness of the meat strips. Stir the meat strips inside the salt solution every 15 minutes to achieve a good distribution of the salt mixture onto all the surfaces of the meat. Several pounds of fresh thin meat strips can be processed in the salt water solution at the same time. If your only objective is to preserve the meat then a salt brine soak is a very good idea because the salt water solution will saturate into the meat and help to protect it.

Salt and Pemmican: However, if you are making pemmican then you should not soak the meat in a salt brine solution. If you saturate the meat with salt then the meat will have a very salty taste and you will not be able to add more salt later. The reason salt should be added later is because it is better to equally distribute the salt throughout the entire pemmican mixture, including the dried meat, the dried fruit, and the melted animal fat. Therefore, if you are making pemmican then you should dry the meat and grind it into tiny pieces or a powder. Then dry the fruit and grind it into tiny pieces or a powder. Mix the meat and fruit together and then add some salt. The salt will be able to make contact with all the surfaces of the meat, and with the fruit, and later with the hot melted animal fat. This is the best way to add salt when making pemmican because the salt will help to protect the entire pemmican wafer bar instead of just protecting the meat inside the bar.

Technical Footnote: Neither sodium nitrite, nor sodium chloride (table salt), nor a brine solution will neutralize all the harmful microorganisms that could be present in fresh meat. In fact, the scientific experiment summarized at http://lib.bioinfo.pl/pmid:952 reported that sodium nitrate only slowed down the growth of Salmonella and Staphylococcus on hot dogs and, according to the scientists, sodium nitrite did not slow the growth rate of these harmful microorganisms by a significant amount.

On the other hand, it has been repeatedly documented that heat will destroy almost every harmful microorganism that could normally be present in meat. For example, in beef, venison, and other red meats:

1. Salmonella is destroyed at a temperature of 165 degrees Fahrenheit (74 degrees Celsius).
2. Listeria monocytogenes is destroyed at a temperature of 160 degrees Fahrenheit (71 degrees Celsius).
3. Staphylococcus aureus is destroyed at a temperature of 140 degrees Fahrenheit (60 degrees Celsius).
4. Escherichia coli is destroyed at a temperature of 165 degrees Fahrenheit (74 degrees Celsius).

The reason for this technical footnote is to help clarify any misunderstanding that people may have about the importance of salt in comparison to heat for making meat safe for human consumption.
Bob - 2006

Personal Footnote: Occasionally I am asked about my dark complexion and whether or not I have any Native American Indian ancestors. The answer is yes. I have Shawnee and Cherokee American Indian ancestors. However the last one passed away in 1893. At this time all I have is her picture and our family traditions.

http://www.grandpappy.info/rgame.htm

A Collection of
Wild Game Recipes
Copyright © 1976,2007 by Robert Wayne Atkins, P.E.
All Rights Reserved.

A wise person will NOT form an opinion about the taste of a specific type of wild animal until AFTER he or she has had an opportunity to actually eat some of it after the meat has been properly prepared following a traditional recipe. Each of us has different taste preferences and you may discover that some of the following wild game recipes are actually quite delightful.

General Instructions for Processing Wild Game

1. ALWAYS wear gloves (latex or rubber) when processing wild game. Wild animals may be caring diseases such as trichinosis, or tularemia, or salmonella, and the gloves will protect you from these potential diseases while handling the dead animals. If the meat is thoroughly cooked, then it can be safely eaten even if these diseases may have been present in the raw meat.

2. Process the dead animal as soon as possible after it has been slain:
1. Drain off all the blood by cutting the left jugular neck vein, or cut off and remove the animal’s head. Hang small animals upside down by their hind legs, or arrange larger animals so they are facing downhill on a slope.
2. Carefully remove all the internal organs without spilling their contents on the meat. Discard all the internal organs (except the ones you know are edible).
3. Most smaller animals (groundhog, opossum, porcupine, raccoon, squirrel) have glands that are located in their small of the back and under each foreleg. Locate, remove and discard those glands. (Note: Groundhogs have seven or eight of these small glands.)
4. Skin the animal and remove all the fat. The fat will turn rancid very quickly and it must be discarded (or it should be processed immediately).
5. Do not let the exterior hair or fur of the animal touch its inner meat as it may transmit an undesirable flavor to the meat. If any loose animal hair accidentally falls on the meat, remove and discard the hair immediately.
6. If the animal was shot, remove and discard any bullet damaged meat and dried blood from the bullet wound area.

3. Clean and cool the meat as quickly as you can. Plastic freezer bags may be filled with ice, snow, or cold creek water. The meat of small animals may be placed between the sealed bags. Or the sealed bags may be placed inside the body cavity of larger animals. If no cooling bags are available, prop open the body cavity of larger animals with some sticks.

4. The meat of wild animals should be well cooked to make it is safe for human consumption (similar to pork).
1. Small animals (such as rabbit or muskrat) may be processed in a manner similar to chicken.
2. Large animals (such as deer or bear) may be processed in a manner similar to beef.

Additional Processing Instructions for Small Game Animals

Armadillo - (The size of a large house cat.) - Break the outer shell of the armadillo and only remove the edible back meat. Remove and discard any fat clinging to the back meat. Wash in cool water. Then place the back meat in a pot of cool water and allow it to soak for 12 hours inside the refrigerator. Drain and dry. Cut into bite size pieces and dip in oil. Place the meat onto meat skewers and broil slowly over the heat of a campfire.

Beaver Beaver - (35 to 65 pounds, 3 to 4 feet long, flat tail) - Carefully remove the two musk glands that are located under the skin in front of the genital area. Hang the gutted beaver in a cool dry area for two days. Place the meat in a covered pot of salted cold water with a vented lid and simmer for 60 minutes. The steam should be allowed to escape through the vent in the pot lid. (If necessary, add more water during the simmering process.) Cut the meat into steak size slices and cook in a skillet containing 1/2 inch of water over low heat. Turn the steaks over frequently so each side cooks slowly. Continue to cook until they are well done.
Beaver Tail - Position the tail over the flames of a campfire until the skin blisters. Remove the tail from the heat and allow it to cool. Then peel off the tail skin. The beaver tail may now be roasted over campfire coals, or it may be simmered in a skillet containing 1/2 inch of water until it is tender.

Groundhog or Woodchuck Groundhog, also called a Woodchuck - (10 to 20 pounds, 2 feet long) - Hang the gutted groundhog in a cool dry area for two days. Then place it in a pot of salted water and allow to soak for 12 hours inside the refrigerator. Drain. The groundhog meat may now be used in a recipe in place of chicken. For example, cut-up groundhog pieces may be coated with salt, pepper, and flour, and then fried in a skillet like chicken. For southern fried and northern fried chicken recipes please click on the following link: Meat Recipes.

Muskrat Muskrat - (2 to 3 pounds, 10 inches long) - Only the hams and shoulders of the muskrat are edible. Remove and discard the musk glands located below the stomach and legs, along with the white stringy meat attached to the musk glands. Place the hams and shoulders in a covered pot of salted cold water with a vented lid and simmer for 45 minutes. The steam should be allowed to escape through the vent in the pot lid. (If necessary, add more water during the simmering process.) Drain. The muskrat meat may now be used in a recipe. For example, place the cut-up muskrat meat into a Dutch oven with 1 cup of water, 1 small chopped onion, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/2 teaspoon thyme. Cover and simmer until the meat is tender and well done.

Opossum - (4 to 10 pounds, 3 feet long, long pointed noise, rat like tail) - Remove the internal organs of the opossum but do NOT skin it. Place the unskinned opossum in a pot of water and place the pot over the heat. Do NOT allow the water to boil. Periodically pull on the opossum’s hair and when the hair comes out easily, remove the opossum from the water. Scrape the opossum and pour cool water over the opossum as you scrape. Remove the small red glands located in the small of the back and under each foreleg, between the shoulder and the ribs. Place the opossum meat in a large pot of cold water and bring slowly to a boil. Do NOT cover the pot. Allow it to simmer for 20 minutes. Drain. Place the opossum meat in a fresh pot of cold water and bring slowly to a boil. Do NOT cover the pot. Allow it to simmer for another 20 minutes. Drain off the hot water and then put the meat into some cold water to make it firm. The opossum meat may now be used in most recipes instead of pork or chicken.

Porcupine Porcupine - (15 pounds, 3 feet long) - Hang the gutted porcupine in a cool dry area for two days. Then place it in a pot of salted water and allow the porcupine meat to soak for 12 hours inside the refrigerator. Remove the pot from the refrigerator. Place the pot over medium heat and bring to a boil. Drain and then put the meat into another pot of cold water and bring it to a boil. Drain. The porcupine meat may now be used in a recipe. For example, place the cut-up porcupine meat in a Dutch oven with 3 cups of water, 1/2 teaspoon pepper, 1 teaspoon salt, and some chopped onions and/or celery. Simmer for 2½ hours.

Rabbit Rabbit - (2 to 3 pounds) - Place the skinned cleaned rabbit in a pot of salted water and allow the meat to soak for 12 hours inside the refrigerator. Rabbit may be used in place of chicken in almost any recipe. For example, cut-up rabbit pieces may be coated with salt, pepper, and flour, and then fried in a skillet like chicken. For southern fried and northern fried chicken recipes please click on the following link: Meat Recipes.

Raccoon Raccoon, also called a Coon - (15 pounds, 2 to 3 feet long, black mask around the eyes) - After removing all the fat on the outside and inside of the raccoon, place it in a pot of salted water and allow the meat to soak for 12 hours inside the refrigerator. Remove the pot from the refrigerator. Placed the pot over medium heat and slowly bring the water to a boil. Then allow it to simmer for 45 minutes, without covering the pot. Add two tablespoons of baking soda to the water and continue to simmer for another five minutes. Drain off the hot water and then put the raccoon meat in a fresh pot of cold water and slowly bring to a boil. Allow it to simmer for 15 minutes. Drain off the hot water and then put the meat into some cold water to make it firm. The raccoon meat may now be used in most recipes instead of pork. For example, the racoon may be roasted over a campfire so the fat will drip down into the fire.

Squirrel Recipes - Since squirrels are common in many places, including residential neighborhoods, there is a special web page dedicated to these small animals. Please click on this link: Squirrel Recipes.

Broiling Meats over a Campfire

Sear the flesh of the animal over open flames before cooking. This keeps the juices and nutrients inside the animal.
Grilling Meats

Meats retain their juices better if they are turned 4 or 5 times while cooking. Turn meat with tongs not forks. Cook on grilling rack about 4 to 6 inches directly above the hot coals. The meat will cook quickly. Watch it closely.
Pan Steaks

Melt some fat in the frying pan. Salt and flour the steaks and put them in the pan. When the meat is almost ready, make some pan gravy by stirring a little flour in with the hot grease. Add a little water and stir to make pan gravy.
Wild Game Stew

Gut and skin the animal (deer, bear, beaver, raccoon, rabbit, porcupine, opossum) (or dog, cat, or something even less desirable in an emergency survival situation). Parboil the meat for about 10 minutes, allow it to cool, and then remove the meat from the bones. If present, cut off some fat and put it in the pot. While the fat is melting, cube the heart into small pieces and add it first. Skin the tongue and cube it and add it to the pot. This gives the 2 toughest pieces a longer time to cook. Cut up the liver and tenderloin and add them to the pot. Now cover everything with warm water and let it simmer. Add salt, pepper, and onion. Cooking time is three hours. The final stew is delicious.

