Doing Laundry with no machine

I have to admit the SHTF here at my house in my laundry room.  Our washer died (it is a pricey front loader, high efficiency with all the bells and whistles and only 3 years old!!!!) and with no way to immediately replace it I went into survival mode for this matter. It was a good learning experience for my kids and a way to test survival methods before everything comes crashing down!  It is my desire to have a manual wringer washer before that happens...But if I do not get it than I can manage this way!!!

For centuries before a washing machine laundry was done by hand.  Initially it was done by only using the hands and rocks and then the wash board came along.


Washboard image from Bing images

Then came wringer washers, which I wish I had one of!

Wringer washer image from Bing images

Then there is my way of doing it!  A plunger (Cost $5.40 at the local Ace Hardware) and three wash tubs which are re purposed barrels from the local Little Debbie factory (Cost $8 per barrel used 1 1/2 barrels)  Total cost for survival washing machine $17.40




The first tub is wash water with laundry detergent, the second is rinse water and the third is a final rinse with Downy.  I put them on the tailgate of my truck to make it easier on the back and also the black bed helps to warm the water on a sunny day!

3 tubs, you can barely see it because of the sun but I have a 5 strand clothes line right behind where the tubs are

First you put water into the wash tubs, add your soap (The cheap non-HE works best for this or you can grate home made lye soap to use) and fabric softener to the respective tubs.  Put your dirty clothes into the wash water and using the plunger with an up and down motion agitate the clothes well.  Any spots are rubbed out with extra soap and knuckles (wish I had a rub board for that!) Then wring out well and put into the rinse, repeat agitating and then wring and into the final rinse.  After the final rinse wring well and hang on the line.  I wring them out using a twisting motion but it is still very hard to get the water out by hand especially large towels and jeans.  So it would be unwise to put them in the dryer like that as the weight may damage it. Hang them on a line until they are dry.  If you have the convenience of a dryer then when the clothes are just damp you can bring them in and place into the dryer to finish drying and "fluff" them.

And there you have it a way to do laundry without a machine, or power.  I am just thankful that I have a well pump and a garden hose to fill the tubs!!!  It actually only took about 3 hours to do about seven loads of laundry and it would have taken the washer over 7 hours to do all of it, and the clothes are cleaner and smell better.  But the work was tiresome and my 12 year old and I both were exhausted after completing our task!

What NO TV???!!! What are we going to do???? Grid down entertainment

We all know the possibility of a grid down situation...   With that said we have wrapped inverters in foil made Faraday cages, bought solar lights, stored food and water and medical supplies but has anyone thought of entertainment?
Yes I said entertainment.  When the human brain has time on its hands many times it will become pessimistic and obsess over what it doesn't have...  Like no more Wednesday episodes of Survivor... So we are also prepping for entertainment.  My daughter bought matching fiddles for she and I for Mothers day and we are taking fiddle lessons to learn to play the American fiddle.

There are many other ideas such as board games, cards, outdoor sports etc.  You can be creative just please think about this one aspect of prepping that can be over looked.  What about a useful craft such as basket weaving or looming.  It could be quite entertaining to work on a piece of fabric with cool details.  The work will be hard and time consuming in a grid down environment so a little R & R will be required in order to keep the sanity!

And with that I will continue my lessons and soon I hope to be able to play something more than boil them cabbage down and shortnin' bread!  Sitting under a tree drinking tea or fresh made lemonade and dancing to fiddle music sounds like a good idea to me.  I just hope the little lemon tree that is part of my preps produces enough lemons!

Thinking outside the box to get what you need. Barter 101

When there is an item or commodity that you want but either is not available at the store or you can afford it then there is barter or trading.  If and/or when the SHTF regular money will be useless but there will still be the power of barter.  So it would be a good idea to brush up or learn your negotiating skills now.

I have traded many things but I guess the best one I am doing right now.  I have a gentleman who has a bunch of 223 shells that he does not need.  I need them.  I have eggs that I do not need need but he does need them so we are trading.  He brings me a box of 223 brass cased with a FMJ and I give him 5 dozen farm fresh eggs.

I have traded the use of my billy goat for a rick of hickory wood.  My billy goat had already bred my girls and I darn sure needed the hickory to smoke meat.  Worked out great for both of us.

