Weekly Roundup - Living On Nothing Edition [Survival Today

Thanks for the info, DW. This morning we found out that one of a neighboring town’s high schools was closed due to so many kids having the flu. (guessing regular and H1N1).
I volunteer at our library and several people in our group were coughing today. It looks like it’s time to bring out the extra vitamins. I’m also planning on cooking up a batch of the Wisdom-of-the-Ancients garlic soup that was posted here a while ago.

“some country is having problems, for they are using a different strain on the Congress folks, than what the local man on the street is getting and some how the home folks found out and want the same as the politicians.”

I read that, too. I think it was Germany. Funny how that seems to be the way things are done.

The following is a transcript of former Vice President Dick Cheney’s remarks at the Center for Security Policy:

Thank you all very much. It’s a pleasure to be here, and especially to receive the Keeper of the Flame Award in the company of so many good friends.

I’m told that among those you’ve recognized before me was my friend Don Rumsfeld. I don’t mind that a bit. It fits something of a pattern. In a career that includes being chief of staff, congressman, and secretary of defense, I haven’t had much that Don didn’t get first. But truth be told, any award once conferred on Donald Rumsfeld carries extra luster, and I am very proud to see my name added to such a distinguished list.

To Frank Gaffney and all the supporters of Center for Security Policy, I thank you for this honor. And I thank you for the great energy and high intelligence you bring to as vital a cause as there is - the advance of freedom and the uncompromising defense of the United States.

Most anyone who is given responsibility in matters of national security quickly comes to appreciate the commitments and structures put in place by others who came before. You deploy a military force that was planned and funded by your predecessors. You inherit relationships with partners and obligations to allies that were first undertaken years and even generations earlier. With the authority you hold for a little while, you have great freedom of action. And whatever course you follow, the essential thing is always to keep commitments, and to leave no doubts about the credibility of your country’s word.

So among my other concerns about the drift of events under the present administration, I consider the abandonment of missile defense in Eastern Europe to be a strategic blunder and a breach of good faith.

It is certainly not a model of diplomacy when the leaders of Poland and the Czech Republic are informed of such a decision at the last minute in midnight phone calls. It took a long time and lot of political courage in those countries to arrange for our interceptor system in Poland and the radar system in the Czech Republic.

Our Polish and Czech friends are entitled to wonder how strategic plans and promises years in the making could be dissolved, just like that - with apparently little, if any, consultation. Seventy years to the day after the Soviets invaded Poland, it was an odd way to mark the occasion.
You hardly have to go back to 1939 to understand why these countries desire - and thought they had - a close and trusting relationship with the United States.

Only last year, the Russian Army moved into Georgia, under the orders of a man who regards the collapse of the Soviet Union as the greatest geopolitical disaster of the 20th century. Anybody who has spent much time in that part of the world knows what Vladimir Putin is up to. And those who try placating him, by conceding ground and accommodating his wishes, will get nothing in return but more trouble.

What did the Obama Administration get from Russia for its abandonment of Poland and the Czech Republic, and for its famous “Reset” button? Another deeply flawed election and continued Russian opposition to sanctioning Iran for its pursuit of nuclear weapons.

In the short of it, President Obama’s cancellation of America’s agreements with the Polish and Czech governments was a serious blow to the hopes and aspirations of millions of Europeans. For twenty years, these peoples have done nothing but strive to move closer to us, and to gain the opportunities and security that America offered.

These are faithful friends and NATO allies, and they deserve better. The impact of making two NATO allies walk the plank won’t be felt only in Europe. Our friends throughout the world are watching and wondering whether America will abandon them as well.

Big events turn on the credibility of the United States - doing what we said we would do, and always defending our fundamental security interests.
In that category belong the ongoing missions in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the need to counter the nuclear ambitions of the current regime in Iran.

Candidate Obama declared last year that he would be willing to sit down with Iran’s leader without preconditions.

As President, he has committed America to an Iran strategy that seems to treat engagement as an objective rather than a tactic.
Time and time again, he has outstretched his hand to the Islamic Republic’s authoritarian leaders, and all the while Iran has continued to provide lethal support to extremists and terrorists who are killing American soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The Islamic Republic continues to provide support to extremists in Syria, Lebanon, and the Palestinian territories. Meanwhile, the regime continues to spin centrifuges and test missiles. And these are just the activities we know about.

I have long been skeptical of engagement with the current regime in Tehran, but even Iran experts who previously advocated for engagement have changed their tune since the rigged elections this past June and the brutal suppression of Iran’s democratic protestors.

The administration clearly missed an opportunity to stand with Iran’s democrats, whose popular protests represent the greatest challenge to the Islamic Republic since its founding in 1979.

Instead, the President has been largely silent about the violent crackdown on Iran’s protestors, and has moved blindly forward to engage Iran’s authoritarian regime. Unless the Islamic Republic fears real consequences from the United States and the international community, it is hard to see how diplomacy will work.

Next door in Iraq, it is vitally important that President Obama, in his rush to withdraw troops, not undermine the progress we’ve made in recent years.
Prime Minister Maliki met yesterday with President Obama, who began his press availability with an extended
comment about Afghanistan. When he finally got around to talking about Iraq, he told the media that he reiterated to Maliki his intention to remove all U.S. troops from Iraq.

Former President Bush’s bold decision to change strategy in Iraq and surge U.S. forces there set the stage for success in that country. Iraq has the potential to be a strong, democratic ally in the war on terrorism, and an example of economic and democratic reform in the heart of the Middle East.

The Obama Administration has an obligation to protect this young democracy and build on the strategic success we have achieved in Iraq.

We should all be concerned as well with the direction of policy on Afghanistan.
For quite a while, the cause of our military in that country went pretty much unquestioned, even on the left.
The effort was routinely praised by way of contrast to Iraq, which many wrote off as a failure until the surge proved them wrong. Now suddenly - and despite our success in Iraq - we’re hearing a drumbeat of defeatism over Afghanistan. These criticisms carry the same air of hopelessness, they offer the same short-sighted arguments for walking away, and they should be summarily rejected for the same reasons of national security.

Having announced his Afghanistan strategy last March, President Obama now seems afraid to make a decision, and unable to provide his commander on the ground with the troops he needs to complete his mission.

President Obama has said he understands the stakes for America. When he announced his new strategy he couched the need to succeed in the starkest possible terms, saying, quote, “If the Afghan government falls to the Taliban - or allows al-Qaeda to go unchallenged - that country will again be a base for terrorists who want to kill as many of our people as they possibly can.” End quote.

Five months later, in August of this year, speaking at the VFW, the President made a promise to America’s armed forces. “I will give you a clear mission,” he said, “defined goals, and the equipment and support you need to get the job done. That’s my commitment to you.”

It’s time for President Obama to make good on his promise. The White House must stop dithering while America’s armed forces are in danger.

Make no mistake, signals of indecision out of Washington hurt our allies and embolden our adversaries. Waffling, while our troops on the ground face an emboldened enemy, endangers them and hurts our cause.

Recently, President Obama’s advisors have decided that it’s easier to blame the Bush Administration than support our troops. This weekend they leveled a charge that cannot go unanswered. The President’s chief of staff claimed that the Bush Administration hadn’t asked any tough questions about Afghanistan, and he complained that the Obama Administration had to start from scratch to put together a strategy.

In the fall of 2008, fully aware of the need to meet new challenges being posed by the Taliban, we dug into every aspect of Afghanistan policy, assembling a team that traveled to Pakistan and Afghanistan, reviewing options and recommendations, and briefing President-elect Obama’s team.

They asked us not to announce our findings publicly, and we agreed, giving them the benefit of our work and the benefit of the doubt. The new strategy they embraced in March, with a focus on counterinsurgency and an increase in the numbers of troops, bears a striking resemblance to the strategy we passed to them. They made a decision - a good one, I think - and sent a commander into the field to implement it.

Now they seem to be pulling back and blaming others for their failure to implement the strategy they embraced.

It’s time for President Obama to do what it takes to win a war he has repeatedly and rightly called a war of necessity.

It’s worth recalling that we were engaged in Afghanistan in the 1980’s, supporting the Mujahadeen against the Soviets. That was a successful policy, but then we pretty much put Afghanistan out of our minds. While no one was watching, what followed was a civil war, the takeover by the Taliban, and the rise of bin Laden and al-Qaeda.

All of that set in motion the events of 9/11. When we deployed forces eight years ago this month, it was to make sure Afghanistan would never again be a training ground for the killing of Americans. Saving untold thousands of lives is still the business at hand in this fight.

And the success of our mission in Afghanistan is not only essential, it is entirely achievable with enough troops and enough political courage.

Then there’s the matter of how to handle the terrorists we capture in this ongoing war. Some of them know things that, if shared, can save a good many innocent lives. When we faced that problem in the days and years after 9/11, we made some basic decisions. We understood that organized terrorism is not just a law-enforcement issue, but a strategic threat to the United States.