Black Bear
Bear Meat

An adult black bear will weigh around 400 or 500 pounds. Bear should be hunted in the fall after it has had a chance to feed for an entire spring and summer. Do not hunt bear in the spring when it just becoming active after its winter hibernation, because it will have lost a lot of weight and it may be somewhat parasitic.

Bear meat is relatively greasy and it may be used in place of pork or beef in recipes. After eating a properly prepared bear steak, some people have discovered they prefer the flavor of bear meat to beef.

Bear Fat

Properly rendered bear fat may be used in recipes in place of butter. Bear fat is richer than butter and therefore you should use a little less of it than the amount of butter specified in the recipe.

Remove the fat from the bear as soon as possible after the death of the bear. The fat will become rancid VERY quickly if it is not processed immediately. Cut the fat into small pieces and heat it slowly in a heavy large pot or pan that contains a small quantity of fresh water. If necessary, press down on the fat with a spoon to help it melt faster. After the fat has melted remove it from the heat and allow it to cool just a little. While it is still warm pour it through a cheesecloth and then store the melted fat in the refrigerator in a plastic storage container with a tight fitting lid.

The brown residue in the top of the cheesecloth is called “cracklings” and it may be saved and used as a flavoring in recipes.

Black Bear Roast

Slice bear meat into boneless one-pound steaks or into boneless roasts weighing between three to five pounds each. Allow the meat to soak overnight in the refrigerator in a marinade of four parts salted water to one part olive oil (or salad oil). Place the roast on a cooking rack that is one or two inches above the inside bottom of the roasting pan. Pour the marinade into the roasting pan on top of the roast. Add your favorite vegetables, such as sliced carrots, quartered potatoes, diced celery, or sliced onion. Add salt and pepper as desired. Bake in a 350°F oven for 90 minutes and then turn the roast over. Return to oven and bake an additional 90 minutes. Test to see if the meat is well done. In necessary, continue to cook for another 30 to 60 minutes. Remove roast and roasting rack from bottom of roasting pan. Set any vegetables aside. Pour remaining broth from roasting pan into a cook pot and bring to a boil on top of the stove. Add about 1/2 cup flour and stir to make gravy. Slice roast and cover with gravy and serve with vegetables.

Bone Marrow

The center of a bone contains marrow and it is edible. It is present in reasonable quantities in the spine and in the other large bones of game animals. The larger bones can be split and the marrow removed. Larger pieces of bone marrow may cut into 1/2 inch thick slices and then poached for 2 minutes, or it may be heated briefly in the top part of a double boiler.

Soup bones are frequently added to soup recipes to add nutrients and flavor. The bones are removed before serving the soup.

http://www.grandpappy.info/rrice.htm

A Collection of Simple and Delicious
White Rice Recipes
Copyright © 1976,2006 by Robert Wayne Atkins, P.E.
All Rights Reserved.

Preface to the White Rice Recipes

Ordinary white rice should be one of the primary emergency foods every family has stored in their home. Normal commerce could be easily and unexpectedly disrupted by hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, snow, ice, or a man-made disaster. In situations like these, your family may need to survive for days (or weeks) on the food you had the wisdom to purchase and store BEFORE the unexpected event occurred.

A basic emergency food storage plan should be simple and economical. It should include:
1. foods you eat on a regular basic,
2. foods that have a long shelf life, and
3. foods which can become part of a balanced and nutritious meal.
White Rice

Ordinary white rice meets these requirements and therefore it should be included in every family’s emergency food supplies. White rice goes well as a side dish with almost any meal (including wild game and fresh fish). White rice is normally enriched with several vitamins and it is a complex carbohydrate which is something the human body needs.

White rice is extremely cheap when compared to other foods. A ten-pound bag of white rice can be purchased at many grocery stores for about three-dollars (or a twenty-pound bag for about six-dollars). At approximately 30-cents per pound you are buying 1,500 calories per pound or 15,000 calories per ten-pound bag. That is a true bargain. And white rice has a minimum shelf life of at least twenty-years if stored in a cool, dry area that is kept between 40 to 70 degrees year round. (Note: Brown rice has a shelf life of six-months or less.)

In a survival situation, a ten-pound bag of white rice would feed one person for about 75 days if the person ate one-cup of cooked rice per day (equal to 1/3 cup uncooked rice). This would be approximately 200 calories per day from rice. A recommended one-year food supply of white rice for one person would be between 50 to 60 pounds of white rice at a cost of about $15 to $18. Obviously other foods would also need to be eaten, but the white rice could serve as an inexpensive part of the daily menu.
However, it should be noted that white rice has two disadvantages in a survival situation:

1. White rice needs to be prepared with fresh clean water. Therefore, each family MUST determine how they are going to address the water issue. Additional information about water can be found by clicking on the following link: How to Find Water and Make It Safe to Drink

2. White rice has a tendency to become very unexciting after it has been eaten on a regular basis for an extended period of time.

The purpose of the following recipes is to provide some relief to the problem of dietary boredom or appetite fatigue. There are a vast multitude of recipes that use white rice as a primary ingredient. Unfortunately, most of those recipes require an assortment of herbs, spices, and many other ingredients that most of us don’t have in our kitchen pantries. The recipes listed below are unique in that respect. Most of the following white rice recipes only require a few ingredients, and many of those ingredients are ones that most of us already have in our kitchen pantries.

White Rice
1 cup uncooked dry rice = 3 cups cooked rice.
Measure the white rice. Do NOT rinse the rice. Boil the rice in twice the volume of water with a pinch of salt. Trickle the white rice into the water so the water doesn’t stop boiling. Cover the pot and let it simmer 15 to 18 minutes over very low heat until all the water is absorbed. Do not stir while simmering. Stirring causes the grains to stick together. Do not lift the lid until the rice is almost done or you will release essential steam and moisture. When done, remove the pot from the heat and fluff the rice with a fork. Cover and let stand another 5 minutes. The rice will continue to steam and absorb flavors.

Rice Substitutions
White rice can be substituted for bread crumbs in meatloaf, in meatball, and in poultry stuffing recipes. Rice can also be used to add body and texture to any soup.

Rice Flour
Uncooked white rice can be ground into a fine powder. It can then be used as a thickener or binder instead of flour. It is particularly useful for sauces. It can be cooked with milk and flavorings for a smooth dessert (see the Rice Sundae dessert recipe below). Since rice does not contain gluten it can’t be used to make a yeast bread loaf. However, it can be added to biscuits to improve their texture, and to cake, pancake, and pizza dough. It can be used in equal amounts with wheat flour or cornmeal. However, most people prefer a 1/4 to 1/3 ratio of white rice flour to wheat flour.

The Basic Burrito (or Stuffed Tortilla)
A little cooked white rice can be added to the other ingredients in a Burrito, such as refried beans and meat (ground or sliced).

Rice and Beans
The meal of choice for balanced nutrition and energy. Any kind of beans may be used. Any ratio of white rice to beans may be used. However, most people prefer a ratio of half rice and half beans. The addition of some diced onion to the mixture is a flavor enhancement preferred by many people.

Feathered Rice (Serves Four)
1 cup uncooked white rice 1 tsp. salt 2.5 cups boiling water
Unlike ordinary cooked white rice, this recipe causes the rice to puff up and become light and fluffy. Preheat oven to 400°F. Spread the uncooked white rice evenly on a shallow baking pan. Place in the oven and bake at 400°F, stirring occasionally, until the rice is a golden brown. Put the rice into a 1-quart casserole dish, add the salt and the boiling water. Cover with a tight-fitting lid and bake at 400°F for 20 minutes. (Note: A pound of white rice may be browned and then stored in an airtight container until it is ready to be baked.)

Mexican or Spanish Rice (Serves Four)
1 cup uncooked white rice 2 tbsp. oil 1 tsp. onion powder 1/4 cup diced tomatoes
2 cups chicken broth 1 tbsp. butter 1 tsp. garlic powder 1/8 cup diced green peppers
Heat the oil and butter in a 2 quart pan over medium heat. When the butter is melted, add the white rice and simmer, stirring constantly, for about 3 minutes until lightly browned. Add the onion and garlic and continue to simmer and stir for 5 more minutes. Add the broth and bring to a boil without stirring. Reduce heat. Gently stir in the tomatoes and peppers. Cover and simmer until all the liquid is absorbed (about 15 to 18 minutes). When done, remove the pot from the heat and fluff the rice with a fork. Cover and let stand another 5 minutes. The rice will continue to steam and absorb flavors.

Indian Rice (Serves Four)
1 cup uncooked white rice 1 tbsp. onion powder 1/2 tsp. salt 1/4 tsp. ground turmeric or rosemary
2 cups water 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon 1/4 tsp. pepper 2/3 cup raisins (optional)
Heat 2 tbsp. water to boiling in a 2-quart saucepan over medium heat. Add the onion powder, cinnamon, salt, pepper, and turmeric (or rosemary) and stir. Add the remaining water and heat to boiling. Add the white rice and reduce heat. Cover and simmer for 15 to 20 minutes without stirring until all the liquid is absorbed. Fluff the rice with a fork and then stir in the raisins (optional), cover, and let stand 5 minutes.

Herb Flavored Rice (Serves Four)
1 cup uncooked white rice 1 tbsp. butter 1 tbsp. onion powder 1/4 tsp. oregano
2.5 cups water 1/4 tsp. salt 1/2 tsp. ground sage 1/4 tsp. thyme
Melt the butter in 2.5-quart saucepan over medium heat. Add 2 tbsp. water and bring to a boil. Add the salt, onion, sage, oregano, thyme, and stir. Add the remaining water and heat to boiling. Add the white rice and reduce heat. Cover and simmer for 30 to 45 minutes without stirring until all the liquid is absorbed.

Baked Rice (Serves Four)
1 cup uncooked white rice 2 tbsp. butter 2 chicken (or beef) bouillon cubes
2 cups water 1 tbsp. onion powder
Preheat oven to 375°F. In a saucepan, melt the butter and add the onion powder and simmer over low heat for two minutes. Add the white rice and stir continually for 3 minutes until all the rice is coated. Add the water and bring to a boil. Add the bouillon cubes and allow them to dissolve and mix well. Pour into a 1-quart casserole, cover, and bake at 375°F for 30 minutes.
Optional: Dice a green pepper and add it with the bouillon cubes.
Optional: Add up to 1 cup of diced Spam when pouring into the casserole dish.