I also traded an extra canner I had for a rick of wood one time a few months ago.

The thing with barter is that you have something of value and the other person has something of value.  Maybe it is not valuable like gold or silver but something that is needed.  Like the hickory wood.  That would not be valuable to many people but to me it was because I needed it to smoke meat.  And sending my billy goat down the road didn't cost me a thing.  So essentially I got the wood for free.  The eggs I have calculated cost me about .37 cents to produce a dozen eggs so in reality I am paying $1.85 for each box of those 223 rounds which are $12.27 a box at Wal-mart.  When I traded the canner I had gotten it in a bunch of stuff.  It was a small 16 qt Presto and I already have huge canners.  I bought the stuff to get an all American canner and a Victorio strainer that was in it.  There was also a bunch of canning jars 2 Presto canners one of which I gave to my daughter and a bunch of funnels, strainers etc.  I paid $100 for the whole mess which the strainer and the all American was worth that.  So the canner I traded had no actual cost and the wood only cost him the gas to cut it.  So he got a canner for pennies that would have cost him $70 at Wal-Mart.  I got a rick of firewood which would have cost me $45 to buy it. 

Sometimes maybe the person has something to trade that you might not need.  Like for example a bottle of whiskey and you do not drink.  So you trade a couple dozen eggs or a pound of butter for said bottle of whiskey then later a couple months later you get hurt and need to be sewed up, you have a neighbor who is a medical provider.  he already has cows so he doesn't need butter and he has chickens so he doesn't need eggs then what?  Well maybe just maybe he would like that bottle of whiskey (it can be used as an antiseptic as well as drinking) that you had no use for but got in a trade and then you get your wound fixed for it.  So also when you are trading try to think if the thing offered in trade may be something you could turn around to use in trade down the road even if you yourself don't need it at the time but it could be then traded for services or items.

I hope this helps get everyone thinking.....

If there is yarn then we will be warm!

I had not done crochet in over 20 years when I picked back up the hooks and got busy.  Yarn can be spun fairly easily using a drop spindle and wool or angora hair if Wal-Mart ceased to exist.  But for now I will buy it.  Crochet or knitting are good skills to have.  They can be useful in a survival situation if there is an extended grid down period.  Yarn is something easily stocked up on in your preps when it goes on sale or from thrift shops.  I have bought a lot of yarn at yard sales and such for just a few cents.  It doesn't have an expiration date and can be kept in a plastic tote.  As long as it is dry and rodent proof is all you need to store it.

scarf, stocking cap and mittens

mitten up close

Hubby's new sweater

Concealing a handgun in a regular purse

A few months ago my hubby and I went for our training and applied for our concealed carry licenses.  With all the craziness going around we would both feel better with our 1911's handy. They were approved and now comes the daunting task of figuring out how to carry a concealed weapon. Concealing his is easy especially in the winter.  A nice holster does the trick.  But for me I had a big problem.  All of the concealment purses are way too small for my choice of handgun which is a government model 1911 with a 5 inch barrel.  Not exactly a small weapon.  The few purses that I found that "might" fit were almost as expensive as buying another gun.  So those were not an option.  Well I put on my thinking cap, got out my crochet hook and here is what I came up with:


Can  you see my gun???

When I look in my purse all I can see is what appears to be a stocking cap.
Arkansas laws say that a visible outline is okay as long as you can not see the metal or furniture of the weapon.

Here is the gun in its cozy out of my purse

So please let me know what you all think of this idea.  I had never seen anything like this and I looked on eBay and couldn't find anything.  If you have seen something similar to this please let me know.  It took me about 2 hours to crochet this, but hey without a pattern and winging it I thought that was not too bad...

The cool thing about this is as long as I have one in the tube all I have to do is pull back the hammer and pull the trigger, which can all be done without taking it out of the cozy.  Yes it will ruin the cozy, but hey whats 2 hours of crochet if it saves my life?????

Barter... What a wonderful thing!!!

An elderly man lives down the road from me pulled into my driveway earlier today... He asked me if I had a Billie Goat.. I answered yes in fear thinking Oh My did Jack get out???  But no there was no problem, he has a doe that needs to be bred and he wanted to know what I would charge for my Jack's services.