At every turn, we understood as well that the safety of the country required collecting information known only to the worst of the terrorists. We had a lot of blind spots - and that’s an awful thing, especially in wartime. With many thousands of lives potentially in the balance, we didn’t think it made sense to let the terrorists answer questions in their own good time, if they answered them at all.

The intelligence professionals who got the answers we needed from terrorists had limited time, limited options, and careful legal guidance. They got the baddest actors we picked up to reveal things they really didn’t want to share. In the case of Khalid Sheik Muhammed, by the time it was over he was not was not only talking, he was practically conducting a seminar, complete with chalkboards and charts. It turned out he had a professorial side, and our guys didn’t mind at all if classes ran long. At some point, the mastermind of 9/11 became an expansive briefer on the operations and plans of al-Qaeda.
It happened in the course of enhanced interrogations. All the evidence, and common sense as well, tells us why he started to talk.

The debate over intelligence gathering in the seven years after 9/11 involves much more than historical accuracy. What we’re really debating are the means and resolve to protect this country over the next few years, and long after that.

Terrorists and their state sponsors must be held accountable, and America must remain on the offensive against them. We got it right after 9/11. And our government needs to keep getting it right, year after year, president after president, until the danger is finally overcome.

Our administration always faced its share of criticism, and from some quarters it was always intense. That was especially so in the later years of our term, when the dangers were as serious as ever, but the sense of general alarm after 9/11 was a fading memory.

Part of our responsibility, as we saw it, was not to forget the terrible harm that had been done to America … and not to let 9/11 become the prelude to something much bigger and far worse.

Eight years into the effort, one thing we know is that the enemy has spent most of this time on the defensive - and every attempt to strike inside the United States has failed. So you would think that our successors would be going to the intelligence community saying, “How did you did you do it? What were the keys to preventing another attack over that period of time?”

Instead, they’ve chosen a different path entirely - giving in to the angry left, slandering people who did a hard job well, and demagoguing an issue more serious than any other they’ll face in these four years.

No one knows just where that path will lead, but I can promise you this: There will always be plenty of us willing to stand up for the policies and the people that have kept this country safe.

On the political left, it will still be asserted that tough interrogations did no good, because this is an article of faith for them, and actual evidence is unwelcome and disregarded.
President Obama himself has ruled these methods out, and when he last addressed the subject he filled the air with vague and useless platitudes. His preferred device is to suggest that we could have gotten the same information by other means. We’re invited to think so.
But this ignores the hard, inconvenient truth that we did try other means and techniques to elicit information from Khalid Sheikh Muhammed and other al-Qaeda operatives, only turning to enhanced techniques when we failed to produce the actionable intelligence we knew they were withholding.

In fact, our intelligence professionals, in urgent circumstances with the highest of stakes, obtained specific information, prevented specific attacks, and saved American lives.

In short, to call enhanced interrogation a program of torture is not only to disregard the program’s legal underpinnings and safeguards. Such accusations are a libel against dedicated professionals who acted honorably and well, in our country’s name and in our country’s cause.

What’s more, to completely rule out enhanced interrogation in the future, in favor of half-measures, is unwise in the extreme.

In the fight against terrorism, there is no middle ground, and half-measures keep you half exposed.

For all that we’ve lost in this conflict, the United States has never lost its moral bearings - and least of all can that be said of our armed forces and intelligence personnel. They have done right, they have made our country safer, and a lot of Americans are alive today because of them.

Last January 20th, our successors in office were given the highest honors that the voters of this country can give any two citizens. Along with that, George W. Bush and I handed the new president and vice president both a record of success in the war on terror, and the policies to continue that record and ultimately prevail.

We had been the decision makers, but those seven years, four months, and nine days without another 9/11 or worse, were a combined achievement: a credit to all who serve in the defense of America, including some of the finest people I’ve ever met.

What the present administration does with those policies is their call to make, and will become a measure of their own record.

But I will tell you straight that I am not encouraged when intelligence officers who acted in the service of this country find themselves hounded with a zeal that should be reserved for America’s enemies.
And it certainly is not a good sign when the Justice Department is set on a political mission to discredit, disbar, or otherwise persecute the very people who helped protect our nation in the years after 9/11.

There are policy differences, and then there are affronts that have to be answered every time without equivocation, and this is one of them.

We cannot protect this country by putting politics over security, and turning the guns on our own guys.

We cannot hope to win a war by talking down our country and those who do its hardest work - the men and women of our military and intelligence services. They are, after all, the true keepers of the flame.

Thank you very much.

Audience: Hospital risk managers, surgical center staff, pharmacists

American Regent and FDA notified healthcare professionals of a voluntary recall of all lots of Ketorolac Tromethamine Injection, USP 30 mg/mL, including NDC# 0517-0801-25 [30 mg/mL 1mL Single Dose Vial] and NDC# 0517-0902-25 [30 mg/mL 2mL Single Dose Vial (60 mg/2mL)]. There is a potential for particulate matter in conjunction with crystallization that may be present in the product, which may result in adverse events such as obstruction of blood vessels which can induce pulmonary emboli or thrombosis, activate platelets and/or neutrophils to induce anaphylactic reactions. Other adverse effects associated with the injection of particulate matter include foreign body granulomas, and local irritation at the injection site.

This recall does not include other concentrations of American Regent Ketorolac Tromethamine Injection. The product was distributed to wholesalers and distributors nationwide. Hospitals, surgi-centers, clinics and other healthcare facilities should not use any American Regent Ketorolac Tromethamine Injection, USP Injection 30 mg/mL for patient care and should immediately quarantine any product for return.

Read the MedWatch safety summary, including a link to the firm press release, at:
http://www.fda.gov/Safety/MedWatch/SafetyInformation/SafetyAlertsforHumanMedicalProducts/ucm187481.htm

You are encouraged to report all serious adverse events and product quality problems to FDA MedWatch at www.fda.gov/medwatch/report.htm

Weekly Harvest Newsletter

Sustainable Agriculture News Briefs - October 21, 2009

Weekly sustainable agriculture news and resources gleaned from the Internet by NCAT staff for the ATTRA - National Sustainable Agriculture Information Service Web site. The Weekly Harvest Newsletter is also available online (http://attra.ncat.org/newsletter/archives.html#wh).

Share The Harvest: Please forward this newsletter to friends and colleagues who might be interested in the latest sustainable agriculture news, funding opportunities, and events.

News & Resources
* 33 Million Acres in 2009 CSP Applications
* Food Safety Policy Brief Available
* Applications Being Sought for Farmer Mentor Program
* Demand Organic Website Launched
* Summary of Food Security Literature Published
* Specialty Crop Grants Awarded

Funding Opportunities
* Organic Farming Research Foundation Education and Outreach Grant
* Organic Farming Research Foundation Research Grant
* North Central SARE Graduate Student Grant

Coming Events
* Getting Started in Farm Scale Biodiesel Production Webinar
* Soil Building and Water Management Systems Workshop
* Quivira Coalition Conference
* Greenhouse/CSA Workshop

News & Resources

33 Million Acres in 2009 CSP Applications
In a press release (http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/news/releases/2009/csp_strong_interest_10.07.09.html) and in congressional testimony this past week, USDA announced tentative totals for stage one of the 2009 Conservation Stewardship Program sign-up -over 21,000 farmer and rancher applications representing a total of nearly 33 million acres of crop, pasture, range, and forested land. For 2009 as for future years, 12.8 million acres are available for enrollment. The 25.6 million acres to be enrolled in 2009 and 2010 and those producers will receive the first of their five annual CSP payments in October 2010. Comments from producers and farm organizations are being sought by October 28 (its says September 28 but comments were extended) to help improve future CSP program rules— details available at http://sustainableagriculture.net/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/csp-ifr-action-alert-10.pdf

Food Safety Policy Brief Available
The National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition’s Food Safety on the Farm: Policy Brief and Recommendations (http://sustainableagriculture.net/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/NSAC-Food-Safety-Policy-Brief-October-2009.pdf (PDF/552KB) is now available! The brief examines some of the current legislative food safety proposals that have been introduced in the 111th Congress, as well as administrative developments within the Obama Administration, the FDA, and the USDA. The paper concludes with NSAC’s policy recommendations grounded in the experience and interest of small and mid-sized family farmers.

Applications Being Sought for Farmer Mentor Program
http://mosesorganic.org/mentoring.html
The Midwest Organic and Sustainable Education Service (MOSES) is offering a Farmer to Farmer Mentoring Program in 2010 to help new organic farmers make the transition to organic production with help from experienced farmer mentors. Applications are now being accepted for mentor farmers and those to be mentored (mentees).