Rice Pilaf (Serves Four)
1 cup uncooked white rice 3 tbsp. olive oil 1/2 tsp. salt
2 cups beef broth 1 tbsp. onion powder 1/4 tsp. pepper
Heat the oil and the onion powder in a saucepan. Add the white rice and simmer over low heat for 3 minutes. Add the salt, pepper, and beef broth. Cover saucepan and cook for 20 minutes (or transfer to a covered casserole and bake at 350°F for 1 hour).
Optional: Sauté 1 cup chopped mushrooms in 2 tbsp. butter and add with the broth.
Optional: Replace beef with chicken broth and add 1/2 tsp. tarragon.
Optional: Add 1 cup cooked diced beef or chicken with the broth.

Rice-A-Roni (Serves Four)
Follow the above recipe for Rice Pilaf but add 1 cup of Spaghetti noodles broken into small pieces one-inch or shorter. Brown the broken spaghetti in the oil with the onion powder at the beginning of the above Rice Pilaf recipe.

Stuffed Grape (or Cabbage) Leaves (Serves Six)
30 young grape leaves 1/2 cup oil 1 tbsp. dried mint
1 cup uncooked white rice 1/2 tbsp. onion powder 1 tbsp. parsley or dill or both
3 cups cooked ground meat 1 tbsp. garlic powder 1/2 tsp. salt and 1/4 tsp. pepper
Drop the leaves (about 4-inch diameters) in boiling water for 30 seconds and remove with a slotted spoon, drain, and set aside. Heat 4 tbsp. of oil in a saucepan and add the onion powder. Add the garlic, mint, parsley, salt, and pepper. Simmer for 5 minutes. Mix in the uncooked white rice and the cooked ground meat. Remove from heat. Place a leaf shiny side down and put 1 to 2 tbsp. of the mixture in the center of the leaf. Fold like an envelope and roll up but not too tightly. Put the rest of the oil in the bottom of a pot or Dutch oven and arrange the leaf rolls in rows and layers with the seam side down. Cover the rolls with water. Put a lid on the pot and simmer on low heat for 35 minutes.
Variation: Instead of grape leaves, use cabbage, spinach, etc.
Variation: Instead of ground meat, cover the leaf rolls with beef broth instead of water and simmer for 35 minutes.

Fried Rice (Leftover White Rice) (Serves One)
1/2 cup cooked white rice 2 tbsp. oil 1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. garlic powder 1 tbsp. soy sauce 1/4 tsp. pepper
1 tbsp. onion powder 1 tbsp. ketchup green onion (optional)
Heat the oil in a frying pan or wok. Add the garlic and onion powders and stir-fry for 30 seconds. Add the cooked white rice and stir-fry until coated with oil. Stir in the soy sauce and ketchup. Add salt and pepper to taste. Heat for a few minutes until very hot. Serve immediately. If available, garnish with diced or shredded wild green onion.

Sweet Rice (Leftover White Rice) (Serves One)
1/2 cup cooked white rice 2 tbsp. butter
1 tbsp. sugar (granulated or brown) 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
Combine all and heat in the oven or in a microwave until warm. Serve as a sweet breakfast treat, or as an afternoon snack, or as a dessert.

Pot Luck Pie (Leftover White Rice) (Serves Six)
1 Pie Crust Assorted leftover vegetables, cooked white rice, and/or cooked meat
Mix ANY combination of different, assorted leftovers together (at least 3 or 4 different items) and put them all inside a pie crust. Put a top on the pie and bake in a 350°F oven for 30 minutes. The pie is absolutely delicious. The flavor and versatility of this pot luck pie recipe is rarely appreciated until after it has been tried at least once.

Warm Tuna and Rice (Serves Four)
2 cups cooked white rice 3 tbsp. butter 1 tbsp. celery powder
6 oz. can tuna, drained 1 tbsp. onion powder 1 tbsp. parsley flakes
Melt the butter in a saucepan. Add the onion, celery, and parsley and simmer for 2 minutes. Add the tuna and the cooked white rice. Stir while heating thoroughly. Add salt and pepper as desired.
Variation: Substitute one cup of diced Spam for the tuna.

Chilled Tuna and Rice Salad (Serves Four)
2 cups cooked white rice 1 pickle, minced 1 or 2 tomatoes, cut into small wedges
6 oz. can tuna in oil 1 or 2 green onions, minced 1/2 cup mushrooms or olives (optional)
Mix all ingredients and serve cold.
Variation: Substitute one cup of diced Spam for the tuna.

Chilled Rice, Fruit, and Tuna Salad (Serves Four)
1.5 cups cooked white rice 6 oz. can tuna, drained 16 oz. can fruit cocktail, drained
Combine the cooked white rice and fruit cocktail. Mix well. Refrigerate for 1 hour to blend the flavors. Stir in the tuna and serve.
Variation: Substitute one cup of diced Spam for the tuna.

Chilled Blueberry and Mint Rice Pudding (Serves Four)
1.5 cups cooked white rice 1 cup blueberries 1 tbsp. chopped mint
1 cup low fat milk 3 tbsp. sugar nutmeg (optional garnish)
Combine all (except mint and nutmeg) in a saucepan and cook for 15 to 20 minutes over low heat, stirring frequently. Transfer the pudding to a large bowl and stir in the mint. Chill for a least 1 hour before serving. Spoon into serving bowls and sprinkle nutmeg garnish over pudding.

Warm Rice Pudding (Serves Four)
1/2 cup uncooked white rice 1/2 tsp. salt 1/2 cup sugar (granulated or brown)
1 quart milk 1/2 tsp. cinnamon 1/2 cup raisins (optional)
Mix all ingredients and pour into a greased baking dish. Bake at 275°F for 3 hours. Stir frequently during the first hour. Add 1/2 cup raisins during the final 30 minutes.

Chilled Rice Sundae (Serves Four)
1/4 cup GROUND uncooked white rice 1 tsp. vanilla extract 3 tbsp. granulated sugar
2.5 cups milk 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon Berries, or Nuts, or Chocolate Syrup
Combine ground white rice, milk, vanilla extract, cinnamon, and sugar in a saucepan. Bring to a boil stirring constantly. Reduce heat and simmer for 30 to 40 minutes, stirring occasionally. (Add a little milk if it begins to dry out.) Allow to cool. When cool, spoon into dessert dishes and chill in the refrigerator. Serve with fresh berries (and/or chopped nuts) (or chocolate syrup) on top.

Chilled Rice Beverage or Milkshake
2 cups cooked white rice 2 tbsp. honey
2 cups low fat milk 1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
Combine all ingredients in a jar and shake vigorously. Refrigerate for 4 hours or over overnight.
For a beverage, strain the rice and reserve the liquid. Fill two glasses with ice and pour the liquid over the ice. Serve chilled. (If you wish, you may use the rice in the pot luck pie recipe described above.)
For a rice milkshake, do not strain but pour the rice and liquid mixture into a blender and blend until creamy. Serve cold.

http://www.grandpappy.info/rwheat.htm

A Collection of
Wheat Berry Recipes
Copyright © 1976,2006 by Robert Wayne Atkins, P.E.
All Rights Reserved.

During serious famine conditions when food was extremely scarce, people would NOT make bread. Instead they would sprout whatever wheat berries they had in order to increase both the volume and vitamins of their meals. Sprouted wheat weighs twice as much as wheat berries and it has three times the volume of wheat berries.
The sprouting directions below will work for wheat berries, beans, or seeds with the following adjustments to the sprouting times:
wheat berries - Allow 2 days.
sunflower seeds - Allow 2 to 3 days.
flax, lentil, mung, or soy beans - Allow 3 days.
alfalfa - Allow 4 or 5 days.

Wheat Sprouts
In the evening, put four ounces of wheat berries in the first jar (or plastic bag or container). Cover the wheat with water. Put the top on the container but don’t tighten it. The wheat must have fresh air. Let it soak overnight. Drink the soak water the following morning (it is full of vitamins). Turn the container upside down and let it drain. Cover with a small towel to put the wheat in the dark. Four hours later, half fill the container with water, wait two minutes, drain and cover with a towel. (Note: If water is scarce, then you can save the soak water and reuse it again each time you soak the berries.) Every 4 hours, half fill with water, wait 2 minutes, drain, and cover with a towel. The purpose is to keep the wheat moist but not water logged.

If all the extra water is NOT drained off the wheat berries, they will begin to ferment instead of sprouting.

Just before going to bed at the end of the day, start the second container (4 ounces wheat covered with water). You now have a system that will keep you in healthy, nutritious food every day.

The following day, fill the first jar with water every 4 hours, wait 2 minutes, drain and cover. At the end of the day, the wheat in the first jar will have small white sprouts extending from the ends of the kernels. It is part grain and part fresh vegetable. It has a high protein and vitamin content and it is a more complete food. Remove the sprouted wheat from the first jar, and refill it with fresh grain and start the process over again.

Prepare the sprouted wheat using one of the cooking methods for wheat berry cereal (below).

Wheat Berry and Wheat Berry Sprout Recipes
Wheat Berry or Cracked Wheat Cereal (Pot Method) (Two Servings)
1 cup wheat berries 1 tsp. salt 4 cups water
Combine the wheat berries and the water in a cook pot. Bring to a boil and cook for 2 minutes. Remove from heat, cover, and let stand for one hour. Return to heat and simmer for one hour. Eat it plain, or serve with milk, sugar, honey, or melted butter. If desired, add salt to taste.

Wheat Berry Cereal (Thermos Method) (One Serving)
1/2 cup wheat berries 1/2 tsp. salt 1 cup water
Put wheat berries, salt, and water into a pot or saucepan and bring to a rolling boil, stirring the entire time. Quickly but carefully pour the contents from the pot through a wide mouth funnel into your thermos. Put the cap on the thermos firmly, but not too tightly, and lay the thermos on its side to evenly distribute the contents in the boiling hot water. Wait 8 hours or overnight. Pour the contents of the thermos into a bowl. Four ounces of dry wheat berries will yield about 12 ounces of cooked wheat and several ounces of vitamin and mineral enriched water. Be sure to drink the water. It has a pleasant taste and many valuable nutrients.

Wheat Berry Cereal (Microwave) (Two Servings)
1 cup wheat berries 1 tsp. salt 3 cups water
Soak the wheat berries overnight. Then blend all of it on high for 20-30 seconds in a blender. Then cook it in the microwave for 3-5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add milk and sugar to taste.

Chilled Wheat Berry Salad (Four Servings)
1 cup uncooked wheat berries 16 oz. can beans
2.5 cups water 16 oz. can mixed vegetables
Heat wheat berries in water until boiling in 2-quart saucepan, stirring occasionally. Reduce heat and simmer 50 to 60 minutes or until wheat berries are tender but still chewy. Drain the berries. Mix with the beans and vegetables. Refrigerate for 2 hours to blend flavors and then serve.
Option: Drip 2 tbsp. olive oil over salad before serving.

Popped Wheat
Soak wheat berries overnight in water and then spread them out on paper towels to dry. Then fry them in hot oil. It is easier if you use some sort of wire basket or strainer to dip into the hot oil instead of trying to remove them with a spoon. Season with either plain salt or with garlic salt.