Now I had never given the thought of pimping out my Jack before so I had no idea...  I didn't want to ask for too much... I did however remember that this man sells fire wood on occasion so I told him "How about you bring me however much wood you think would be a fair trade and you can borrow him"  He said that sounded fine to him, I showed him my Jack and we talked a bit...  Then he headed on back home.

A few minutes later he was back with about a half a rick of nice seasoned wood...  He put it out by the barn and I helped him load up Jack into his truck.  Now my Jack is over at his house "visiting" for a few days... He promised me he would take "real good care of him" and we shook hands.  He will bring Jack back when the deed is done.  And that is how a "Country Contract" is done... A promise and a handshake...  I can see Jack when I drive by his house so I know also that Jack is just fine as can be!!!

I got something I needed in the form of some firewood and he got what he needed in the form of a sire to freshen his Nanny goat...  So when you are thinking of things that you can use as money should our economy crash do not forget about services to trade.  Whether it be your knowledge of how to brew beer or the services of an animal.  Barter is truly a wonderful thing and has been around a millennium longer than currency.

The day our lights went out

A few days ago something happened with our little grid here.  The electricity went down in an area several square miles.  They were off for several hours from about 4 in the afternoon until close to 9pm.  No problem for me... I pulled out the candles and the oil lamps, grabbed the camp stove and brought it in and cooked dinner.  We ate by candle light.  My daughter sat at the kitchen table with 2 candles reading her book most of the afternoon and evening.  I didn't have to go out to the barn but if I did I have hooks already installed to hang oil lanterns...

My 9 year old son though... He was just driving me nuts wanting to know when are the lights coming back on?  Will the lights come back on?  Why did the lights go off? Why aren't they fixing the lights?  Now mind you it was not once or even twice that he asked these questions.....  He is Autistic and if he asked it once he asked at least 20 times in the 5 hours it took them to fix the power...

While I was in the kitchen cooking I got a new wheel of cheese out of the cold storage where I keep it to age.  I peeled the wax off with my son anxiously asking me questions refusing to leave my hip.  Then a wonder happened I got out a flat hand grater to grate the cheese.  He had never seen me use this because I love my salad shooter for grating cheese.  He asked me what it was and I told him an old time version of the salad shooter... As I began grating the cheese and he saw it falling off in shreds.  He said "Wow mommy you really do know how to use one of those!!!"

If the lights ever go out permanently or even longer than a few hours I will need a huge bottle of something... (Valium, Booze, etc) just to have to deal with HIS anxiety!!!

Suffice it to say... There was not much more than a hiccup as we switched over to no electric for the night... It was a nice little practice drill...  We still had burritos for dinner with all the trimmings, daughter still read her book for school... Hubby and son waited anxiously so that they could watch the new Spiderman movie that we had JUST rented before the power went off...

Lessons learned:
1. Find something son can play with that is not run by electric and that will interest him
2. Teach kids more about my antique stuff that I have...
3. Buy Vodka!!! Large bottles for preps!!!

Product Review: Wise Foods Grab and Go Entree

I went to a gun show a while back and there was a booth there that was selling Wise Foods Grab and Go Buckets.  Since all of our food storage is ingredients, home dehydrated or home canned foods along with the ability to resupply my food storage with our garden, orchard and live stock I had no commercially prepared freeze dried anything.  So we bought 2 of the grab and go buckets of entrees to supplement our food storage.  My oldest daughter decided to try out one of the Entrees just to make sure it was fit to eat.  It was and tasted pretty good just the way it was.  Then with a few redneck additions she had a decent meal.

The meal was "Pasta Alfredo"

This is what it looked like dry.  She opened the package, removed the oxygen absorber and poured it into a bowl.  Then she heated 4 cups of water to boiling and added it according to the package directions.  It was a bit bland so in went some diced ham.

Now mind you when I got these meals my step-daughter who is 13 immediately said "EEEWWWW, I'm not eating that!!!"
So Becky brought over a bowl of the prepared pasta and it went into the fridge.  When Step-daughter saw said bowl in the fridge she immediately wanted it.  I did not tell her what it was until after she went on and on about how good it was!!!
Hubby also had tried it and said it was good.  The taste was much similar to that of Hamburger Helper.  This food definitely passed the picky teenager "EEEWWWWW" Test!!!!

