You may know that hollow taps (spiles) were made from sumac wood by pioneers. For anyone else interested here is a link to an article that discusses this.
Posted on 11/08/2023 4:41:07 AM PST by MtnClimber
We all know about gold and guns. But here are some important provisions that might not occur to most people.
Our national descent into the hellish landscape of climate hysteria, virulent Jew-hatred in the streets, and Marxist-Leninist despotism continues unabated. Due to runaway inflation and the massive federal debt, the dollar’s value has shrunk like a cheap cotton towel washed in hot water. Weekly grocery bills and energy costs have almost doubled since 2021, while real wage growth has declined due to the economic strangulation of progressive bureaucratic regulation and nonexistent congressional oversight.
Combine this bleak economic outlook with our Obama-approved, hate-America-first, failed foreign policy, and you have the likely possibility of a severe economic depression during a time of multiple foreign military engagements. (Stolen elections have predicable consequences!)
How do you prepare for such an awful confluence of events? By accepting and acting upon the real possibility of food, water, energy, and medical supplies shortages in the months ahead. There are plenty of articles, videos, and social media posts that deal with the basics of prepping. Today, I’m suggesting acquiring overlooked items that may greatly aid in the rough times ahead.
1. Real maple syrup. This household staple can be used for barter and for your own food preparation. Sealed in small glass bottles or in those beige plastic jugs, maple syrup requires no refrigeration and can be bartered in small quantities. Most preppers have five-gallon buckets of oatmeal in their pantry, but few include maple syrup (and cinnamon) to flavor their cooked cereal or cookies. Maple syrup will always be in high demand.
2. 4” PVC pipe with assorted end caps, oxygen-absorbers, and desiccant packs. Many Americans will want to protect and hide small high-value items such as pocket pistols, ammo, thumb drives, hard drives, family documents, passports...
(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...
The words of an amateur survivalist.
Bookmark
The first week or so, maybe longer it’s gonna be wild, get under good cover and stay out of sight. Be prepared to eliminate ANY threats and be sure to dispose of the remains so as to not draw attention to yourself. After the shooting dies down be ultra cautious how you expose yourself when you check your perimeter. Pray.
Apply honey to moderate superficial burns
Got my copy...not cheap.
Printed out several copies years ago.
Great read. Useful reference.
4” pipe is arguably too small.
Recommend 6” or larger.
Many important items fit best in >6” pipe.
And add shoes to the list. Most everyone walks around in cheap glued together Chinese crap for footwear.
Replacement footwear is important for you and barter.
Yes, light hiking boots work well.
“Most people will starve when the supplies run out .”
99.999% of so-called survivalists have never tried living out in the bush with no power, while sustaining themselves on a one-acre garden.
They will starve to death when the supplies run out.
“...dispose of the remains so as to not draw attention ...”
Tell us how to do that.
And LOTS of seasoned firewood to boil it down.
Yes and no.
You do NOT want a roaring fire under your sap. That will caramelize the sugars. You need it hot enough to evaporate but not to boil. There are things you can do to increase heat efficiency like building baffles around your fire or bed of coles/embers to contain heat under your evaporator leaving just enough gaps to allow some oxygen in to feed it. Once you have a hot bed established, since you don’t want a raging fire, you can simply give it occasional cut branches. You don’t need seasoned logs.
That is why I said it really just takes patience.
Did the same, with the nagging feeling (and probably his point) that it should be for current reference.
Wow, sounds like lots of first-hand personal experience speaking there, Z3n.
I LOVE honest pure maple syrup. Mom put maple syrup on cottage cheese when I was a kid, probably to make it palatable to a youngster. I still remember how good that was.
I made crumpets for the first time yesterday using my sourdough starter discard. They are a cross between a pancake and an English muffin. I had jam on the first one, but tried maple syrup on the second one. That was REALLY good.
Couldn’t be much easier — just the discard, salt, sugar and baking soda.
The easiest way to reduce your boiling time of the sap is to keep it outside at night and let the container freeze.
Then before it thaws pour off the more concentrated sap into another container and repeat the process. This is how the native Americans made syrup.
I would collect my sap in 5 gallon containers. It made it easier to pour into the boiling pan. Also, easier to load in and out of my pick up truck. I used to put out about 30+ taps at my former residence. I usually ended up with about 3-4 gallons of syrup. I tapped three trees that were over 200 years old. About 4’ in diameter each. Then there were another 15 trees that all had probably come from the original four. Those four had been planted in the front of a former late 1700s homestead. The only thing remaining was the field stone foundation. It burned to the ground in the mid 1800s.
How to concentrate maple sap into maple syrup! Excellent piece of information!
You may know that hollow taps (spiles) were made from sumac wood by pioneers. For anyone else interested here is a link to an article that discusses this.
We have GALLONS of Maple Syrup on hand. Beau makes it every Spring from the three Maple trees we have in our house yard.
There’s a learning curve, but he’s really good at it now - five seasons in - and every year he improves some aspect of the operation.
He uses a very shallow pan with channels in it and that boils down the sap to the consistency he needs, then we finish it off on the kitchen stove. He foes this over a wood fire, outside. First year I ended up making some into ‘Maple Sugar’ because I got it too hot.
Yep. Learning curve!
" ..Our national descent into the hellish landscape of climate hysteria, virulent Jew-hatred in the streets, and Marxist-Leninist despotism continues unabated.
Due to runaway inflation and the massive federal debt, the dollar’s value has shrunk like a cheap cotton towel washed in hot water.
Weekly grocery bills and energy costs have almost doubled since 2021, while real wage growth has declined due to the economic strangulation of progressive bureaucratic regulation and nonexistent congressional oversight."
"Combine this bleak economic outlook with our Obama-approved, hate-America-first, failed foreign policy, and you have the likely possibility of a severe economic depression
during a time of multiple foreign military engagements. (Stolen elections have predicable consequences!)"
"How do you prepare for such an awful confluence of events? By accepting and acting upon the real possibility of food, water, energy, and medical supplies shortages in the months ahead.
There are plenty of articles, videos, and social media posts that deal with the basics of prepping.
Today, I’m suggesting acquiring overlooked items that may greatly aid in the rough times ahead."
" 1. Real maple syrup. This household staple can be used for barter and for your own food preparation.
Sealed in small glass bottles or in those beige plastic jugs, maple syrup requires no refrigeration and can be bartered in small quantities.
Most preppers have five-gallon buckets of oatmeal in their pantry, but few include maple syrup (and cinnamon)
to flavor their cooked cereal or cookies. Maple syrup will always be in high demand."
" 2. 4” PVC pipe with assorted end caps, oxygen-absorbers, and desiccant packs.
Many Americans will want to protect and hide small high-value items such as pocket pistols, ammo,
thumb drives, hard drives, family documents, passports...
(The article continues, as well as written comments, at the web source "hot link" - well worth the viewing,consideration, and implementation)
Maple syrup can be processed in canning jars VERY easily.
I bring the syrup to a boil, heat the canning jars so thermal shock does not crack them, put the lids in near boiling water as instructed for canning, then fill the jars, wipe the rims, and seal immediately, and set it aside to cool.
It will vacuum seal and it keeps FAR better than leaving it in the plastic jugs or glass bottles. additionally, I have never noticed the maple syrup I canned crystalize. But even if it does, getting it out of the bottom of a canning jar would be easier than a bottle or plastic jug with a very narrow mouth.
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