Sauteed Sprouts
1 cup sprouts 1 tbsp. butter 1 tbsp. onion powder or flakes 1 tsp. soy sauce
Melt the butter in a saucepan. Add the onion powder and stir. Add the sprouts and stir gently. Stir in the soy sauce.

Simmered Sprouts
1 cup sprouts 1 tbsp. butter 1/2 cup water 1/4 tsp. salt
Add the salt to the water and heat. Add the sprouts and simmer for 5 minutes. Remove from heat and drain off the water. Add the butter and stir.

Nutritional Information for
Wheat Berries and Sprouted Wheat
Note: One ounce of wheat berries by weight is approximately equal to One ounce of wheat berries by volume.

Serving Size:
Wheat Berries: Weight 1 ounce (28.4 grams)
Sprouted Wheat: Weight 2 ounces (56.8 grams)
(Weight Note: 1 ounce of Wheat Berries will yield 2 ounces of Sprouted Wheat by weight)
(Volume Note: 1 ounce of Wheat Berries will yield 3 ounces of Sprouted Wheat by volume)
(Average Analysis based on Several Samples)

Category Berry Amount
Berry % RDV Sprout Amount
Sprout % RDV
Weight 1 Ounce 1 Ounce 2 Ounces 2 Ounces
Calories 97.1 5 % 113.3 6 %
Total Fat 0.6 g 1 % 0.7 g 1 %
Total Carbohydrate 21.5 g 8 % 24.3 g 9 %
Dietary Fiber 3.6 g 18 % 0.6 g 3 %
Protein 3.1 g 6 % 4.3 g 9 %
Cholesterol 0 mg 0 % 0 mg 0 %
Vitamins
Vitamin Berry Amount
Berry % RDV Sprout Amount
Sprout % RDV
Vitamin A 0 IU 0 % 0 IU 0 %
B1, Thiamin 0.117 mg 7 % 0.125 mg 8 %
B2, Riboflavin 0.031 mg 2 % 0.088 mg 5 %
B3, Niacin 1.362 mg 7 % 1.78 mg 9 %
B5, Pantothenic Acid 0.243 mg 2 % 0.55 mg 5.5 %
Vitamin B6 0.108 mg 5 % 0.15 mg 7.5 %
Vitamin B12 0 mcg 0 % 0 mcg 0 %
Vitamin C 0 mcg 0 % 0 mcg 0 %
Vitamin D ? ? % ? ? %
Vitamin E 0.411 mg ? % 0.028 mg ? %
Minerals
Mineral Berry Amount
Berry % RDV Sprout Amount
Sprout % RDV
Calcium, Ca 9.7 mg 0.9 % 16.0 mg 1.5 %
Copper, Cu 1.00 mg 50 % 0.15 mg 7.5 %
Iron, Fe 1.53 mg 7.5 % 1.23 mg 6 %
Magnesium, Mg 25.7 mg 6.5% 46.88 mg 11.8 %
Manganese, Mn 0.97 mg 48.5% 1.05 mg 52.5 %
Phosphorus, P 111.9 mg 12 % 114.3 mg 12 %
Potassium, K 124.3 mg 3.2 % 96.58 mg 2.5 %
Selenium, Se ? mg ? % 24.3 mg 34.8 %
Sodium, Na 0.57 mg 0.8 % 9.15 mg 13.0 %
Zinc, Zn 1.00 mg 6.6 % 0.95 mg 6.3 %
Amino Acids
Amino Acid Berry Grams Sprout Grams
Alanine ? 0.168 g
Arginine ? 0.388 g
Aspartic Acid ? 0.258 g
Cystine ? 0.078 g
Glutamic Acid ? 1.070 g
Glycine ? 0.175 g
Histidine ? 0.113 g
Isoleucine ? 0.165 g
Leucine ? 0.290 g
Lysine ? 0.140 g
Methionine ? 0.068 g
Phenylalanine ? 0.20 g
Proline ? 0.385 g
Serine ? 0.195 g
Tryptophan ? 0.065 g
Threonine ? 0.145 g
Tyrosine ? 0.158 g
Valine ? 0.208 g
Other
Other Berry Sprout
Ash 0.4 g 0.55 g
Folate 11.7 mcg 21.7 mcg

http://www.grandpappy.info/rsquirel.htm

Squirrel Recipes
Copyright © 1976,2004 by Robert Wayne Atkins, P.E.
All Rights Reserved.

Suggestion: Never broil or grill a squirrel. You won’t enjoy the leathery chewy result.

Gray Squirrel
Squirrel Preparation
Skin the squirrel (gray squirrels taste better than red squirrels), remove and discard the digestive organs (stomach and intestines), and cut the squirrel into sections (legs, etc.). Cut the heart and liver into bite size pieces.

Squirrel Stew
Simmer all the meat in some hot water with a teaspoon of salt. When tender, remove the meat from the bones, dice it, and cook it a little longer. Add salt, pepper, onions, potatoes, and/or other vegetables, if available. Enjoy the meaty soup and drink the soup broth when the meat is gone.

Fried Squirrel
Soak the cut up squirrel meat in some water with one teaspoon of salt overnight. Then put it in a skillet with some salted water and slowly boil the meat until it is tender when stuck with a fork. Be very careful and do NOT cook the meat until it falls off the bones. Rinse the squirrel in some cold water.
1/2 cup flour 1/2 tsp. salt 1/2 tsp. pepper 1/4 cup oil
Mix the flour, salt, and pepper inside a plastic baggie. Dip the pieces of squirrel meat in some milk (or water) and shake the meat inside the baggie to coat the meat. Brown the coated meat in some oil in a skillet. Lower the heat after browning and cover the skillet tightly. Cook over low heat for 30 to 60 minutes or until well done. Remove the cover during the last 10 minutes to crisp the outer surfaces.

http://www.grandpappy.info/rpotato.htm

A Collection of
Simple Potato Recipes
Copyright © 1976,2005 by Robert Wayne Atkins, P.E.
All Rights Reserved.

Potato Cakes
Leftover mashed potatoes Flour and Oil (or Lard)
Form the leftover cooked mashed potatoes into flat small 4” circles about 3/8” thick. Coat each side with a thin layer of flour. Fry in a little oil in a pan over medium heat, turning once, until brown on both sides.

Hash Brown Potatoes
2 cups cooked diced potatoes 1 tsp. pepper
2 tsp. onion powder 1 tsp. salt
Heat a little oil or shortening in a large skillet. Spread the potatoes evenly over the bottom of the skillet and sprinkle the onion, pepper, and salt on top. Cook over LOW heat and press down on the potatoes several times with a flat spatula. When the bottom side is golden brown, cut the potatoes in half with the spatula and flip both halves over and brown the other side, pressing down with the spatula several times.

Potato Chips
Preparation: Peel raw potatoes and slice extremely thin. Soak in cold water for 1 hour and then pat dry, removing as much water as possible.
Cook: Fry in oil preheated to 390°F. Remove and drain on paper towel. Sprinkle with salt. Allow to cool (optional).

http://www.grandpappy.info/indexwil.htm

Wilderness Survival Tips by
Robert Wayne Atkins, P.E.

Ducks

1. The Three Most Important Wilderness Survival Items - Revised October 27, 2008.
2. Compass Instructions and Alternatives

3. Homemade Bow and Arrows
4. Gill Nets - The Easy Way to Catch Fish for the Frying Pan - Revised August 21, 2009.

5. How to Catch Wild Game Using Snares and Steel Traps - Added November 1, 2008.
6. Tips for Hunting Wild Game Using Firearms, Traps, and Snares

7. Identification of Edible Plants
8. Meat Jerky or How to Smoke Meat - Revised January 7, 2008.

9. My Personal Experience Building a Rustic Log Cabin
10. Grandpappy’s Wilderness Cabin Cave - Added February 4, 2008.

11. Camping Backpacks - Revised January 1, 2008.
12. Recipe Index, including Acorns, Hickory Nuts, Pemmican, Squirrel, and Wild Game

13. State of Michigan Trapper Instruction Manual, 157 Pages, pdf file = 8.13 MB.
14. How to Brain Tan Animal Hides, an Online Book, by authors Paul and Victoria Dinsmore - Added March 15, 2008.
15. The 10 Bushcraft Books, by author Richard Harry Graves.

16. How to Survive Hard Times (Index of Articles)
17. www.survivalblog.com (Web Site With Some Wilderness Survival Information)

Revised August 21, 2009 - Gill Nets: Added the option to use Plastic Water Pipes instead of two Wood Sticks to help form the Gill Net diagonals.
Revised August 15, 2009 - Gill Nets: Added Gill Net Basics, Gill Net Materials, and Moving Water, Still Water, Deep Water, Shallow Water, and Emergency Survival Instructions.
Revised November 1, 2008 - Added 1 New Page: How to Catch Wild Game Using Snares and Steel Traps.
Revised October 27, 2008 - Updated The Three Most Important Wilderness Survival Items - Added Magnesium Fire Starter Life Expectancy.
Revised June 11, 2008 - Deleted Page: Winchester 6 Piece Tool Set for $10 because the item is no longer available.
Revised May 24, 2008 - Added 1 New Page: Winchester 6 Piece Tool Set for $10.
Revised May 7, 2008 - Added links to two Moccasin web sites in the Three Most Important Wilderness Survival Items.
Revised April 21, 2008 - Removed link to Foxfire Books because that web site is no longer active.
Revised April 19, 2008 - Added 2 links to the practical uses for a steel knife in the Three Most Important Wilderness Survival Items.
Revised April 9, 2008 - Added 1 New Page: The Three Most Important Wilderness Survival Items.
Revised March 15, 2008 - Added Link: How to Brain Tan Animal Hides, an Online Book.
Revised February 4, 2008 - Added 1 New Page: Grandpappy’s Wilderness Cabin Cave.
Revised January 22, 2008 - Added Link to Six Foxfire Online Books.
Revised January 7, 2008 - Updated Meat Jerky Instructions. Added the option to use decayed wood to make smoke.
Revised January 1, 2008 - Udpdated Camping Backpacks Page with more Fire information and Updated the Marine Food Bar prices.
Revised August 14, 2007 - Updated Gill Nets with two wood sticks to keep the fishing line stable during construction.
Revised June 1, 2007 - Added 1 New Page: Gill Nets.

http://www.grandpappy.info/racorns.htm

Grandpappy’s Basic Acorn Recipes

Acorn Information, Identification, Processing, and Recipes
Copyright © 1976,2006 by Robert Wayne Atkins, P.E.
All Rights Reserved.

History of the Common Ordinary Acorn

Acorn

The common, ordinary acorn is one of the ancient foods of mankind. The first mention of acorns for human consumption was by the Greeks over 2,000 years ago. Over the course of human history it has been estimated that people have eaten more acorns than both wheat and rice combined. The acorn has served as an important famine food for many centuries. Acorns may be eaten alone or in a wide variety of acorn recipes.