So I guess a few more buckets are in order for the pantry!!

Link for Grab and Go Entree Bucket

Prepping on a dime... Or a nickel... Or nothing at all

Times are tough... VERY tough... Sometimes it seems like there is no way to be prepared when prepping supplies are so darned expensive... There are many ways though to prep without having to spend a small fortune... And for those of you that will just put it on a credit card, PLEASE think all of that interest you will be paying you might as well just take the cash and go use it to start your BBQ.  You would not do that now would you?

I worked as a RN for close to 20 years.  I brought home $3k a month or more.  I was in an accident and got hurt and can not work again.  My neck is now made of metal and I can not turn my head to look both directions to drive.  My arms constantly fall asleep because of nerve damage and I walk with a cane because of left overs from a nasty head injury...  With that said I had to switch really quick to a budget of less than $800 a month.  Because of that accident my preps got put into high gear.  It made a believer out of me in a hurry....

Here are some ways to prep on the cheap:

1. Freecycle     So many people would rather give away items that are still useful.  You can find the group for your area by visiting www. freecycle.org
2. Craigs list   This site also has a free items listing.  People will also sell things mighty cheap on here.  I recently purchased several hundred dollars worth of canning equipment for $100 and a brand new cheese press for $20 which would have normally cost me $50.
3. Spring or fall clean up in cities.  This is the time when everyone puts out to the curb the junk they do not want.  Drive around and pick up what you do want... Many things can be re purposed into something very useful.
4. Food pantry left overs.  Many food pantries get produce which will go bad if they do not give it away.  Call your local pantries and ask to be a "clean up family" Then you have lots of wonderful produce to can and preserve for free.
5. Icing buckets:  These are food safe buckets.  Many of the bakeries will give them away.  All you have to do is ask.  This makes a 5 gallon food grade bucket free instead of $8 to buy one.
6. Pickle jars, sour cream containers etc from restaurants:  These are quite handy for storing your food in and if you call your local food places you can generally get them free.  You also might be able to get leftovers if they have a buffet which can then be frozen or canned.
7. Dollar stores: These places are a wealth of prepping supplies for a dollar.  The quality may not be great but hey a cheap band aid is better than no band aid at all!
8. Make it yourself.  The Internet is full of plans for DIY things.  If you want a solar oven but can not afford the $100+ to buy one then make one yourself out of a cardboard box, black spray paint and aluminum foil.  Cost $5  Well bucket cost to buy $60 cost to make out of PVC and an old inner tube $5 or less if you can find the scrap PVC on the curb side.  Many times construction companies will throw away PVC, lumber etc and you can get it for free.  You can get an old inner tube from a tire shop for free if it is too torn up to be fixed and you only need a small piece.  Then the cost for the well bucket went down to $0.  The list goes on and on....
9. Don't throw it away, Recycle, Re purpose, Reuse... My husband has asked me many times "why don't you just throw that away" Then down the road I would salvage a part off one thing that I saved to fix another or re purpose into something else.  He finally quit asking and now he won't throw anything away either unless it truly is just trash.  For example.  The net on our trampoline (the part you jump on) ripped.  It is no longer any good for the trampoline.  He wanted to throw it away.  I said no and turned it into free weed barrier instead of going to Lowes and spending $20 to buy some.  An old aquarium with a broken bottom became a planter.. A pallet became a very nice back porch that you can not even tell I used a pallet to build it...  I think you might get the idea...

Be creative.  Learning to think outside of our boxes that our disposable society has put us in sometimes can be difficult to say the least... We have been raised with the mentality of "just go buy it".  We must train ourselves to think differently about it.  Once you can get your brain into a "what else can that be mode" it gets easier.  I look at things and can come up with many alternative uses.  My hubby calls me the "queen of McGyver". 

My motto "If they can then I can"

The state of our world... Are we going to get zapped? Are you ready?

Okay I don't generally blog on politics or current events but there is so much unfolding on the news right now. I usually try to keep my political views out of my blog...  BUT Every time I look at the news someone else has either blown someone away or are threatening to blow someone away. 