Demand Organic Website Launched
http://www.tilth.org/news/rodale-insitute-launches-demand-organic-website
The Rodale Institute recently started the ‘Demand Organic’ website (http://www.demandorganic.org/demand_organic). Demand Organic (DO) was conceived to educate and increase public awareness of the importance of organics. Its focus is on consumers who have not considered the possibilities of organic choices, in hopes of inspiring long-lasting and profound personal change. The goal is to help navigate the confusion surrounding organics; from labeling to asking the right questions to interpreting scientific research.

Summary of Food Security Literature Published
http://www.jhsph.edu/clf/publications/clf_reports.html
The Center for a Livable Future has just published, “Community Food Security in United States Cities — A Survey of the Relevant Scientific Literature” (http://www.jhsph.edu/clf/PDF_Files/FS_Literature%20Booklet.pdf) (PDF/1.6MB). The 86-page book includes chapters on food security policy, measurement tools, and agriculture.

Specialty Crop Grants Awarded
http://www.usda.gov/wps/portal/!ut/p/_s.7_0_A/7_0_1OB/.cmd/ad/.ar/sa.retrievecontent/.c/6_2_1UH/.ce/7_2_5JM/.p/5_2_4TQ/.d/1/_th/J_2_9D/_s.7_0_A/7_0_1OB?PC_7_2_5JM_contentid=2009/10/0512.xml&PC_7_2_5JM_parentnav=LATEST_RELEASES&PC_7_2_5JM_navid=NE
Agriculture Deputy Secretary Kathleen Merrigan today announced the award of 55 grants totaling approximately $49 million for 745 projects to enhance the competitiveness of specialty crops, which are defined as fruits, vegetables, tree nuts, dried fruits, horticulture and nursery crops, including floriculture. Upon reviewing states’ plans for funding, USDA selected projects that support local and rural agriculture interests, increase the competitiveness of small producers, and promote or create direct marketing opportunities for specialty crop producers. Funds will be used by the 50 states, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, according to plans submitted to USDA that describe how the state agency will carry out the program. Summaries of all awards can be viewed at http://www.ams.usda.gov/scbgp.

More Breaking News (http://attra.ncat.org/news/)

Funding Opportunities

Organic Farming Research Foundation Education and Outreach Grant
http://ofrf.org/grants/apply_education&outreach.html
OFRF will fund the development of educational opportunities and materials that are:
1. Pertinent to organic agricultural production or marketing; and
2. Aimed at organic producers and/or those considering making the transition to organic certification.
OFRF will also accept proposals to fund activities that promote information sharing among organic agricultural researchers and organic farmers and ranchers.
Proposals are due November 16, 2009.

Organic Farming Research Foundation Research Grant
http://ofrf.org/grants/apply_research.html
The Organic Farming Research Foundation (OFRF) funds research on organic farming and food systems and the dissemination of these research results to the greater agricultural community. Proposals must involve farmers or ranchers in project design and implementation and take place on working organic farms or ranches whenever possible. Additionally, proposals should articulate how the proposed research project will foster the improvement or adoption of organic farming systems.
Proposals are due November 16, 2009.

North Central SARE Graduate Student Grant
http://sare.org/ncrsare/grad.htm
NCR-SARE funds Graduate Student grants in Sustainable Agriculture for projects that address sustainable agriculture issues and are part of the student’s degree program. NCR-SARE instituted the Graduate Student grant program in 2002 for officially registered graduate students (Masters and Ph.D.) enrolled at accredited colleges or universities. Projects must benefit agriculture in the North Central Region. NCR-SARE awards grant funds for grad student projects up to $10,000, and projects may last up to three years.
Proposals are due January 28, 2010.

More Funding Opportunities (http://attra.ncat.org/funding/)

Coming Events

Getting Started in Farm Scale Biodiesel Production Webinar
http://www.attra.ncat.org/webinars2009/biodiesel1
November 5, 2009
Webinar
A free ATTRA webinar on Nov. 5 at 11 a.m. MST will highlight the basics of biodiesel production and show home brewers what precautions they can take to avoid potential problems associated with poor-quality fuel. Topics will include:
- The advantages and disadvantages of biodiesel
- The chemistry of biodiesel and step-by-step instructions to make your own fuel
- Types, prices and tradeoffs of biodiesel processors and equipment
- Oilseed production and processing
- Examples of farmers and ranchers making their own fuel
Please register in advance at the website listed above.

Soil Building and Water Management Systems Workshop
http://www.regenerativedesign.org/courses-events/principles-and-techniques-soil-building-and-water-management-systems
November 1-3, 2009
Aromas, California
This intensive three-day course will provide agricultural producers with a solid introduction to a series of innovative soil building and water management techniques originally developed in Australia. Instruction includes an overview of the principles as well as hands-on opportunities in the field to use survey and design tools, test plowing techniques and design individualized systems for one’s own farm or ranch. Instruction will also be available in Spanish.

Quivira Coalition Conference
http://quiviracoalition.org/Annual_Conference/index.html
November 4-6, 2009
Albuquerque, New Mexico
In 2009, we are celebrating the centennial of the arrival of the great American conservationist Aldo Leopold in the Southwest as a ranger with the fledging U.S. Forest Service. Over the course of a diverse and influential career, Leopold eloquently advocated a variety of critical conservation concepts, including wilderness protection, sustainable agriculture, wildlife research, ecological restoration, environmental education, land health, erosion control, biological holism, watershed management, and, of course, a land ethic. In this ‘practitioners’ Conference, we will feature speakers who are “living Leopold” in their work – people who are implementing his vision on the back forty, where the land ethic is alive and well.

Greenhouse/CSA Workshop
http://www.farrms.org/cgi-bin/farrms.org/farrmsnews/fnews.pl?record=35
November 4, 2009
Medina, North Dakota
In the morning we will hear from experts how to extend the ND growing season by utilizing greenhouses. In the afternoon, we’ll find out about Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) and how this new service is growing in ND.

More Events (http://attra.org/calendar/)

New & Updated Publications

Small-Scale Egg Handling
http://attra.ncat.org/calendar/new_pubs.php/2009/10/06/small_scale_egg_handling

Biodiesel: Do-it-yourself Production Basics
http://attra.ncat.org/calendar/new_pubs.php/2009/08/27/biodiesel_do_it_yourself_production_basi_1

Procesamiento de Aves a Pequeña Escala
http://attra.ncat.org/calendar/new_pubs.php/2009/08/20/procesamiento_de_aves_a_pequena_escala

Question of the Week

What can you tell me about growing hot peppers for market?
http://attra.ncat.org/calendar/question.php/2009/10/19/what_can_you_tell_me_about_growing_hot_p

Website of the Week

Land Link Services Program
http://attra.org/wow/

Ask a Sustainable Agriculture Expert

Submit questions to our professional staff online
http://attra.ncat.org/ask.php

ATTRA Spanish Newsletter

Subscribe to Cosecha Mensual (http://attra.ncat.org/espanol/boletin.php)
(Monthly Harvest), ATTRA’s Spanish-language e-newsletter

ATTRA on the Radio
This week’s discussion features new tools local governments can use to support local agriculture. Listen to the show: (http://www.attra.ncat.org/radioshow2009/).

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Their noose tightening continues....

After outlawing taking of Sea Bass, then Red Snapper, now this:

Recreational closure for greater amberjack in the Gulf of Mexico
By NOAA
Mon, Oct 19, 2009

Several hundred more headboats tied up in port with no fishing...

One by one they are plucking at our survival resources.

>>>The Food Safety Enhancement Act of 2009 HR 2749 has passed the House, ... Penalties in HR 2749 for unintentional violations can lead to between $250,000 ...<<<

Senate bill is a very closely similar one - S 510.

Plus....

Now the big squeeze is on against FOX News...

And...

They are trying to throttle free speech on the internet and talk radio...

Is anyone paying attention???????

I read that, too. I think it was Germany. Funny how that seems to be the way things are done.<<<

Yes, it was Germany and you can bet that it is no different here.

Not a lot of difference in today and history, the top gets the best and the peons get the scraps.

The following is a transcript of former Vice President Dick Cheney’s remarks at the Center for Security Policy:<<<

It is a shame that we will not benefit from V.P Cheney’s knowledge in the future, for I have always thought he should run for President.

I fear for the stupid things going on, in our names, they [’o’] have insulted our friends and hugged the enemy.

If the average left leaning American really understood what was going on, the nightmare would end in a hurry.

Cheney spoke well and the truth.

Senate bill is a very closely similar one - S 510.

Plus....

Now the big squeeze is on against FOX News...

And...

They are trying to throttle free speech on the internet and talk radio...

Is anyone paying attention???????<<<<<<<

NO......

To pay attention would be too painful for many of them.

If they read the communist intentions and work plans that I posted earlier today, they would see what is happening to them.

The food is there and we can’t touch it, how is that different than starving Ukraine?

First it was mining for the small miner, then the Loggers got theirs and now the fishermen are getting it.