Native American Indian tribes all across North America, such as the Cherokee, Pima, and Apache, used acorns as one of their primary staple foods in the same way they used corn. American Indians understood the food value of the acorn and how to prepare it for human consumption. Some Indian tribes would bury their acorns in the mud for many days and then dig them up and dry them in the sun. Other Indian tribes would put their acorns inside a reed basket with a few heavy rocks and then put the basket in a fast moving stream for several days. Both of these methods removed the tannin in the acorns and made them fit for people to eat. There is now an easier, more scientific method and it will be described in detail as you continue to read.
Acorn Facts

One tall mature oak tree can produce almost one-thousand pounds of acorns in one growing season during normal weather conditions. Acorns have a low sugar content and therefore help control blood sugar levels. They have a sweet nutty aftertaste. Acorn meal may be used in bread and stew recipes, substituting acorn meal for approximately one-fourth of the flour. Since acorns contain natural sweetness, reduce any other sweeteners in the recipe by one-fourth. Acorn grits can be used in place of nuts in cookie, brownie, and bread recipes. Acorns are a reliable source of carbohydrates, protein, 6 vitamins, 8 minerals, and 18 amino acids, and they are lower in fat than most other nuts. One handful of acorns is equivalent in nutrition to a pound of fresh hamburger.
Oak Trees

White Oak Leaf

White Oak: White oak trees live between 450 to 650 years (and longer). They can exceed 4 feet in diameter and 100 feet tall. The white oak is the most common species of oak tree. The leaf has a dark green glossy top side and a light green under side. The leaf lobe ends (edges) are rounded. White oak acorns mature in one growing season. Acorn production is heaviest approximately every third year. The inner shell of white oak acorns is smooth and the inner nutmeat is whitish in color. Split one of the inner nutmeats in half and you will see the whitish color. This is why the tree is called a white oak. White oak acorns are low in tannic acid and are naturally sweet and may be eaten with minimal processing. They are the best acorns for use in acorn recipes.
Red Oak Leaf

Red Oak: A red oak tree leaf has a glossy green top side and a fuzzy under side. The leaf lobe ends are very pointed. Red oak acorns require two years to mature. Red oak acorns have a hairy lining inside the shell and the nutmeat is yellowish in color. They are very high in tannic acid and therefore taste very bitter. Red oak acorns MUST be processed before eating. Generally red oak acorns are not harvested for human consumption except during serious famine conditions. (Caution: Excessive amounts of tannic acid can lead to kidney failure. Therefore, if you must consume red oak acorns, you should process them for the maximum amount of time.)

There are several other varieties of oak trees, but the white oak is the most common oak tree throughout the United States, followed by the red oak.

If all the oak trees in your area are exactly the same, then they will all produce acorns that taste the same. But if you have different varieties of oaks, you will have different varieties of acorns which will taste different. Therefore, when you harvest your acorns, keep the ones you collect under each oak tree in a separate bag or container by themselves until you do a taste test to determine if any have a more agreeable taste than the others. If so, note which tree(s) they came from, and focus your next year’s collection efforts there. You MUST harvest your acorns VERY soon after they fall to the ground or the squirrels, deer, and other wildlife will eat them. If the acorns stay on the ground very long, they will become infested with insect larva, and they will also absorb ground moisture and begin to mold.
Acorn Collection

Acorns Ripening

Collect your acorns every day from September through October as soon as possible after they have fallen off the oak tree onto the ground. They may be green, or green and tan, or brown. The green ones aren’t fully ripe yet, but collect them also because they will ripen to a dark brown in a few more days. In my opinion, the green ones are better because they have just fallen off the tree and therefore they have had less time to absorb ground moisture or be attacked by insects. If you happen to notice that an acorn is defective when you pick it up, then toss it into the woods where there are no oak trees. Otherwise, there is a good chance you will be picking up that same acorn every day for many weeks to come.

After collecting all the acorns you can find each day, sit down and go through your new batch of acorns. Remove and discard the cap or crown of the acorn. Inspect the acorns (first inspection) and discard any that have an obvious defect, or signs of mold, or a tiny hole because it probably contains a worm. The acorns should feel firm between your fingers. Discard any that are soft.
Acorn Drying Methods

Tray of Acorns Spread the good acorns you collect each day onto a tray, board, or screen. You can then dry the acorns using any one of following three methods:

1. house drying at normal room temperatures, or
2. the sun, or
3. a conventional oven.

- - - - - - -

House Drying at Normal Room Temperatures: Allow the acorns to dry gradually inside your home at normal room temperatures. The acorns should only be one layer thick on the drying trays. If the acorns are relatively green, this drying method normally takes between two to four weeks.
The advantages of room temperature drying are:
1. The inner acorn nutmeat retains most of its original moisture which adds to its flavor and chewability.
2. If your home is free of flying insects, then you will not loose any more acorns to insect larva.

The disadvantages of room temperature drying are:
1. It can take as long as four weeks to properly dry the acorns.
2. Each day you will need MORE house space to dry additional acorns.
3. Periodically you will have to inspect your acorns for tiny worms.
4. Future acorn nutmeat mold problems are more likely to occur.

- - - - - - -

Sun Drying: Place the tray of acorns in direct sunlight for two to five consecutive days, depending on how “green” your acorns are when you collect them. Bring all your acorns inside each night. Drying in the sun is the traditional method. If the sky is partly cloudy or overcast, then you may need to dry your acorns for more than five days in the sun. (Note: If your acorns are not completely dry, they will soon be covered with mold and you will have to throw them away. Any acorns that are still partially green after a few days of drying should be separated from the rest of the acorns. Continue drying any partially green acorns until they turn completely brown.)
The advantages of sun drying are:
1. It helps to kill insect larva, and
2. It helps to reduce future mold problems.

The disadvantages of sun drying are:
1. Flying insects will lay eggs in some of the acorns and they will have to be thrown away.
2. The inner nutmeat looses some of its moisture and flavor.
3. The shelf life of the nutmeat is between four to six months.

If you have windows facing the sun, then you can place your tray of acorns in the sun inside your house and eliminate the flying insect problem above.

- - - - - - -

Oven Drying: Place the tray of acorns in a warm oven (175ºF) for about 20 minutes with the oven door slightly cracked to let the moisture escape.
The advantages of oven drying are:
1. Drying can be done very quickly.
2. It effectively kills all insect larva.
3. It eliminates future mold problems.

The disadvantages of oven drying are:
1. The inner nutmeat looses most of its moisture and flavor and it becomes very hard to chew.
2. The shelf life of the nutmeat is only two or three months.

- - - - - - -

Of the above three different drying methods, I now prefer sun drying inside my home in front of a window that faces the sun.
Acorn Storage

After drying your acorns, inspect them again (second inspection). The drying process helps to reveal cracks or insect holes you couldn’t see when the acorns were still damp. Discard any acorns that don’t have a good exterior shell, or process and use those acorns immediately. Acorns with a cracked outer shell will dry out quickly on the inside, and the nutmeat will be lost.

It is also possible that small flying insects may have laid eggs inside some of your acorns while they were drying in the sun, if they could find a convenient entrance to the nutmeat area, such as a crack or hole or other imperfection. Those eggs will hatch in a short time and you will be able to identify the bad acorns when they do (they will have a small hole in them).

If you discover tiny holes in your acorns after they have dried, then discard the bad acorns and place the acorns without any holes on a cookie sheet and dry them in a warm oven at 175ºF for 15 minutes with the oven door slightly cracked to let the moisture escape. The heat will kill any remaining insect larva inside the acorns.

Approximately one-week later, inspect your dried acorns for the third time and look for mold or worms or other major problems. Discard any acorns with mold (or process and use them immediately), or the mold will soon spread throughout your entire batch.

Approximately one-week later, inspect your dried acorns for the fourth time. Remove and discard any defective or moldy acorns (or process and use them immediately).

If you discover mold on your acorns at this point, then they were not thoroughly dry at the beginning. If the mold is not severe, then place the batch of acorns on a cookie sheet and dry them in a warm oven at 175ºF for 15 minutes with the oven door slightly cracked to let the moisture escape and to kill the mold.

You may now store your thoroughly inspected, dried acorns in a cool, dry place until you need them. Store your acorns in several different containers. (Note: Ziplock freezer bags work extremely well for storing acorns.) If the acorns in one container become unusable, your other acorns should still be okay. Properly dried and stored, acorns still in their original shell will remain edible for several months.

As time passes, the inner acorn nutmeat gradually dries out and loses most of its flavor and it becomes too hard too chew. Therefore you should process and eat your acorns as soon as practical after collecting them. The longer they are stored, they more they will continue to dry out and become unfit for human consumption. Even under the best storage conditions at room temperature, most acorns will not be edible after six-months of storage.

If you have freezer storage space available, then you may remove the acorn nutmeats from their exterior shell and freeze only the nutmeats inside a ziplock freezer bag. This will help to preserve the moisture content of the nutmeats and significantly extend their shelf life and flavor.

Acorn Preparation

Acorns must be processed before they can be used in acorn recipes.

Do NOT remove your acorn nutmeats from their protective outer shell until you are ready to process and eat them. The inner acorn nutmeat kernels will dry up and shrivel after a few days of exposure to the air.
Nutmeats

At the top of the picture on the right there are several acorn nutmeat kernels after they have been removed from their shell.
At the bottom of the picture on the right there are several acorn nutmeats which have been split in half. The inner white nutmeat gradually darkens and begins to dry out the longer it is exposed to the air.

First crack the thin outer shell of the acorn. It will crack easily with an ordinary nut cracker, or pliers, or by squeezing firmly with your thumb and forefinger. Only crack the shell. Peel off the shell and save the inner nutmeat kernel for future processing. Sometimes you will split the inner acorn nutmeat in half as you crack the outer shell. That is okay. You may taste one acorn nutmeat kernel from each batch of acorns to determine if one of your local trees produces sweeter acorns than the other trees. After chewing and tasting, you should spit it out.

Our bodies are all different and we can not all eat the same foods as everyone else. For example, some people are allergic to milk and milk products. It is always a good idea to eat a very small amount of any new food that you have never eaten before to determine whether or not your body will have an adverse reaction to it. Therefore, if you have never eaten acorn nutmeats before, then you should only eat ONE and see how your body reacts. If you are allergic to other nuts, then you will probably not be able to eat acorn nutmeats. And you should NOT eat and swallow an acorn nutmeat until AFTER you have removed the tannic acid from the acorn nutmeats.
Tannic Acid

All acorns contain tannic acid (or tannin). White Oak acorns contain very little but Red Oak acorns contain a lot. The good news is that tannic acid is water soluble and it can be easily leeched out of the acorns using either:

1. boiling, or
2. cold water flushing.

Too much boiling will result in a loss of nut flavor and it will change the consistency of the nutmeats into a gooey mess.

There are also two ways to process the acorn nutmeats:

1. as whole nutmeat kernels, or
2. as ground nutmeats.