Are we on the Brink of WWIII???  All of our enemies are conspiring... Iran is threatening Israel, We are friends of Israel... China and Korea have made it clear that they will back Iran and we must by treaty back Israel.  China and Japan are fighting... Japans ambassador to China I understand was found dead... Will there be retribution?  Obama is talking about some kind of trade thing against China... (I just do not usually keep up with politics, I am much more of a math and science person, political mumbo jumbo is hubby's job)...Will they like it if he cuts any of their exports to us?  I mean really if you go to the store most of it is "made in China".  Korea and Iran will back China.  We will back Japan.. They have been our friend since we kicked their butts in the last war...  In fact they are one of our closest allies... Iran has already openly threatened our military bases in the gulf, but do you really think it will stay there?    And then heaven forbid there is that movie about Muhammed (forgive me if I spelled it wrong).  Everyone over there is going crazy and shooting people because of some silly movie.  I have seen many silly things being a parody on Christianity and I did not get offended enough to kill!!  Oh yeah thats right as Christians we "SHALL NOT KILL". So is our next world war going to be about religion?  I just wish everyone could play nice together in the sand box and quit fighting over the toys like toddlers!  Maybe we should just put all of the leaders into a boxing ring and then let them duke it out... That way there is no chance of collateral damage.

I have read that all of our enemies have EMP weapons of some kind...  This means they can blast one off and shut down our grid and kill all electronics.  I realize that the new fangled fighters and guided missle systems are cool and accurate but guess how much good they will be if an EMP weapon is used on us... We would be sitting ducks without even radar to see it coming...

I am not old enough to remember the last world war... I barely remember the Vietnam war and that stayed on another continent.  I do not think for one minute that they would keep it in the middle east... I believe that just like with 9/11 they would bring it here in a second and with the new weapons they have they would just knock out our power, detection grids and weapons and change our religion.

So I ask are you ready???  I will admittedly say I can still think of things I need to get.  I have a years worth of food storage, flashlights and batteries, a well to get water out of plus water stored, guns and ammo to protect us and animals a plenty to feed us BUT I am still lacking in several places

10 things I still need should our country get Zapped:

1. Seeds to plant next spring should we not be able to buy any
2. A solar generator or battery charger (12volt)
3. An inverter to change DC power to AC
4. I need to build a well bucket
5. Iosat tablets in case of nuclear weapons
6. a scythe to harvest wheat by hand
7. More kerosene for heaters and lamps
8. Pigs (I can not live without bacon and lard)
9. build a smoker
10. More ammo (hey everyone always needs more ammo, I went out and wasted 120 rounds of 5.56 yesterday playing with my AR)

I would strongly suggest everyone make a mental run down of your inventory and try to think of all the things you would need (not want, I have way more than 10 wants) should we get zapped!  Is any one else worried about us being caught in the middle of a war about religion? 

The self sufficient life and how to live it by John Seymour

I have to admit there are many books that I just absolutely love.  This one is definately one of my favorites.  It is the most comprehensive book I have found for the homestead.

It has everything from how to design a self sufficient farm to how to make bricks and everything in between.

Chapter 1  The Meaning of Self Sufficiency
This chapter describes the seasons and the cycles your homestead will go thru.  It tells how to design your homestead beginnign with the urban garden and ending with a 5 acre farm so that you utilize what you have available in the most efficient way possible.

Chapter 2   Food from the garden
This chapter tells you everything you could ever want to know about growing a garden.  What types of beds to use, what types of plants to plant in certain beds, diseases, pests andf how to deal with them.  It has an illustrated area with pictures of different plants.  It talks about seeds, harvesting, cultivation throughout the year and even an area on greenhouses.

Chapter 3 Food from Animals
This chapter has information about pretty much any barnyard beastie you could want.  Tricks to raising them, breeding them, butchering them.  It talks about the different breeds and what things they are best suited for.  It has illustrated how to's on butchering, cleaning and cutting up the carcass.  Basically if it is edible and from an animal this book explains it in this chapter.

Chapter 4  Food from the fields
This is the chapter all about fields... Clearing, cultivating, sowing and harvesting grains, root crops and hay.