And if you have graft money, you can take the area’s you want out of the plan, just as the Wilderness plan contained a clause that allowed certain area’s to be taken out, in 20 years and if you petition Congress.

The 20 years is about up, as it started in the 1970’s with force and who knows when the plan was made, or was it like so many others, borrowed from Russia?

Seeing and hearing some pretty bad things - like 39 year old local woman died yesterday from swine flu (otherwise healthy) plus just heard ambulance call for 6 year old child with severe chest pains - call was with a note that 4 others in the household had confirmed cases of swine flu.

I really worry about my school teacher daughter who is about 3 months pregnant...

http://www.sacbee.com/latest/story/2270154.html

Fish & Game director resigns

By Matt Weiser
mweiser@sacbee.com
Published: Wednesday, Oct. 21, 2009 - 4:10 pm

The director of California’s Department of Fish and Game is resigning after 18 months in the position, the Bee learned today.

This just hit my mailbox, does not say why he quit....

http://www.sacbee.com/topstories/story/2270048.html

Sac State police chief: One dead after beating, shooting

By Kim Minugh and Laurel Rosenhall
kminugh@sacbee.com
Published: Wednesday, Oct. 21, 2009 - 3:49 pm
Last Modified: Wednesday, Oct. 21, 2009 - 5:49 pm

A man beaten in a California State University, Sacramento dormitory room this afternoon has died, authorities announced in a news conference this evening.

continued, he was beat to death with a baseball bat.

http://www.fda.gov/AnimalVeterinary/NewsEvents/CVMUpdates/ucm187218.htm

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FDA Alerts Pet Owners to Voluntary Recall of Premium Edge Cat Food

October 20, 2009

FDA is providing the following information from Premium Edge Pet Foods to alert pet owners of a voluntary recall of certain cat foods manufactured by Diamond Pet Foods for Premium Edge. The affected brands were found to contain an inadequate level of thiamine, which may cause clinical signs of thiamine deficiency in cats eating this food. FDA is working on this situation and will provide additional information as it becomes available. If your veterinarian diagnoses that your cat has become ill from consuming the affected pet food, please ask your veterinarian to file a report with FDA.

Diamond Pet Foods has issued a voluntary recall on the following date codes of Premium Edge Finicky Adult cat food and Premium Edge Hairball cat food: RAF0501A22X 18 lb., RAF0501A2X 6 lb., RAH0501A22X 18 lb., RAH0501A2X 6 lb. The date of manufacture is May 28, 2009. All retail outlets shipped the above lots were contacted, asking them to pull the product from the store shelves. The retailers were also asked to contact their customers via email or telephone requesting them to check the date code of the food. However, if you or anyone you know has these date codes of Premium Edge cat food, please return them to your retailer.

Symptoms displayed by an affected cat will be neurological in nature. Symptoms may include wobbly walking or muscle weakness, paralysis of the hindlimbs, seizures, ventroflexion (bending towards the floor) of the neck, and abnormal eye movement called nystagmus. Any cats fed these date codes that display these symptoms should be immediately taken to a veterinarian.

The company tested the product and found no contaminants in the cat food; however the cat foods were deficient in thiamine. Diamond tracked the vitamin premix lot number that was utilized in these particular cat foods and have performed testing on another lot of Premium Edge cat food that used the same vitamin premix, and it was not deficient in thiamine. No other neurological signs have been reported on any other product manufactured by Diamond Pet Foods.

To contact Premium Edge Pet Foods, please call 800-977-8797 between the hours of 8 am and 5 pm central time, Monday through Friday.

WAY OFF TOPIC.....

Old Butch

John was in the fertilized egg business. He had several hundred young
layers (hens), called pullets, and ten roosters to fertilize the eggs.
He kept records, and any rooster not performing went into the soup
pot and was replaced. This took a lot of time, so he bought some tiny
bells and attached them to his roosters. Each bell had a different
tone, so he could tell from a distance which rooster was performing.
Now, he could sit on the porch And fill out an efficiency report by
just listening to the bells.

John’s favorite rooster, old Butch, was a very fine specimen, but this
morning he noticed old Butch’s bell hadn’t rung at all! When he went
to investigate, he saw the other roosters were busy chasing pullets,
bells-a-ringing, but the pullets, hearing the roosters coming, could
run for
cover. To John’s amazement, old Butch had his bell in his beak, so it
couldn’t ring. Old Butch would sneak up on a pullet, do his job and
walk on to the next one.

John was so proud of old Butch, he entered him in the Renfrew County
Fair and he became an overnight sensation among the judges.. The
result was the judges not only awarded old Butch the No Bell Piece
Prize but they also awarded him the Pulletsurprise as well.

Clearly old Butch was a politician in the making. Who else but a
politician could figure out how to win two of the most highly coveted
awards
on our planet by being the best at sneaking up on the populace and
screwing them when they weren’t paying attention.

Vote carefully next year, the bells are not always audible.

[Twice as funny to me, as it came from an old friend, who would have called in the middle of the night and asked for the meaning of it all......25 years ago....
granny]

This message contains the following:

1. Idea Village Recalls Wireless Light Switches Due to Fire Hazard (http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prhtml10/10014.html)
2. Off-Road Utility Vehicles Recalled by Bad Boy Enterprises Due To Crash Hazard (http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prhtml10/10015.html)
3. Haunted House Screen Candle Holders Recalled by Coyne’s & Co. Due to Fire Hazard; Sold Exclusively at Yankee Candle (http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prhtml10/10016.html)

**************************************************

1. NEWS from CPSC
U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission
Office of Information and Public Affairs
Washington, DC 20207

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 21, 2009
Release # 10-014

Firm’s Recall Hotline: (888) 655-4339
CPSC Recall Hotline: (800) 638-2772
CPSC Media Contact: (301) 504-7908

Idea Village Recalls Wireless Light Switches Due to Fire Hazard

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, in cooperation with the firm named below, today announced a voluntary recall of the following consumer product. Consumers should stop using recalled products immediately unless otherwise instructed.

Name of Product: Handy Switch, Wireless Light Switches

Units: About 1.3 million

Distributor: Idea Village Products Corp., of Wayne (formerly of Fairfield), N.J.

Hazard: The light switch receiver, which fits into the wall outlet, can overheat and pose a fire hazard to consumers.

Incidents/Injuries: The firm has received 14 reports of overheating, including nine reports of fire, five of which involved property damage such as minor damage to curtains, bedding or walls.

Description and Model: The Handy Switch is a white plastic wireless remote light switch with model number KS-080 printed on the back of the receiver. On the front of the receiver is a blue electroluminescent nightlight.

Sold at: Mass merchandisers and drug store chains nationwide, through television infomercials and the Internet from March 2007 through July 2009 for between $10 and $15.

Manufactured in: China

Remedy: Consumers should immediately unplug and stop using the product and contact IdeaVillage to learn about free remedy options.

Consumer Contact: For additional information, contact Idea Village toll-free at (888) 655-4339 between 5 am and 6 pm PT Monday through Friday, or visit the firm’s Web site at www.handyswitchrecall.com

Firm’s Media Contact: David Epstein at (800) 765-2994

To see this recall on CPSC’s web site, including a picture of the recalled product, please go to:
http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prhtml10/10014.html

**************************************************

2. NEWS from CPSC
U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission
Office of Information and Public Affairs
Washington, DC 20207

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 21, 2009
Release # 10-015

Firm’s Recall Hotline: (866) 678-6701
CPSC Recall Hotline: (800) 638-2772
CPSC Media Contact: (301) 504-7908

Off-Road Utility Vehicles Recalled by Bad Boy Enterprises Due To Crash Hazard

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, in cooperation with the firm named below, today announced a voluntary recall of the following consumer product. Consumers should stop using recalled products immediately unless otherwise instructed.

Name of Product: Classic Buggies

Units: About 3,900

Manufacturer: Bad Boy Enterprises LLC, of Natchez, Miss.

Hazard: The off-road vehicles can accelerate without warning, posing a risk of injury to the user and/or bystander.

Incidents/Injuries: Bad Boy Enterprises has received 32 reports of unexpected acceleration, including reports of injuries such as a fractured toe, rotator cuff injury and sore muscles.

Description: This recall involves Bad Boy Buggy Standard model off-road utility vehicles. The Bad Boy Buggy Standard model has one row seat that allows two persons (the driver and passenger) to sit side-by-side while the vehicle is operated. The Standard has an open air design (no doors or windows), but has a roof. The Bad Boy Buggy Standard models come in Realtree camouflage pattern, Hardwoods camouflage pattern, hunter green, red and black colors. The affected models have serial numbers between 85004828 and 95010404. The serial number is located on a sticker in a cubby on the driver’s side.

Sold by: Authorized dealers nationwide from June 2007 through July 2009 for about $10,000.

Manufactured in: United States

Remedy: Consumers should immediately stop using the buggies and contact their Bad Boy Buggy dealer for a free repair.