Whole Nutmeat Kernels

If your original taste test of the raw unprocessed acorn nutmeats revealed little or no noticeable bitterness, then you may process your nutmeats as whole kernels. This preserves the appearance of the nut and it is useful because some recipes specify whole nuts. It also makes eating the nuts as a snack much easier.
Ground Nutmeats

If your original taste test of the raw unprocessed acorn nutmeats revealed an unpleasant degree of bitterness, then grinding the nutmeats is necessary because it allows the tannic acid to be removed with minimum boiling or flushing. Begin with whole acorn nutmeat kernels (without the cap and without the shell). Crush or grind the acorn nutmeats into smaller pieces or into a coarse meal using a hand grinder, or a flat rock, or a blender. If you use a blender, then add a little water to make a liquid mush.
Boiling Method
(May be used with whole nutmeat kernels or ground nutmeats.)

Fill two pots with clean fresh water. Each pot should contain enough water to completely cover the acorn nutmeats (but don’t add the nutmeats yet). Turn on the heat to the first pot of water. Taste one of the unprocessed nutmeats to determine the degree of bitterness it contains before boiling.

Note: Add pickling or canning salt to the final pot of boiling water before adding the nutmeats. The salt enhances the flavor of the nutmeats and it also increases their storage life.

Note: It is NOT uncommon for many white oak acorns to contain little or no noticeable bitterness. However, we are not all gifted with the same degree of sensitivity in our taste buds. What may taste pleasant to you may taste slightly bitter to someone else. And regardless of how they taste, all acorns contain some tannic acid. Therefore, you should boil all acorn nutmeats at least ONE time. But you may stop after one boiling if your original taste test revealed little or no bitterness in the original unprocessed acorn nutmeats. If you are only going to boil one time you will not need the second pot and you should add the salt to the first pot of boiling water BEFORE you add the nutmeats.

First Boil: When the first pot starts to boil, add the acorn nutmeats to the first pot of boiling water and immediately turn off the heat to the first pot. Turn on the heat to the second pot to start the water in the second pot boiling. Wait 30 minutes and the water in the first pot will be brown. Pour the acorns and the brown water through a strainer or coffee filter to separate the nutmeats from the brown water. (Note: Save the brown water from the first boiling for one of the uses suggested elsewhere in this summary.) (Note: If there was no noticeable bitterness to begin with and you are only using one boil, then skip down to the drying instructions below.) Taste one of the nutmeats. If the bitterness is almost gone then you will not need a third boiling and you should add the salt to the second pot of boiling water.

Second Boil: Put the nutmeats into the second pot of boiling water and immediately turn off the heat. Rinse the first pot and fill with fresh water for the third boiling. Wait 30 minutes. Strain the nutmeats from the brown water in the second pot. (Discard the brown water unless you want to keep it for another purpose.) Taste one nutmeat. If the bitterness is gone, then skip down to the drying instructions below. If the bitterness is almost gone, then add the salt to the third boiling. However, if the bitterness is still unpleasant, then wait until the fourth boiling to add the salt.

Third Boil: Follow instructions for second boil. Then taste one nutmeat. The original bitterness should be gone and it should have a sweet, nutlike flavor. (If the nutmeats should fail your taste test at this point, then boil a fourth time.)

Dry the nutmeats following the drying instructions below.

Note 1: If you switch the nutmeats from boiling water into cool water and then bring the water to a boil, you will lock in the bitterness and you won’t be able to get it out.
Note 2: Do NOT let wet nutmeats sit for hours between boilings. The nutmeats will mold if you do.
Cold Water Flushing Method
(May be used with whole nutmeat kernels or ground nutmeats.)

Put the acorn nutmeats inside a clean pillowcase and leech in cold running water (faucet or stream) for several hours until the bitter taste is gone. Periodically squeeze as much water out of the pillowcase and acorn nutmeats as you can without damaging the nutmeats. Then continue rinsing. When the nutmeats no longer taste bitter, you can stop rinsing. Then dry the nutmeats following the drying instructions below.
Drying

If you need the damp acorn nutmeats in a bread recipe you may use them immediately without drying. However, if you are not going to use the nutmeats until later, you MUST dry them.

After removing the tannin using either boiling or flushing, spread the damp nutmeats in a thin layer on a baking tray and dry slowly in a warm oven (175ºF to 200ºF) with the door slightly cracked to let the moisture escape. Or place the tray of damp nutmeats in the sun near a window. (If you dry them outside in the sun, cover them with a clean screen or the wildlife will steal them.)

If you are drying ground nutmeats, the dried meal will be caked and it will need to be ground again.

If you are drying whole nutmeat kernels, you may eat them like nuts. Or use them in recipes that use whole nuts. Or you may process some of them into grits or meal on an as-needed basis.
Acorn Grits

Follow the tannin removal and drying instructions for acorn nutmeats above. Then pound or grind into course meal or grits. Acorn grits may be used in acorn recipes in place of chopped nuts.
Acorn Meal (or Acorn Flour)

Follow above Grits recipe but grind the acorns into a fine meal.
Storage of Acorn Grits or Acorn Meal

Store in a sealed, glass jar in a cool, dark place. They will keep for several weeks in the refrigerator or for several months in the freezer. Frozen nutmeats will retain their original flavor for about 10 months (or until the next crop of acorns is ready to be harvested). Because they contain nut oil, they will go rancid if left in a warm environment after they have been processed.

Caution: If stored for a very long time, smell them before using. If a musty smell is present, throw them away.

Uses for the Brown Acorn Water

Save the brown water from the first boiling (discussed above). The brown water should be stored in the refrigerator. With the passage of time a mold will form on top of the water and you will need to boil the water again to kill the mold. Then refrigerate the water again until needed. The brown water may be used in any of the following ways:

Laundry Detergent: Two cups of the brown water can be used as laundry detergent for one load of clothes. Your clothes will smell very good but lighter colors (and whites) will take on a tan tint.
Traditional Herbal Home Remedies: The brown water has both antiseptic and antiviral properties.

1. It can be used to wash the skin to ease the discomfort of skin rashes, burns, and small cuts.
2. It can be used externally to help treat hemorrhoids.
3. Pour some of the water into ice cube trays and freeze it. Then rub it on poison ivy blisters. It soothes and heals the blisters and helps reduce the itching. It is very effective on about 95% of the people who try it and the poison ivy is cured in three days. The cold ice helps to soothe the inflamed tissues.

Hide Tanning: The brown water can be used in the process of animal hide tanning. Just soak the clean, scraped animal hides in the water. The reason the bitter ingredient in acorns is called “tannic acid” is because it was originally used to tan animal hides.

Grandpappy’s Basic Acorn Recipes

Acorn grits may be deep fried and eaten as a side dish.

Acorn grits may be added to soups or salads.

Acorn grits may be fried briefly in a skillet and then used as one of the ingredients in a granola snack recipe.

Acorn meal may be used in most recipes to replace 1/4 of the flour or 1/4 the corn meal. However, since acorn meal contains natural sweetness, you should reduce any other sweeteners in the recipe by 1/4.

100% Acorn Bread will be hard if baked too long and crumbly if not baked long enough.

Ground acorn nutmeats may be roasted and then used as a weak coffee substitute.
Indian Acorn Griddlecakes
2 cups acorn meal 1/2 tsp. salt 3/4 cup water
Preparation: Combine everything and beat to a stiff batter. Let stand for one hour.
Cook: Heat 1 tbsp. of fat or oil in frying pan. Drop batter into pan to form cakes about 3 to 4 inches across. Brown cakes slowly on both sides. These cakes will keep for several days.

Mexican Acorn Tortillas
2 cups acorn meal 3/4 cup flour 2 tsp. salt
Preparation: Mix ingredients. Add just enough water to make a stiff dough. Let stand for 30 minutes.
Cook: Squeeze into small balls and then press each ball into a very thin flat cake. Fry in a lightly greased skillet until brown on both sides. Use just enough fat or oil to prevent sticking.

Acorn Pemmican Tortilla
1/2 cup acorn meal 1 pound lean meat, cut in thin strips Several tortillas
Cook: Boil the lean meat in salted water until tender. Drain and allow to dry. Grind the meat and the acorn meal together using a fine grinding blade. Mix well and then grind a second time. Heat and serve wrapped in a tortilla, or on any flat bread.
Variation: Add cooked white rice, or cooked beans, or hot sauce, or grated cheese as part of the tortilla stuffing.

Pioneer Acorn Bread and Acorn Muffins
1 cup acorn meal 1 cup flour 1 tsp. salt
3 tbsp. baking powder 3 tbsp. oil 1 cup milk (or water)
Optional: You may add 1 egg to the above ingredients.
Preparation: Combine milk, egg (if available), and oil and beat until smooth. Mix in the acorn meal, flour, salt, and baking powder and stir into a smooth dough. Place in a greased bread pan.
Cook: Bake at 400ºF for 30 minutes. Cool and serve.
Variation: Acorn Muffins: Fill greased muffin tins about 2/3 full with above mixture and bake at 400ºF for 20 minutes.

Pioneer Acorn Pancakes
Preparation: Use the above recipe for Pioneer Acorn Bread, but use 2 eggs and 1 1/4 cups milk.
Cook: Drop batter from a ladle onto a hot greased grill. When bottom is brown, turn once and brown other side. Serve with butter, or syrup, or honey, or jelly, or fresh fruit.

Breakfast Acornmeal (Similar to Oatmeal)
1 cup acorn meal 2.5 cups water 1/8 cup hickory nuts or black walnuts, crushed
1 tsp. salt 1 tsp. honey or sugar
Boil the water with the salt. Add the acorn meal and continue boiling for 15 minutes. Turn off heat. Allow to cool for about five minutes. Stir in the honey and nuts. Very satisfying and delicious, and it will provide enough energy for a day of rigorous physical activity.

Acorn and Corn Meal Mush
1/2 cup acorn meal 4 cups water
1 cup corn meal 1 tsp. salt
Cook: Bring 4 cups of water to a boil in the top half of a double boiler. Add the salt. Sprinkle the acorn meal slowly into the boiling water and stir continuously. Then add the corn meal. When the mixture starts to bubble, it should be able to support a plastic or wooden stirring spoon in the center without the spoon falling over. If too thick, add a little water. If too thin, add a little more cornmeal.
Then put the mixture which is in the top half of the double boiler into the bottom half of the double boiler which contains boiling water. Simmer about 45 minutes, stirring occasionally to break up any lumps, until the mush becomes thick. Serve hot for breakfast, lunch, or supper.
Variation: May be served with a topping of milk, or butter, or grated cheese, or bacon bits, or honey, or sugar, or fruit, or jam.
Variation: Pour above finished, cooked mush into a greased loaf pan and put in the refrigerator for about 8 hours. It will become solid and then it can be sliced with a knife into 1/2 inch thick slices. Coat each slice with flour and fry in a very thin layer of oil, one side at a time. Serve with butter, or syrup, or jam (similar to French toast).