Chapter 5  Food from the wild
This chapter is all about wild game, wild plants, wild fruit, wild nuts and mushrooms.  Basically if you did not plant it or raise it then this chapter will tell you about it.  Don't know how to butcher a rabbit?  It's there complete with illustrated step by steps...

Chapter 6  In the dairy
Everything you need to know about the dairy side of your farm.  From how to plan and lay out a cow shed to how to milk and continuing on to how to make butter and cheese.

Chapter 7  In the kitchen
This chapter deals with all aspects of food storage and preservation.  Along with some really nice recipes.  It has plans for a storage room, how to can, how to freeze, making pickles, making jelly or jam, making bread, and so on...

Chapter 8 Brewing and winemaking
That title is pretty self explanatory.  It is about making beer and wine.

Chapter 9  Energy and Waste
How to build an outdoor toilet (yep a neccessity of survival).  Alternative energy sources are explained in detail.

Chapter 10  Crafts and Skills
This one is all about the other things like building, plumbing, how to make a brick, how to thatch a roof, how to tie different knots, making tools or how to make a basket.  Want to spin your own yarn and then weave your own fabric?  It's there along with directions on how to build the loom.  Want to tan a hide (and I do not mean the kind of hide on your childrens back sides) it is there.  Want to get sugar from beets?  The instructions are there....

The last few pages have further resources that would be of help in your endeavors to be self sufficient.  There are a ton of web sites you can visit...

It is my suggestion that you either buy or borrow this book.  You can get it easily  (click here  to go directly to it) on amazon.com. 

I hope you would find this book as enjoyable to read as I have.  It has even captivated my 11 year old daughter.  She got the idea  to build a teepee last summer out of hay..  Hers was obviously much messier than the book described, but it was fun... They camped in it and played in it for about 2 weeks until the wind destroyed it.  These pictures were taken after the wind had beat it up for a couple of days.  She used PVC as a frame that was tied together at the top with twine.

Corn... Corn... Canning it

It has been a while as my family has been busy with Church camps, fences, etc....  I got 2 bushels of corn to put up and so we canned half of it.  The rest went into the freezer for corn on the cob....

Canned Corn

I forgot to take pictures of the shucking and cutting process.

So first shuck your corn and remove the silk.

Then for whole kernal corn cut the kernals off the cob with a knife or a corn cutter.  My oldest daughter prefers just to use a knife.

For cream corn you will need a corn cutter with a shredding attachment.  We did whole kernal.  We prefer to hot pack our vegetables.  You have less jar breakage when you drop the jar into hot water.

Put all of the cut kernals into a pot and water enough so that it comes to the top of the corn and just a little over it.  Put the pot on the stove over high heat and bring the corn to a boil. 

Using a slotted spoon fill your jars to within an inch of headspace then add the cooking liquid to the top of the kernals.  Add 1 tsp salt for quarts and 1/2 tsp salt for pints.  Use canning salt or plain salt.  Do not use the iodized table salt.

After you have all of your jars filled then wipe the rims with a clean cloth (this is a very important step) and place sterilized lids and rings on them.

Then put them in the pressure canner and process at 10 lbs of pressure.  85 minutes for quarts and 60 minutes for pints.  These times are for my altitude in Arkansas.  You may have to adjust the time for your altitude.
After they are done with the time, remove the canner from the heat and allow to cool.Remove the jars and place them on a towel.  Do not let the jars touch.  If you are using Tattler lids then this is the time to final tighten the ring

Let the jars sit until they are totally cold, then remove the rings and check for completion of the seal.

You have just made corn with no preservatives or additives.  Also if you grew your own corn then you know that the corn itself was not treated.

Prepping is not new...

Prepping has in main stream media become a "New" fad...   If you think about it though it is a very old way of life... When man was hunter/gatherer they had to store food to last over the winter.  As we evolved we got better at it.  Just 100 years ago "prepping" was the norm and living the life of convenience was for the city dweller.