Consumer Contact: For additional information, contact Bad Boy Enterprises toll-free at (866) 678-6701 between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. CT Monday through Friday, or visit the firm’s Web site at www.badboyenterprises.com

To see this recall on CPSC’s web site, including a picture of the recalled product, please go to:
http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prhtml10/10015.html

**************************************************

3. NEWS from CPSC
U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission
Office of Information and Public Affairs
Washington, DC 20207

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 21, 2009
Release # 10-016

Firm’s Recall Hotline: (800) 336-8666
CPSC Recall Hotline: (800) 638-2772
CPSC Media Contact: (301) 504-7908

Haunted House Screen Candle Holders Recalled by Coyne’s & Co. Due to Fire Hazard; Sold Exclusively at Yankee Candle

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, in cooperation with the firm named below, today announced a voluntary recall of the following consumer product. Consumers should stop using recalled products immediately unless otherwise instructed.

Name of Product: Haunted House Screen Tea Light Holders

Units: About 7,800

Distributor: Coyne’s & Company, of Minneapolis, Minn.

Hazard: The window panes on the screen can ignite, posing a fire hazard.

Incidents/Injuries: The firm has received three reports of the window pane catching fire. No injuries have been reported.

Description: This recall involves haunted house screen tea light holders made of black metal with a transparent coating on the glass windows. The haunted house measures 15-inches wide by 15-inches high by 4-inches deep and can hold up to six tea lights. Tea light candles are not involved in this recall.

Sold exclusively at: Yankee Candle stores nationwide and online at YankeeCandle.com between August 2009 and September 2009 for about $25.

Manufactured in: China

Remedy: Consumers should immediately stop using the candle holders and contact Coyne’s & Company or Yankee Candle for a full refund.

Consumer Contact: For more information, contact Coyne’s & Co. at (800) 336-8666 between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. CT Monday through Thursday or visit the firm’s Web site at www.coynes.com. Consumers can also email the firm at custserv@coynes.com

To see this recall on CPSC’s web site, including a picture of the recalled product, please go to:
http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prhtml10/10016.html

********************************************************

‘CPSC 2.0’ Launches Product Safety Agency into Social Media — Learn more at http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prhtml09/09346.html

* Visit our new blog, OnSafety at www.cpsc.gov/onsafety

* See our videos on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/uscpsc

* Follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/OnSafety

* See our photos on Flickr at http://www.flickr.com/photos/uscpsc

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission is charged with protecting the public from unreasonable risks of serious injury or death from thousands of types of consumer products under the agency’s jurisdiction. The CPSC is committed to protecting consumers and families from products that pose a fire, electrical, chemical, or mechanical hazard. The CPSC’s work to ensure the safety of consumer products - such as toys, cribs, power tools, cigarette lighters, and household chemicals - contributed significantly to the decline in the rate of deaths and injuries associated with consumer products over the past 30 years.

To report a dangerous product or a product-related injury, call CPSC’s Hotline at (800) 638-2772 or CPSC’s teletypewriter at (800) 638-8270. To join a CPSC e-mail subscription list, please go to https://www.cpsc.gov/cpsclist.aspx. Consumers can obtain recall and general safety information by logging on to CPSC’s Web site at www.cpsc.gov.

http://thesurvivalpodcast.com/forum/index.php?topic=8146.0

Homemade Veggie Wash
http://www.stretcher.com/stories/00/001127b.cfm
There are a couple recipes for washes at this link. The main ingredients are water, white vinegar, baking soda, and lemon.

RECIPE #1 - Soaking
50/50 dilution of white vinegar and water. Soak for 5-10 minutes.
Rinse well. (Never soak mushrooms, they absorb water. Just rinse well.)

RECIPE #2 - Spraying
1 Tablespoon of lemon juice to 2 Tablespoons of baking soda with 1 cup of water. Put this mixture in a sprayer bottle.
After spraying, let produce sit for a few minutes.
Rinse well.

RECIPE #3 - Detergent Recipe - I don’t recommend this, but here it is. “Consumer Reports” suggests scubbing with a weak solution of Palmovive Dish Soap. Rinse very well.

Vegetable wash is excellent for removing all the wax preservative supermarkets like to spray on food and the pesticides that haven’t soaked in if you are buying commercially produced crops. I prefer the lemon and baking soda one personally, particularly for fruit. If you are the type to stockpile, I would mix ascorbic acid and sodium bicarbonate and keep it as a dry powder and then shake it out as needed.

Thanks, Ebonearth. Do you recommend a specific ratio, for example one tablet to one tablespoon, to make the powder?
A 1:2 ratio should be fine. In trying to find a ratio I came across that this, with a little Potasium and ASA is good for treating chicken depression due to heat stress. Amusing even if a little off-topic.

The label on the commercial product, “Veggie Wash”, states that it is made of “100% natural ingredients: water, natural cleaners made from corn and coconut, citrus oil, sodium citrate (a natural derivative of citrus fruit), glycerin (from coconut oil) and grapefruit seed extract”.

[An excellent garden and farm animal blog.]

http://grannymillerblog.blogspot.com/2009/03/march-ask-granny.html

Dear Granny,
I have been using Fit wash to clean my fruits & veggies but would like to use something natural.
What do you recommend?
Stacey

Stacey,
I had to look up what “Fit” was.
I think you probably aren’t going to like my answer to your question.

I grow and home preserve most of my fruits and vegetables.
For the most part I don’t have to worry about food contamination.
Any washing or cleaning of my fruit or vegetables is done straight from the garden with the garden hose or in the mudroom sink.

When I do need to scrub vegetables for soil I use a sink full of regular dish washing soap and rinse them well.

During the winter months I will sometimes buy bananas, oranges, grapefruit, leaf lettuce, celery, baby carrots and radishes at the grocery store if I happen to get to town.
When buying those items I kick into “Beirut Mode”.

That is I assume that the food is contaminated and treat it like I’m back in Beirut.
While living in the 3rd world, I was taught to wash all fruits and vegetables in a sink full of cool water with 1/2 tablespoon of chlorine bleach added.
The produce is then gently rinsed and allow to dry.

Unsafe food in America is one of the many negative consequences of so called “ Free Trade”, NAFTA and Factory Farming.

Chlorine bleach isn’t “natural” but it does the trick.
Bleach is cheap and kills lots of cooties and will remove wax, and spray residue.
I won’t take a chance that factory food is safe to eat.

If I had to buy all my fruits and vegetables from a grocery store that is how I would treat them.

That said, it looks to me like the manufacture of Fit is really making a stretch by advertising their product as “natural”.

I’d love to know what is so natural about it.

“Oleic acid, glycerol (from vegetable sources), ethyl alcohol (from corn), potassium hydrate (from basic minerals), baking soda (from basic minerals), citric acid (from corn starch and molasses), and distilled grapefruit oil”.

I’ll bet a $ that the glycerol, ethyl alcohol and cornstarch are made from GM corn and the grapefruit was sprayed.
I’m sure potassium hydrate is “natural” - but so is lye and ammonia.

Excellent, thinking and talking at the same time.

Thank you!!!!

http://thesurvivalpodcast.com/forum/index.php?topic=10070.0

Vilsack Mistakenly Pitched “GMOs-Feed-The-World” to an Audience of Experts—Oops

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jeffrey-smith/vilsack-mistakenly-pitche_b_319998.html

a snippet::::

-was trying to sound even handed. Then he made a tragic mistake.

After a slight pause, he added in a warm tone, “I will tell you that the world is very concerned about the ever-increasing population of the globe and the capacity to be able to feed all of those people.”

Moans, groans, hisses, even boos. Not rowdy, mind you. But clearly agitated.

continued..

http://thesurvivalpodcast.com/forum/index.php?topic=341.0

[Interesting thread, quick and easy, and frugal]

Re: The Five Item Challenge
« Reply #19 on: October 19, 2008, 02:23:14 PM »

My family love buttermilk biscuits and sausage gravy. My recipe calls for buttermilk but if there were no refrigeration then I needed
to come up with a solution for no buttermilk.

Source: Local Kroger store in the baking isle

Cost: 2.89 per container

container size: 12 oz

Serving per container: 15

Calories per serving: 80

Here’s my recipe for buttermilk biscuits and I use the lid of a pam spray can for my biscuit cutter. I get about 22 biscuits from this recipe.
Total cost for this recipe is 1.00 per batch. Which is 4 cents approx per biscuit.

1/2 C cold crisco or 1 stick of butter.
2 1/4 cups flour + 2 tsp. baking powder
2 tablespoons buttermilk powder
1 1/4 cup cold water.

Mix baking powder, buttermilk powder and flour together.
Cut in 1/2 cup cold crisco
Add in 1 1/4 cup cold water
Mix with a fork and sticky dough forms.
Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and gradually add flour as needed.