Acorn Bread
2 cups acorn meal 1/2 cup milk (or water) 1 tbsp. baking powder
2 cups wheat flour 3 tbsp. butter or olive oil 1 egg (optional)
Optional Sweeteners: Add 1/3 cup honey or maple syrup or sugar, if available.
Preparation: Combine all the above ingredients and pour into a loaf pan.
Cook : Bake at 400ºF for 30 minutes or until done. Yields a moist bread with a sweet nutty flavor.

Glazed Acorn Treats
Boiled dry whole acorn kernels 2 cups sugar 1/2 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. cream of tartar 1 cup water
Preparation: Mix and dissolve the sugar, salt, and cream of tartar in 1 cup of water.
Cook: Bring above mixture to a boil in a small pot. Continue to boil until the mixture first begins to show signs of browning. Then immediately put the small pot into a larger pot of boiling water to keep the mixture in a liquid state. (Or use a double boiler.) Use a pair of tweezers to dip individual whole acorn kernels (previously shelled, boiled and dried), one at a time into the mixture and then put each acorn onto a sheet of wax paper to dry and harden. Serve as a candied covered nut.

Acorn Cookies
2 cups wheat flour 1 cup white (or brown) sugar 1 tsp. baking powder (or baking soda)
1 cup acorn grits 1/2 cup shortening 1 tsp. salt
Preparation: Combine the flour, baking powder, and salt. In a large bowl, cream the shortening and the sugar. Gradually blend in the dry ingredients. Then blend in the acorn grits. Pinch off walnut sized pieces of dough and roll into balls. Place 1.5” apart on a lightly greased baking sheet.
Cook: Bake at 350°F for 10 to 12 minutes or until lightly colored. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.
Variation: Add 1 egg and/or 1 tsp. vanilla extract.

Nutritional Information About Acorns Acorn Nutmeats, Shelled, Dried
Actual Lab Analysis Results Vary for Different Acorn Varieties
and from One Growing Season to the Next

Nutrition Facts
Serving Size: 1 ounce (28.4 g)
Minimum and Maximum Values Shown Below

Category Amount % RDV
Calories 109.7 to 144.5 7 %
Calories from Fat 60.9 to 80.3
Total Fat 6.8 to 8.9 g 14 %
Saturated Fat 0.9 to 1.2 g 45 %
Polyunsaturated Fat 1.3 to 1.7 g
Monounsaturated Fat 4.3 to 5.7 g
Cholesterol 0.0 mg 0 %
Total Carbohydrate 11.5 to 15.2 g 5 %
Protein 1.7 to 2.3 g 5 %
Vitamins
Vitamin A 11.06 to 11.14 IU Less 1%
B1, Thiamin 0.03 to 0.042 mg 3 %
B2, Riboflavin 0.03 to 0.044 mg 3 %
B3, Niacin 0.52 to 0.68 mg 3 %
B5, Pantothenic Acid 0.20 to 0.27 mg 3%
Vitamin B6 0.15 to 0.20 mg 10%
Vitamin B12 0.0 mcg 0 %
Vitamin C 0.0 mcg 0 %
Vitamin D 0.0 mcg 0 %
Vitamin E 0.0 mcg 0 %
Minerals
Calcium, Ca 11.62 to 15.34 mg 2 %
Copper, Cu 0.18 to 0.23 mg 12 %
Iron, Fe 0.22 to 0.29 mg 2 %
Magnesium, Mg 17.58 to 23.29 mg 6 %
Manganese, Mn 0.38 to 0.39 mg 10 %
Phosphorus, P 22.40 to 29.25 mg 3 %
Potassium, K 152.81 to 201.36 mg 10%
Sodium, Na 0.0 mg 0 %
Zinc, Zn 0.15 to 0.19 mg 1 %
Amino Acids
Alanine 0.100 to 0.131 g
Arginine 0.135 to 0.177 g
Aspartic Acid 0.181 to 0.238 g
Cystine 0.031 to 0.041 g
Glutamic Acid 0.282 to 0.369 g
Glycine 0.081 to 0.107 g
Histidine 0.049 to 0.064 g
Isoleucine 0.081 to 0.107 g
Leucine 0.140 to 0.183 g
Lysine 0.110 to 0.143 g
Methionine 0.029 to 0.039 g
Phenylalanine 0.077 to 0.101 g
Proline 0.070 to 0.092 g
Serine 0.075 to 0.098 g
Tryptophan 0.021 to 0.028 g
Threonine 0.067 to 0.089 g
Tyrosine 0.053 to 0.070 g
Valine 0.099 to 0.129 g
Other
Ash 0.386 to 0.506 mg
Folate, DFE 24.66 to 32.66 mcg

Thought you might want to read it.

Should be here any day, if not already.

How bad is the Economy?

The economy is so bad....<<<<

I admire someone who can take the truth and make it funny, this writer is good and so on the mark, he got them all right.

Thank you for posting the photos, for they are a special dog and the group is right, they are not for very small kids.

When Debra was 10, Mama May gave her a 6 month old St. Bernard that someone had given her.

If the kids were bad, we left them home and took the dog out for an ice cream cone, he loved it.

Deb and Scott, didn’t think we would follow through and we did, didn’t take but a couple dog only trips, and they wised up.

The real problem with Bobby, was he set the rules, if we turned out all our lights, then the entire cul de sac, was to shut down for the night, the neighbors were not to come in after it was our bedtime, by come in, I mean drive into their own driveways.

He slept by Debra’s bed, real cute, until I went in mad at her and he stood me down and let me know that I would not be mistreating her in anyway, not even with a raised voice.

Which she enjoyed immensely, at last she was in control, at 10 years old.

When Bobby decided that the neighborhood kids would not yell at Debra either, we found him a far out ranch to live on.

He would be too big for me today, but I would love to have him here to protect me.

I hope the 3 Sisters find wonderful homes and I take my hat off to the person that is now caring for them.

The Basic Minimum Necessities for Survival During Hard Times

[The usual and links, has several things we don’t always remember]

http://www.grandpappy.info/hbasics2.htm

Introduction
Whenever a significant number of people are devastated by hard times then the basic rules that govern that society always change. If you are not aware of these changing rules then you may quickly become a victim instead of a survivor. The purpose of this short article is to briefly discuss how a person can survive in a rapidly changing hard times environment.

continues............

http://www.grandpappy.info/hbasics1.htm

http://www.grandpappy.info/wclarify.htm

How to Melt (Render) Animal Fat

Beef fat is called tallow and pig fat is called lard. Poultry fat is too soft to be used by itself, but it may be used in a ratio of about 10% with tallow or lard. Bear fat may also be used but it must be melted (rendered) quickly after the bear has been killed because bear fat will quickly become rancid. You may also use the fat from farm animals such as sheep or goats, and a variety of wild animals, such as beaver, opossum, raccoon, and groundhog. If there is any lean meat still attached to the fat, cut it off and make sure you only use the fat to make grease.

Melting animal fat is called rendering. Rendering should be done outdoors or in a well ventilated area. The smell of melting animal fat will make most people nauseous. Cut the animal fat into small pieces about one-inch cubed and put them into a pot with about 1/8 inch of rainwater and cook over low to medium heat. Gradually add the fat to the pot and stir to keep the hot grease and solid pieces of fat circulating. As you stir be sure to scrape the bottom of the pot to prevent any fat from sticking to the bottom and burning. Do not burn the fat or allow it to smoke. If it starts to smoke then you are applying too much heat and you are burning the fat or grease.

One pound of fat will yield about 2¼ cups of grease. Most of the fat will melt into a liquid but some small solid particles will not melt and these are called cracklings. After melting the fat, allow it to cool slightly, and then strain it through a clean thin cloth and store it in a sealed container until it is needed. The cracklings will be on the top surface of the straining cloth. Save the delicious cracklings for use in other cooking recipes.

(Note: Raw animal fat can quickly become rancid. Therefore raw animal fat should not be saved and then converted into grease at some future date. The best procedure is to render animal fat into grease while the fat is still fresh. Rendered animal fat has a much longer storage life than raw animal fat.)

How to Clarify Bacon Grease (pork lard), Hamburger Grease (beef tallow), and Other Types of Used Cooking Grease, Oil, and Drippings

Measure the amount of used cooking grease (or used cooking oil) and put it into a cook pot. Add an equal amount of water to the cook pot. Measure another one-half the original amount of water and set it aside for later. Add one tablespoon of salt to the cook pot. Bring the mixture to a boil inside the pot. Turn off the heat. Then gradually pour the cold water you previously set aside into the hot mixture.

The mixture will begin to separate into three layers as follows:

1. pure fat on top,
2. fat mixed with impurities in the middle, and
3. water on the bottom.

Carefully ladle the top layer of pure fat into a clean container and save it for future use. Discard the bottom two layers. Label the container with the type of grease that it contains (pork lard, beef tallow, cooking oil, etc.)

THAT, Granny Ruth, is one of those posts which cause a person to sit up in their chair and utter out loud to an empty room or the curled up cat, “Wow, I didn’t know acorns were so valuable, such a great food source!”

Fabulous Australian TV gardening show covers urban agriculture stories

Costa’s Garden Odyssey

Six episodes of Season One are now on-line in brilliant colour. See what’s happening
in the city of Melbourne. You must see these shows! (Mike)
Examples of stories from the show:
Collingwood is an inner city suburb of Melbourne and it’s the home of the Collingwood
Children’s Farm, a special place where children enjoy the opportunity to have some
“hands on” experience with farm animals.

Children gardening in Boston community vegetable garden - circa 1900

Bloomers and middy blouses were the unofficial uniforms of the farmerettes of the
WW1

1918 Cabbages and Queens

Women wearing bloomers, working in a vegetable garden.
Farmerettes of 1918, 100 years after birth of Mrs. Bloomer.

In the early Victorian
era, the American, Mrs. Amelia Jenks Bloomer (1818-1894), caused quite a stir when
she wrote an article for her feminist publication ‘The Lily’. She tried to promote
the idea of women abandoning their petticoats for a bi-furcated garment later known
as the bloomer fashion. She suggested that woman would find trousers, like those
worn by Turkish women, easier to wear than their voluminous heavy skirts.

Half of 8.5-hectare housing development site to be used for urban food gardens and
botanical park

The Gardens, a housing development in Richmond, BC for 550 housing units, will include
agricultural plots for food production, community and restaurant garden plots, orchard
for food production, and rooftop gardens.

Starbucks has supported 383 youth intern positions at the Food Project in Boston.

The Food Project and Starbucks recently teamed up to produce a video highlighting
youth and farms. Starbucks has been a supporter of the Food Project and source of
volunteers for five years.

“In 2009 Starbucks awarded 50 Shared Planet Youth Action Grants totalling $842,000
to US non-profit organization to help support young people identify and address
local needs. Starbucks is proud to support the work of all of these organizations
including The Food Project in Boston, Massachusetts.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

All stories here:
City Farmer News [http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?et=1102738742488&s=1304&e=001DidYnaWdXCfpcsPbtsUlbxSEgPIyLgWeOihgR53786q2nM7tkJ9GRzN5VF2HNilkr6sSMQ4V9tOpyq8rnadG7mAZ3qny2NHurSWfKMp1ZvAJ1VK6NmSSzg==]
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Michael Levenston
City Farmer - Canada’s Office of Urban Agriculture

“Wow, I didn’t know acorns were so valuable, such a great food source!”<<<

Yes, the Indians thought so.

