Safewrite ,
Thank you so much , Is it the Blum’s Almanac ? I did take a wine making class , I do not like wine but while there was taught how to make vinegar . This to me is something useful in resilience , to others it will not be . I reuse my pickle juice to pickle eggs and sausages . Do you reuse any of yours ?
Another thing I learned to make is lard ,which we do not eat but it makes very good soap . I have been able to give as gifts to many . It was on my list to learn to make Maple syrup and I must say it is worth every bit of effort .
I learned just this year to dehydrate things in the Car . The temp rises quickly and it uses no energy .
We have been simplifying our live for many years now , putting our basic needs in high priority and cutting back on our consumerism mentality . Examining what is important to our family ( every one’s family is different ) I have my concerns that what I have to share is not worthy to post because there is much conversation going on about the quality of the site deteriorating and many members dropping out . I will try not be one to interfere with Dr. CM’s mission here as it is such a worthy one . I just assumed that those not interested in homesteading , prepping ,or any other topic would just skip over them as I do .
I will say practice what you preach and the people will find you … . There is not a day one that someone does not call for some kind of homesteading advice , canning , gardening , etc. this is when you know your knowledge is valuable to someone and I am encouraged that more and more people are turning back to see that simple is sometimes a good thing . I personally consider it a gift .
People, share your gifts it brings pleasure to others and yourself .
FM
Ps. Please, people, eat from your storage, rotate it like a grocery store . Make a list of what you have and what you have used . Notice what you run out of and what you need more of . Keep track for a year or so and then you will have a better idea of where you need to be.
This is such great info! I love that you are teaching people these basic concepts. Emergency food storage is smart for so many reasons … even people who are currently out of work can tell you that food is one of their largest expenses and if they had stored away food while they were making a good income, it would have really helped them now. We recommend people start with a 30 day supply of storable food and just add to that monthly to build their stores. It’s an affordable approach that doesn’t take any effort. I also love the idea of having extra stores (if you have the space) for extended family, friends and your community.
It just hit me as to how stupid it is that there are always 1000’s of tons of grain stored in town at the coop, but people buy their flour shipped in from i do not know where . So Yes I think that grinder will be put to good use.
There are those that know I am so simple and despise it but I can get so excited when I see a mother growing in a jar of vinegar and see how simply amazing these little things really work. When my my son gets the grinder out each morning so he can have fresh cream of wheat ,how one little piece of potato can make into 2 pounds of new potato.
Storage is good but do it yourself may be even better . It is not in our power to save the world and many who puff themselves up and blow off around here will not even be able to save themselves. I have believe eventually being a big farmer who does not bend over to the Govt. God will not be a big farmer anymore .
I am going to dig out the *Ten Acres is Enough *book and *the Small farm Journal *and make of sure where I lack in prep. Example , I hate making catsup we use very little so I will store this , Yeast we can gather from the air but Baking soda is another story , How is corn starch made … pudding is a real treat when we have too much milk . I just need to think back … My grandparents lived their whole lives with draft horses, 80 acres and an annual income of less than $10,000. It can be done without Govt. assistance . **** Ah yes I will need $400 worth of Gold a year to pay the taxes on the place .
I do appreciate that the ones who have much to loose only call us simple ones names and do not really know who or where we are . I am Most grateful that my husband crawls up on that train and runs coal to the power plant and for others who provide services that most would not be caught dead doing… Thank you !
I personally like hearing how others preps are going it motivates me to stay on track . Today I will gather clover and alfalfa for teas , put up 28 more quarts of pears,and dig more sweet potatoes as our time is running short and La Nina is sure to make for an interesting winter .
Hope your harvest has been plentiful and your storage adequate.
OH Pooh , I forgot to ask the one question I got on here for . Has anyone had luck canning their sweet potatoes dry boiled with no water in the jar as opposed to the sugar syrup? I just read of this on the web . We truely like them just baked but they do not store as long as we would like in the cold cellar . I am going to see what will happen starting some slips now and growing them in the green house in large pots .
FM
Food provides 2 functions, energy and building blocks. Any food type, carbohydrates, alcohol, fat and protein can yield energy. Only protein can give the building blocks. Protein is also the most expensive. I have used 2 foods to provide my protein. TVP which is texturized vegetable protein (de-fatted soy beans) and powdered milk. TVP is about 50% protein and reasonable quality (contains most essential amino acids). Milk is nearly perfect. TVP can be had at my local Wole Foods for $3.20 per pound (in bulk with 10% discount). I place it in a plastic bag, suck the air out and replace the air with CO2 gas. This should give me 10 years of storage (this is my guess I have no data). Same storage for the powdered milk. We need 50 grams/day of dried weight) protein. One person x 90 days x 50 = 450 grams so about 2 pounds of TVP. per person per 90 days
I am always open to learning cheaper, better etc…ways of doing the job.
Full Moon–
I have found that sweet potatoes and butternut squash dehydrate really well. Cook them first, then dry them either in slices or squashed thin like a roll up. It tends to concentrate the sugars.
I stumbled on this article giving the shelf life for various canned and dried foods, when I was trying to see if my "expired" chicken noodle soup was still safe to eat :) I thought other might find it useful as well. I am not an expert on this stuff by any means, though, so please make your own judgement re the credibility of the info. http://grandpappy.info/hshelff.htm
We like EfoodDirect.com for prepared meals. They're are health conscious: vegetarian, no GMOs, no hydrogenated oils, etc. (some organic products). Not sure how Efoods compares in price to ReadyPantry. We also have stocked bulk dried legumes, grains and fruits and intend to "stretch" the prepared meals by adding these to them - the prepared meal is conveniently tasty so food prep will be easy. We too have stocked enough to share with neighbors and our motto for the neighborhood is "We are One Family and no one will be left behind".
We are considering stocking enough for periods of interruption in our income and of high price food which could happen with crop failures and spikes in fossil energy costs or in an extended period of time during the interregnum between the industrial scale petro-chemical Ag paradigm and the local small family organic farm paradigm. The cost per meal for Efoods prepared meals is already cheaper than buying the ingredients at the grocery store at today's prices - when those prices spike we can still eat cheap.
For water we are very pleased the gravity purifying systems by Berkey. Pennies per gallon and it filters everything, out performs the other major brand names and does more than reverse osmosic and distillation systems without removing vital minerals and at a fraction of the cost. Our family of three will have safe, healthy drinking water for 6 years at the cost of $107.00 (cost of two filters), using about 2.5 gallons per day for cooking and drinking. The Berkey will filter any water, including pond scounge, but not sea/salt water. We purchase extra filters for greater capacity to assist our neighbors in an emergency.