With floured hands press or pat into a 3/4 inch thick rectangle about 9x 5”. Srpinkle top with additional
flour. Fold dough over on itself in 3 sections starting with left side. Repeat 3 times then final pat will
be large circle 3/4” thick. cut out Biscuits and gently put on a greased baking sheet.

Preheat oven 450 degrees and bake for 13-15 minutes until golden brown. Remove & brush tops with melted butter.

I also use this same recipe to make cinnamon raisin biscuits and add a little buttermilk and powdered sugar glaze to the top.

You can also add 1 cup cheese and 1 teas. garlic powder and spoon by big spoonfuls on greased baking sheet to make garlic cheese biscuits.

If you mix all the dry ingredients together in ziplock bags for camping trips you can just use 1 stick of butter and the water and bake in a cake pan that fits down into a dutch oven for campfire baking.

Re: The Five Item Challenge
« Reply #22 on: October 24, 2008, 10:10:06 PM »

I would like to throw in some ideas that I have been using... so not a new thing, but just some ideas keep in mind I am a vegetarian:

TVP: Texturized vegetbale protein, I use Bob’s Red Mill :http://www.bobsredmill.com/product.php?productid=3598
I use a bit over the serving but a cup is about a pound of ground beef... add some olive oil and you get density. turns spaghetti sauce or hambuger helper into pretty close to the real thing. I get about 3 to 4 servings per bag costs me about $3 in my local grocery store. I freeze it but it is room temp storage for a very long time ( I just had some 1.5 years old)

Another thought on dried beans: about beans: As my username suggests I do some sprouting.
I do alfalfa seed, mung beans, and others.... but as the best goes for protein I do alot of lentils. These mighty beans are awesome!Lentils have so much nutrition value it is pathetic. Takes about 2 days only and my 2 year old loves them and even my redneck princess, I don’t eat anything step daughter munches on the in salads. If power is off you can sprout if you have water to rinse. I won’t go into the whole spouting process here but it is definatly something to consider in the cold months when salad may not be readily available. Do a web search on sprouting, a mason jar. some screen or cheesecloth is all you need. You get all the protein plus some plant enzyme and chlorophyll nutrition. Do some grain like Quinoa and you get a complete protein when combined with beans ( all 9 essential ammino acids) Wild rice is sproutable but but not enriched or white rice Mahatma junk because well, wild rice technically is not a rice.

dehydration of fruits: We do it all blueberries, plums, strawberries, bananas, etc, with refrigeration they last at least a year in tight ziplocs, use a vacuum sealer and even longer.

Lots of protein powders last for a year, easy to mix with milk, water, or powdered milks. The bodybuilder stuff is full of vitamins that lean toward stress. Yes the focus is on physical stress but do you think mental and physical stress will not be experienced during some bad times?

Anyway thanks for the read and hope I haven’t brought up anything previously posted!

Gorilla’s are pretty strong as far as wimpy vegetarians go.

http://thesurvivalpodcast.com/forum/index.php?topic=8672.0

2 Ingredient Cake
« on: September 10, 2009, 09:29:41 AM »

Got this from my sister a few years back and have made it a number of times. We’re not huge pop drinkers, however, this is delicious and since pop has a decent shelf life (for junk food) this is great!

1 boxed cake mix (flavor, brand or type doesn’t matter - I last used a Duncan Hines Moist yellow cake mix)
1 12-oz. can of soda (flavor or brand doesn’t matter)

Mix them together in a big bowl as it tends to fizz. Then follow the rest of the directions on the box just like you would a regular cake/cupcakes! (Check it about 5 minutes before time’s up.)

You can experiment with this using flavored cake mixes and different pops. The kids like white cake and orange Crush while Dad and I like Coke and chocolate cake. I believe this was originally intended for dieters - use diet pop and the calories and fat are practically nonexistent; but I’m not dieting and it tends to leave a funny aftertaste. If you try some combo that’s really great, let me know!!

This is a popular bot scout recipe but you are missing an ingredient for the boy scout recipe. This is the basis of a “dump cake’ and you are forgetting the dump. The dump is a can of any ready made pie filling. My personal favorite is the blackberry pie filling. You pour the pie stuff into the bottom of the dutch oven, pour the cake mixture on top of it. Pour the soda on top of the cake batter (no mixing required). cover with dutch oven lid and bury with coals.

one of our favorites is cherry pie filling with a chocolate cake and a dr pepper.

http://thesurvivalpodcast.com/forum/index.php?topic=2226.0

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hardtack

People still eat it and the article says it will last for years if it is kept dry. Something to think about storing.

Here is the recipe.

http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Cookbook:Hard_Tack

http://thesurvivalpodcast.com/forum/index.php?topic=2226.0

I didn’t know until I started researching this stuff years ago.

Hardtack was used by Civil War Soldiers and maybe back to ancient times. It’s basically flower, salt, and water baked about 1/4th an inch thick until bone dry. It ends up looking like really hard, thick crackers. I’ve read this stuff lasts decades and is similar in concept to ‘Sailor’s Biscuits’. Soldiers would eat them by dipping them in coffee or frying them over the fire. The main complaint was that weevils would get into the hardtack, but hey - more protein!! I have not found any current references to it’s use, however, nor any person under 65 that has ever heard of it. Just curious.

Re: merged:Good Old-Fashioned Hardtack Recipes
« Reply #13 on: January 16, 2009, 06:33:45 AM »

I have made some before.
The recipe I used is:
3 cups unbleached flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup yellow cornmeal
1TBSP sugar
1TBSP salt
11/2 cups milk

roll out until about 1/4” thick bake at 400 on greased cookie sheet, turning, til both sides are slightly browned.

It is rather tasteless and you could easily break a tooth if you bite into it as-is. Take a small piece and let it soak in your mouth for a while before you chew it. Or crumble some up and fry it in bacon grease.

Hope this helps.

Swedish Hardtack

* 1 cup water
* 3 tbsp. vegetable oil
* 3 tbsp. honey
* 3 cups rye flour (or 1 1/2 cups rye & 1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour)
* 1 1/2 tbsp. brewer’s yeast (optional)
* 1/4 tsp. salt

Mix liquids together. In a separate bowl, mix dry ingredients. Combine the mixtures, stirring to moisten throughout. Form a ball. On a floured surface, flatten the dough, and roll out thinly. Cut into squares and prick each cracker with the tines of a fork a couple of times. Transfer to lightly greased baking sheets. Bake at 425° F for around 8 minutes, checking to be sure not to over-brown. It is best served warm.

For Hardtack and other alternative recipies for use in emergencies, check out

http://www.beforethestormhits.com/

There’s also a recipie for “waffles”. (I found this through another post a while ago on this message board.) If you haven’t listened to this guy’s free audio, in my humble opinion it is definitely worth your time. He even talks about making tortillas and donuts and how easy that is in an emergency. Frankly, I’m all about the donuts! Smiley (P.S. This isn’t a joke, listen to his audio.)

Here’s a recipe for Hardtack:
http://kenanderson.net/hardtack/recipes.html

And Pemmican:
http://www.natureskills.com/pemmican_recipe.html

What about Permmican(sp?)
I havent tryed to make it yet I am waiting for another guinnepig. It may be an excellent complament to hardtack.

Pretty easy too. The way I did it was to take unsalted, unflavored and VERY dry jerky and put it into a blender until its almost a powder consistency (has to be very dry). Then I add some very dry craisins (dried cranberries) to the bleder and chop them very fine. You can use other dried fruits, or omit fruits entirely for traditional pemmican, I just like the tartness that the craisins add to the mix. When that’s done mix about 5 parts jerky/berry mix to 4 parts of melted tallow or lard. The exact proportion isn’t important, you just want it to have a smooth consistency. Let it cool and dig in.

This will store for years as-is. even longer in the freezer.

Pemmican is very “rich” and I’d advise eating a very small portion ‘til you know what effect so much grease has on you’re guts (don’t ask why I know this).

Try:

http://www.bentscookiefactory.com/Products.html

Be aware however they supplied hardtack to the Union Army.

My first preppin’ thing I tried was to make hardtack, from http://www.survivaltopics.com/survival/how-to-make-hardtack/. I just found the batch I made in the pantry this weekend and it was all moldy. I don’t think I cooked it long enough or let it dry out enough. I’m also not sure how to store it. I put mine in a plastic ziplok, but I think that just trapped moisture inside. YUK! Tongue

http://thesurvivalpodcast.com/forum/index.php?topic=2226.30

Hardtack is nothing more or less than a dehydrated tortilla. Thats all hardtack is. My dad was born in 1899. When we went out we always took hardtack, corn dodgers and parched corn (something like corn nuts) as our fall back food.
Hardtack is not a nutritious food. It is a calorie source only.
Once dried, kept from moisture and pests it will probably last forever. After my dad died I went through some of our old camping gear and found the oilskin bag we kept the hardtack in (wrapped in wax or butcher paper). Had to be at least ten years old. Nostalgia caught up to me and I sat down and ate some. Tasted just as bad then as it did the day we made it... But it was edible. The hemp and canvas water bottles were empty though and water is a definite necessity if your chowing down on hardtack.
Using hardtack for calories and a bottle of good multivitamins w/minerals you should be able to function for a looong time, you will be needing water.
Hint: If you want Hardtack that lasts don’t use oil in the batter. if you want some type of shortening use actual real Lard and as little as your palette will allow, NEVER use generic Veg oil to shorten hardtack you will ruin its storage properties.

regards,
Shadowalker

Oh yea,

He ran away from home to avoid the family feud over a 6000 acre parcel of land cause he didn’t want to kill his cousins or brother (and to show how serious these feuds were taken, my aunt his sister lived less than five miles from us and we didn’t know it until we read an obit in the paper...she’d been killed by a burglar).