At Ramona, California, there is an Oak grove on one of the ranches, I was lucky enough to be shown the grinding stones area.

The mountains are a natural granite rock, and the grinding stones covered, [from 45 years ago], maybe half to a full acre, they used an out cropping, that was flatish, and of a comfortable height to sit on and grind away.

It must have been 2 foot tall and there were hundreds of grinding holes, you had no trouble seeing them for they were all the same and ground smooth on the insides.

LOL, so pick a boulder and start grinding, in a few hundred years, the holes will be deep, I would guess now, 8 to 10 inches deep.

More than likely, the kids were allowed to start the holes and when they were usable, they were used for food stuffs.

I suggest this, for an Indian friend, who was raised on the Papago reservation in Arizona, laughed like crazy, when I showed her photos that I had taken of hieroglyphs, that I had found, pecked into the rocks near Tucson.

She said there were 10 kids in her family, and that her mother refused to take care of them on Sunday, that was the day for the father to watch them......

She said that they loved Sunday’s for he often took them to the small hill on the back of their property and allowed the kids to peck at the boulders, making indian petroglyphs.

To her, my photos were of the kids having fun and not the story of history before written history, that we think of them as being.........

LOL

>>> The rocoto is one amazing pepper. It has thick walls, like a bell pepper, but hot. It has been cultivated in Peru and Bolivia for thousands of years. <<<

Thank you for the pepper info,, I am going to bring my “birdsbeak” and “Peruvian Death Peppers” indoors during winter in the next few days.

Had a nice day planned and actually felt better, and then ...

“Power Outage”...
hummm... better check the generator.. ah ha ..dead gas and gummed carb... so when I get the carb cleaned and it running smooth... here comes the power back on... and I reek of gasoline, sta-bil and cleaner.. oh well it is that time to check them out ..
now next , get the backup generator ready.. good timing as gas has fell to 2.39 here ( oh boy what a deal ) ..

anyway, here is a collection of “hard times” recipes;;

Recipes handed down, made during the Depression.

BREADS

Mother always made delicious home made noodles and dumplings.

Mother’s Dumpling Recipe

2 cups flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons shortening
3/4 to 1 cup milk
2 quarts broth or more

Sift flour, salt, and baking powder together. Add shortening, then milk until thick batter is obtained. Drop by teaspoonfuls in boiling broth cover and cook covered 10 minutes. {Broth should be boiling slow all the time while cooking} do not lift the lid while cooking.

Mother’s Home Made Noodles

1 cup, plus 1 rounded tablespoon flour
2 tablespoons milk
1 egg, plus 1 yoke
1/2 teaspoon salt
Broth from, chicken or other

On a bread board or in a large bowl, make a mound of the flour with a hollow in the middle. Beat milk, eggs, and salt together with a fork. Place in the hollow spot. Mix together from the outside in toward the center until you have a stiff dough. Let set for 5 minutes or so, no longer than 10 minutes, then roll out in two batches, as thin as you can. Keep flouring the dough as needed to keep dough from sticking to rolling pin. Roll up very tightly. Slice the rolled dough into thin strips. Separate at once and hang over a broomstick, or spread out on a table. Let dry 2 hours. Ten minutes before serving, drop into gently boiling broth, stirring constantly so that the noodles do not stick together. Noodles will be ready to serve when no longer doughy the clinging flour on the noodles will thicken the broth.

Poor Man’s Bread

1 cup flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
Water

Stir in enough water to make a batter and pour into greased skillet.{ use a cast iron skillet. Fry until brown on each side like a pancake. Taste great with homemade butter and jam.

Hominy Corn Bread

1 cup hominy
1 tablespoon shortening, melted
2 eggs, beaten
1 cup milk
1/2 cup cornmeal
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder

Combine hominy, shortening, eggs, and milk. Add cornmeal, salt and baking powder. Let stand 5 minutes. Add 1 tablespoon more of milk if desired. Pour into large well oiled pan and bake at 425/o for 35 minutes or until a deep golden brown.

Quick, Muffins

1/2 cups of flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons sugar
1 egg
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup of butter or butter substitute

Mix into a bowl the flour, and baking powder, salt, sugar and egg. Add milk, pour gradually into the bowl with other ingredients, beating with a fork as it is added. When the mixture is smooth, add butter or butter substitute melted. Beat until the dough is smooth and creamy; this takes but a moment. Grease the tins and only fill them half with the batter.Place in hot oven 400 degrees F. Bake 25 Min.

Home Made Rolls

3 cups scalded milk
4 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoons salt
8 cups sifted flour
1 cake yeast foam dissolved in
1/4 cup lukewarm water

Pour scalded milk over sugar, salt and butter. When lukewarm beat in 4 cups flour. Mix well and add the dissolved yeast foam. Cover closely and let rise in a warm place. When light add enough flour to knead. {4 cups.} Cover, let rise until light. Roll out to 1/2 inch thickness. Shape with biscuit cutter. Brush each piece with melted butter, crease through the center, fold over and press the edges together. Place in buttered pan 1 inch apart, and let rise until very light. Then bake in a brisk oven 15 minutes. { I used 400/o oven to bake them. }

Sweet milk Doughnuts

2 tablespoons fat
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1 cup sweet milk
4 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon or nutmeg
3 to 4 cups of flour { just enough to make a soft dough }

Cream fat,add sugar, add milk and well beaten egg. Add 3 cups flour mixed and sifted with dry ingredients, then enough more flour to make dough just stiff enough to roll. With knife, toss about1/3 of dough onto a floured board, knead slightly to make smooth. Roll to thickness of about 1/4 inch. Use flour spatula freely to prevent dough from sticking to board. Cut with floured doughnut cutter. Fry in deep fat about 2 minutes. They should come quickly to the top. Brown on one side, turn and brown on the other side. Turn but once. Drain over fat and then on absorbent paper. When partly neat, or just before serving, sprinkle with powder sugar, or frost with favorite frosting.

Dried Fruit and Soda Bread

3 cups all-purpose flour
6 ounces or 1 1/3 cups dried mixed fruit bits chopped
1 cup quick-cooking oats
1/3cup sugar
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 egg beaten
1/4 cup unsalted butter or margarine, melted
1 1/3 cups buttermilk

Combine flour, fruit, oats, sugar, baking soda and salt in a large bowl. Make well in the center, in a small bowl, beat together egg, butter, and buttermilk. Add to well and stir just until dry ingredients are moistened. Do not over stir. Mixture should be lumpy. Turn dough into greased 2-quart oval baking dish. Bake 400/o in oven for 30 minutes or until golden brown and the loaf sounds hollow when tapped with finger. Serve immediately or neat completely. Store at room temperature in a tightly sealed container until ready to serve. Can be stored up to 1 week.

http://www.hhs.gov/news/healthbeat/2009/10/20091001a.html

HHS HealthBeat (October 01, 2009)
Taking blood thinner pills?

A person’s hands holding a bottle of pills
Listen to TipAudio

Interested?
Take the Next Step

From the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, I’m Ira Dreyfuss with HHS HealthBeat.

Millions of Americans take blood thinner pills, such as Coumadin or warfarin, to prevent stroke, heart attack and other problems. These drugs work well when taken as directed. But when taken incorrectly, they can also cause serious problems.

That’s why the director of HHS’ Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, Dr. Carolyn Clancy, says her agency has created a 10-minute video for patients taking this medicine:

[Dr. Carolyn Clancy speaks]“People on blood thinner pills often have to get regular blood tests, watch their diet because it can affect their medication, and be wary of cuts and bruises that can lead to bleeding. So the video puts the process into plain language and offers people some practical tips they can use in their everyday lives.”

Learn more at hhs.gov.

HHS HealthBeat is a production of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. I’m Ira Dreyfuss.

Last revised: October, 01 2009

US-CERT Current Activity

Research in Motion Releases Security Advisory

Original release date: October 1, 2009 at 10:35 am
Last revised: October 1, 2009 at 10:35 am

Research in Motion has released a security advisory to address a
vulnerability related to how null characters are displayed in a
BlackBerry dialog box. This vulnerability may allow an attacker to
trick users into believing that they are connecting to a trusted
secure site.

US-CERT encourages users to review the BlackBerry security advisory
KB19552 and apply any necessary updates.

Relevant Url(s):
http://na.blackberry.com/eng/update/

http://www.blackberry.com/btsc/search.do?cmd=displayKC&docType=kc&externalId=KB19552

This entry is available at
http://www.us-cert.gov/current/index.html#research_in_motion_releases_security

Heparin: Change in Reference Standard

Audience: Pharmacists, physicians, hospital risk managers and consumers

FDA notified healthcare professionals and patients of a change to heparin, effective October 1, 2009, which will include a new reference standard and test method used to determine the potency of the drug and able to detect impurities that may be present in heparin. The change, which will also harmonize the USP unit dose with the WHO International Standard unit dose, will result in approximately a 10% reduction in the potency of the heparin marketed in the United States.

This may have clinical significance in some situations, such as when heparin is administered as a bolus intravenous dose and an immediate anticoagulant effect is clinically important. Healthcare providers should be aware of the decrease in heparin potency as they monitor the anticoagulant effect of the drug; more heparin may be required to achieve and maintain the desired level of anticoagulation in some patients.

There will be simultaneous availability of heparin manufactured to meet the “old” and “new” USP monograph, with potential differences in potency. Products using the new “USP unit” potency definition are anticipated to be available on or after October 8. FDA is working with the manufacturers of heparin to ensure that an appropriate identifier is placed on heparin made under the new USP monograph. Most manufacturers will place an “N” next to the lot number. FDA is also working with the heparin manufacturers to study the impact of this variation in potency and will make the results available when the studies have concluded.

Read the complete MedWatch 2009 Safety summary, including links to the Public Health Alert and Information for Patients, at:

http://www.fda.gov/Safety/MedWatch/SafetyInformation/SafetyAlertsforHumanMedicalProducts/ucm184687.htm

Thank you for the pepper info,, I am going to bring my “birdsbeak” and “Peruvian Death Peppers” indoors during winter in the next few days.

Had a nice day planned and actually felt better, and then ...

“Power Outage”...<<<

Your days are about like mine, might be bored, if there wasn’t so much going on. LOL

I am glad you fixed the generator and got power too, that will make you feel better.

Yes, the peppers should continue bearing, in a sunny window, and it seems that if you give them a firm shake a couple times each day, just grab the stem and shake it, they will pollinate. Or at least mine did.

I have never read that peppers are self pollinating, like the tomato, but the shaking gets me fruit, so will continue ...

All the recipes look good, cooking poor depends on the taste of the food.

A few herbs is always good in any thing, but some of the things they call for today, I don’t have a clue as to why.