Ended up in WW-I, lived in Europe for a while then came back to the states where he met my uncle (my mom’s brother) then went back to Europe for WW-II (my uncle went to the pacific theatre as he didn’t join until after Pearl, at the time he didn’t the the Euro-pee war as he called it was his business).

My uncle went career Army and was in WW-II, Korea and Vietnam. Between the two of them I got eye-witness accounts of what really went on during those conflicts and learned how stuff was done prior to the consumeization of the outdoors.

By the way just as an aside if your a German apologist, Nazi Sympathizer White supremacist or such keep it to yourself or be man enough to take what I do to you if your also a Holocaust denier.

My dad was there. He didn’t liberate any of the Jewish camps but he did liberate what was left of a Gypsy camp. You don’t here about what they did to the Gypsies but it was just as extreme as what was done to the Jews only more so as the Gypsies had no one to cry for them.

Our neighbor was also a Jew who survived a camp so I grew up KNOWING the truth of what went on and just how out of control a government can get. Probably why I’m so twisted in the head about ‘do good’ government programs now. Hell, the Nazis really thought there were ‘doing good’ for Germany and the world.

They found the camp purely by accident. While sweeping through their patrol area they came upon a sight where there had been a big fire. Being from a farming and ranching background my dad recognized the remains of an old style hand forged iron axle hub so they started looking through the ash and found the bones... one of the guys in his unit had lived in Romania and recognized a piece of wood carved like the Gypsy bardos he had seen when he was a boy.

They had already begun hearing the rumors of what the Germans were doing so they started looking for a camp and found the disposal pit. It was an area between two hillocks were the bodies were dumped and the tops of the hill were basically bulldozed over to cover the bodies. The number of bodies was way beyond what you’d expect for a POW graveyard and there were women and children... Many of the bodies were not whole but the area of the missing parts was smooth not ragged like you get from explosions or being pulled out of rubble.

The entire unit was so angry over what they found they were all ordered to stand down for a day and cool off.

They found the camp and the Germans the next day... there were a little over 200 people rescued still alive.

My dad didn’t talk much about it but my uncle told me the ‘official’ report says the Germans were offered terms but chose every man of them without exception to ‘fight to the death’ so there were no Germans captured alive.

Unlike the Jews the Gypsies had no one to tell their story and when people come up with these revised numbers saying how few were killed others should remember that when an entire family or clan is wiped out there will be no one to report them missing... To this day they are still finding mass graves were a Nation tried to hide its sin. Oops, I started ranting, Sorry.

Regards,
Shadohawk

Used to do civil war reinacting so I am quite familiar with hard tack. One thing we really liked to do with hardtack was throw it in a stew. It sucks up all the yummy stew juice and gets soft. Its like a giant piece of pasta when you cook it long enough.

Today I tried making Hardtack with the recipe kilo provided (thanks for posting Kilo) http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Cookbook:Hard_Tack

It listed Shortening as optional so, I didn’t put any in. Most recipes were fairly similar one thing I saw was do not use oil. That is why I didn’t use Randy’s recipe although it did look tastier. I also noticed that Archer and Kilo had an almost identical recipe. Archers is essentially just double the ingredients, but it was also at a lower temperature and for a shorter time. Also, in Archer’s recipe you cut it before baking not halfway through like in Kilo’s. I picked Kilo’s recipe to try out first because it seems the whole thing behind Hardtack is that you want to get as much moisture out as possible. As expected the resulting Hardtack is hard as a rock, but hey that is the point. BTW I used whole wheat flour which may have something to so with it. I intend on trying Archer’s recipe out too. After that I will make some stew or soup and do a taste comparison. One thing I already want to say for anyone making them is to make sure not to roll it too thin. I had some edges burn. Anyway, thanks guys.

The other day I made some hardtack again, but this time I used Archer’s recipe.

http://kenanderson.net/hardtack/recipes.html

“Army Hardtack Recipe

Ingredients:

* 4 cups flour (perferably whole wheat)
* 4 teaspoons salt
* Water (about 2 cups)
* Pre-heat oven to 375° F
* Makes about 10 pieces

Mix the flour and salt together in a bowl. Add just enough water (less than two cups) so that the mixture will stick together, producing a dough that won’t stick to hands, rolling pin or pan. Mix the dough by hand. Roll the dough out, shaping it roughly into a rectangle. Cut into the dough into squares about 3 x 3 inches and ½ inch thick.

After cutting the squares, press a pattern of four rows of four holes into each square, using a nail or other such object. Do not punch through the dough. The appearance you want is similar to that of a modern saltine cracker. Turn each square over and do the same thing to the other side.

Place the squares on an ungreased cookie sheet in the oven and bake for 30 minutes. Turn each piece over and bake for another 30 minutes. The crackers should be slightly brown on both sides.

The fresh crackers are easily broken but as they dry, they harden and assume the consistentency of fired brick.”

I haven’t tried tasting this recipe or Kilo’s, but hey it’s hardtack it’s not like it’s going to go bad anytime soon. Sunday I plan on making some stew and comparing the two. I am also going to try it with honey, because I think hardtack and honey would make great complimentary survival foods. Both have lots of calories and keep forever. My hypothesis is that Kilo’s recipe will keep longer, but Archers may taste better. I will post an update after my taste test. I need the extra time anyway to see if i can convince my wife to try some Wink

Ok, I finally got around to tasting both recipes for hardtack. And no my wife declined to try it and I am pretty sure she thinks I am crazy for even making it. However, my results were quite interesting. I tried both hardtack recipes by using soup to soften them up as well as using honey on them while dry. The wikipedia recipe that was posted by Kilo was pretty much inedible no matter what I did. The soup didn’t soften it up enough. It was still hard as a rock by the time I finished my soup after sitting in it the whole time I ate. The honey didn’t help either and I almost chipped my tooth. You might could eat it if you literally ground it to dust and mixed it in a thin soup to thicken it up. That is the only reason I kept the rest of my batch. The Army hardtack recipe that Archer listed though turned out much much better. It was softened by the soup fairly quickly and was pretty bland itself so, it took on the taste of the soup. It was also very good with the honey. i had hoped that this would be the case. i am going to store a couple batches with a jar of honey for emergency preps. I could see it being good with jellies and jams too. I will also be keeping a couple pieces in my bag for hunting along with a couple packets of jelly or honey that you get at fastfood places. The whole process of making it was pretty easy too. I am glad to have learned this skill and even more glad that I tested it out and found a recipe that works before the SHTF. I feel a little more prepared. Especially knowing how long this stuff will last. Maybe I will run another test a year from now to see how things hold up. All i did to preserve them was wrap them in alluminum foil, placed that in a ziplocked bag and put it in the back of a dark cupboard. So, thanks for posting the recipes guys. And if anyone wants to make their own hardtack, use the Army’s recipe. That is one thing they definitely got right.

Decided to try out a batch of Hard tack - Idea to ‘take a hike’ later today just seemed like a good opportunity to sling out a batch. Original idea came from this tread: http://thesurvivalpodcast.com/forum/index.php?topic=5420.0 where the recipe came from http://www.backwoodshome.com/articles2/rohdenburg81a.html.

Seems when I got to making it though I found that I didn’t have regular Corn meal - I had corn meal mix... Eh,.. what the heck.. it’s an experiment.

So a pan is in the oven, about 20 minutes left on it. Not going to peek on it until the timer goes off.
~~~~~~~~

Semi Fail -

First note - consistency is a key item here... Appears that there is still some moisture after the 30 minute cook time at 350. But a lot of that has to do with the size and the lack of Quality Control... Well it is an experiment after all.

DW wanted to try it first,... I was taking care of some of the laundry. Her comment was that it was similar to Corn Bread... and then it would prob go well with brown bean (soup beans). She pulled out the butter and finished off the first ‘cake’.

Next time I’ll have to get regular corn meal and not corn meal mix... Overall good flavor,.. not a brick so I don’t know how long they will / would keep.

I’ve found when I have made it, that it’s best to use as little water as possible, the recipe I have calls for about 1-1/2 cups water but I found that one cup works best. Also keep the oven open slightly to let the moisture out Wink I also have a homemade treat made out of peanut butter thats similar to the hardtack. Good luck and have fun

http://thesurvivalpodcast.com/forum/index.php?topic=583.0

700+ Wild Game Recipes...
« on: October 22, 2008, 03:52:12 PM »

http://www.wildgamerecipes.org/

Tim

http://thesurvivalpodcast.com/forum/index.php?topic=3437.0

Pemmican recipes and preparation methods
« on: March 02, 2009, 12:26:38 PM »

For the reference here’s a list of different Pemmican recipes and preparation methods, not surprisingly different tribes had different variations on the basics so I thought someone could find it of use. http://www.lns.cornell.edu/~seb/pemmican.html

Pemmican
Servings: 6
2 cups buffalo jerky or beef jerky, shredded
1 cup dried chokeberries or tart red cherries, chopped
6 TBSP tallow(beef fat) or butter, melted
Combine all ingredients and form into 6 patties. Refrigerate until serving.

Title: Saskatoon Pemmican
Categories: Amerindian, Camping, Dried, Game, Fruits
Yield: 3 cups
1 c Jerky; beef or venison
1 c Dried Saskatoon berries or
-dried blueberries
1 c Unroasted sunflower seeds or
-crushed nuts of any kind
2 ts Honey
1/4 c Peanut butter
1/2 ts Cayenne [optional]
This version uses peanut butter rather than melted suet or lard as the binding agent, which is more palatable for today’s health conscious diets.
Grind [or pound] the dried meat to a mealy powder. Add the dried berries and seeds or nuts. Heat the honey, peanut butter and cayenne until softened. Blend. When cooled, store in a plastic bag or sausage casing in a cool dry place. It will keep for months.
From: Edible Wild Fruits and Nuts of Canada, published by the National Museums of Canada, ISBN 0-660-00128-4

Pemmican Manifesto From: Kent Multer - from a PaleoDiet source - http://paleofood.com//pemmican.htm

This is the text of the first draft that I sent a few weeks ago, with updates marked. Note that there are also a few new questions that came up. Feel free to email me any additional answers or other thoughts.

INGREDIENTS

* Raw red meat. Eye round roast is widely recommended.
UPDATE: Also rump steak and London broil.
* Suet: this is a particular type of beef fat. Other types will not work correctly, so be sure you get the right stuff.
UPDATE: At least one reader has used other types of fat successfully, although he says the shelf life may not be as long. One person suggested that lamb fat would work, but hadn’t actually tried it.

QUESTIONS:
1. Is “tallow” the same as suet, or is this a more generic term for animal fat?
2. Also, what about lard? Ray’s recipe in the archive uses the words “lard” and “tallow” as if they are equivalent; but in another message, he said that lard is pork fat and will not work correctly.

* Flavorings (optional). Salt, pepper, garlic, and dried fruit or nuts are sometimes used. One person recommended sage. If using salt, go easy on it.
UPDATE: Traditionally the dried fruit was cranberries. But commerical ones are now high in sugar. People have recommended dried cherries.
LATE UPDATE: According to the instructions that came with my dryer, you should use at least 1 tsp. of salt per pound of meat in order to prevent bacteria growth.
You will need about 60% meat, 40% suet — these measurements are by weight, after preparation. If you have extra of either, you can save it for the next batch.
NEW QUESTION: someone asked how you would save the extra. The meat, I presume, can be stored at room temp. like jerky. Is the suet equally stable?

PREPARING THE MEAT

Slice and dry as you would for jerky; it must be dry enough to break rather than bend. Break it up by hand or with a food processor. Some people like it powdered, some prefer a more granular texture. Add the spices or other flavorings, if any.
NEW QUESTION: Other than with a food processor or blender, how do you grind the meat? with some kind of knife, mallet, mortar & pestle, etc.?

PREPARING (”rendering”) THE SUET

This is the part of the process about which there is the most confusion. Apparently the idea is to remove the skins or rinds, as well as any water.
UPDATE: re removing water: one person recommends actually adding some water at first, to prevent burning. During cooking, the water settles to the bottom and boils away. You can see the little blobs of water at the bottom of the pan; it’s done when they’re gone.
Cut the suet into small chunks, and heat it in a pan over LOW heat — don’t let it get hot enough to smoke, as it may give the pemmican a bad taste.
UPDATE: — and have other unpleasant side effects such as adding impurities to the food, annoying your spouse, etc.
The best explanation I found for this process was from Bob Baldwin on Oct. 30. He wrote: This process take a while and you will end up with melted fat and brown globs of stuff (it’s not a gross as it sounds). Pour the whole works through a sieve into another pan (I got a large sieve at Target - it doesn’t need to be giant) and discard the globs — I use a coffee can. I then pu a couple of layers of cheese cloth in the sieve and filter the fat again. Now you have the fat.

QUESTIONS:
1. What about removing moisture? Does it settle to the bottom of the pan, so that it’s easy to separate? Or does it just boil or evaporate away?
2. Ray’s book says to “render” the suet twice — “render” apparently means the whole process of heat, filter, and cool. Is twice really necessary? (Bob doesn’t think so, and the recipe in the archive doesn’t call for it.)
UPDATE: another person says one rendering is enough.

FINAL PREPARATION

Let the suet cool until it is cool enough to touch but still liquid. Pour it onto the meat slowly and mix it in until all the meat is “just saturated” (Ray) or “about the consistency of fudge” (Bob). Fill muffin tins with it, or roll it out into a sheet and cut into cookie-size chunks. When cool, it should be firm, although still a bit greasy to the touch; so wrap it in foil, plastic, or something else that the fat won’t soak through. Properly made, it should keep for years at room temperature.

The Complete Light-Pack Camping and Trail Foods Cookbook - http://www.whiteoak.org/learning/food.htm
Basic Pemmican
2 oz. cooked, ground, and dried beef
2 and 1/2 oz. lard or vegetable fat (shortening)
Put the meat in a container lined with plastic film. Melt the fat and let it cool slightly to a gluey consistency. Pour the fat over the meat and let it harden. Wrap airtight and store, preferably in a freezer if you won’t need the pemmican for a while.
Pemmican #2
2 oz. cooked, ground, and dried beef
2 and 1/2 oz. lard or vegetable fat
1 T minced dried onions
Prepare as above.
Pemmican #3
2 oz. cooked, ground, and dried beef
3 oz. lard or vegetable fat
1/2 oz. dried (heat dried) ground berries
Prepare as above.
These recipes come from a book entitled The Complete Light-Pack Camping and Trail Foods Cookbook by Edwin P. Drew. The author suggests shaping the pemmican into bars by packing it into a match box lined with plastic wrap and then removing it when hard. He recommends the use of lard over vegetable shortening because of its superior flavor. He suggests that if you are going to carry other foods along with the pemmican, as is commonly done today, that you carry the pemmican and the berries separately. Lightly salting or peppering the pemmican after it cools will add additional flavor. The pemmican, like all dried foods, should be protected from heat and light. Depending on the ingredients, preparation, and storage conditions the pemmican should last up to 8 months or better. Freezing will definitely extend the life.

Pemmican has a very high food value. Made as the basic recipe above, it has 185 calories, 10 grams of protein, and 15 grams of fat per ounce.

A Recipe for Making Pemmican - http://www.tc.umn.edu/~haskell/HSP/PEMMICAN.html
Excerpted from: The Voyageur News, Winter 1998 (Vol. 21, No.4), North American Voyageur Council, Inc. A Recipe for Making Pemmican
Originally submitted by the Dooleys of Boise and printed in the Winter 1981 (Vol. 4, No. 1) Newsletter for Voyageurs
1 Batch = 3 1/2 pounds
4 cups dried meat - depending on how lean it is, it can take 1 - 2 lbs. per cup. Use only deer, moose, caribou, or beef (not pork or bear). Get it as lean as possible and double ground from your butcher if you don’t have a meat grinder. Spread it out very thinly in cookie sheets and dry at 180° overnight or until crispy and sinewy. Regrind or somehow break it into almost a powder.
3 cups dried fruit - to taste mix currents, dates, apricots, dried apples. Grind some and leave some lumpy for texture.
2 cups rendered fat - use only beef fat. Cut into chunks and heat over the stove over medium (or Tallow) heat. Tallow is the liquid and can be poured off and strained.
Unsalted nuts to taste and a shot of honey.
Combine in a bowl and hand mix. Double bag into four portions. The mixture will last for quite a while without refrigeration. I have eaten it four years old. It actually improves with age.
HINT: Vary the fat content to the temperature in which it will be consumed. Less for summer. Lots for winter. Not only is it good energy food for canoeing, but an excellent snack for cross country skiing.
This recipe was originally from a Chippewayan Indian Guide as he learned it from his father. No buffalo chips!