Lets talk some about the 1800's here in America.  There were cities, they were scattered across the nation, those people had access to a mercantile to buy what they needed.  Most of our country was at that time rural though.  A trip into the nearest town could mean a couple days by horse back.  Those families did not go to town every day to buy their meal.  They bartered with their neighbors (some neighbors were still a couple hours by horseback).  They raised their own livestock, made thieir own butter, had nice gardens and preserved their food.  They always had at least a years worth of food stored in the cellar, the barn, the silo, under the bed, in the smokehouse, etc.  More than that most of the time since they never knew if their harvest would be good from year to year.  Grain was stored in a silo or big bins, they ground their own flour for bread and biscuts.  They smoked their own hams and made soup.  The women knew how to cook and the men knew how to hunt and trap.  It was the normal way of life for centuries...

Now we enter the age of convenience.  There is a store within driving distance of most people.  We tend to just run to the store to get something for dinner.  No plans are made for the coming winter.  A good portion of the citizens now are lucky to have 3 days worth of food in their house.  Hunting is no longer a neccessity of survival, instead it is a sport.  And only practiced by a small percentage of the population.  Home canning is considered an "art" instead of a normal day to day happening. A lot of people think you will die if you eat home canned food.  But Gee we are alive, because it did not kill our grand parents nor theirs. Smoking is done at the butcher shop and only a few still know how.  Butter is bought wrapped in foil blocks instead of being made in a churn. Oh yes and the states seem to think that unpasteurized milk is deadly to the point of outlawing it to be sold for human consumption. Only we humans depend on a store.  All the other creations on this earth prepare.  Maybe we should take notice of the rest of God's creations and compare that to the way our forefathers took care of things and we might learn something.

Instead of calling it "Prepping" I like to call it just a simpler way of life.  A more normal way of life.  A way of life that if Wal-Mart closed tomorrow my family would still eat.  Granted I sure will miss things like Avocodo's and Frito's and I really do like old fashioned red licorice, but I know I can live without them if I had to. 

Now I have about 50 lbs of Zuchinni to can and about 30 lbs of cucumbers to turn into pickles and relish sitting in my kitchen.  There are 47 tomato plants in my garden that are just chock full of green tomato's that I hope will ripen soon for catsup, salsa and stewed tomato's.  So I guess I better get busy.

Canning Rings good and bad

I have a ton of canning rings some are in good condition and some are in bad.  I am not sure why it makes a difference in how the bands make a seal but I can tell you from experience that if they are rusty they will not allow the lids to seal as well.  Especcially with Tattler lids.

Good Band

Bad Band

Make sure you inspect your bands prior to use and take out any with rust on them.  I save mine for in case of emergency as they do seal part of the time but you will have about a 30% failure rate if you use them.

National Geographic to the rescue

I have been telling my grown children for years that they need to be prepared.... They don't do it...  I have been telling my daughter and son-in-law about the possibility of a huge solar flare that could knock out our grid.  They say they believe me but don't really act like it... This months edition of National Geographic helped me out.  There is a huge article about the Carrington event of 1859 and what it did and the comparison of what a similiar event would do to us now...
We would be thrust into the pre-electric age in a matter of seconds....  No TV, no Cell Phones, No lights, No modern cars...   NOTHING WOULD WORK... It could take years to completely restore the grid.

Could you survive without electricity for a year?????

Pick up this months copy and read the article for yourself...  It is a scary thought...

Time to go buy more candles...

Canning Lids !!!

I calculated that for my family we need about 4000 (yes that is 4 thousand) lids in order to can all of our stuff for 1 year.  That is taking into account all of our soup, meats, vegetables, fruits, jam/jelly, and condiments like catsup.  Since I can not afford to buy them all at once as that would be about $2500, I am buying them a little at a time.  My first thousand of them came yesterday.

Since these lids are reuseable 4000 would be a lifetimes worth.  In order to keep them organized and easily gotten out when they are needed I came up with a bin system.

I have about 750 regular lids in the top bin and 500 wide mouth lids in the bottom bin.  The extra I will  put in storage to get out when my supply in the house runs low.

Bambi Burger

My oldest daughter who is now 28 started calling ground venison "Bambi Burger" when she was small... She was about 5 or so.  Yesterday I made Bambi burger.  Venison has very little fat and in order to have a good tasting ground meat you need a little.  I buy the cheapest hamburger I can and then I mix it about 50/50, that gives you about a mix of 87/13 which is going to be real close to ground chuck. 

How to:
Start out with boneless venison that has had all of the facia (shiny white coverings on the muscles), fat (it is gamey tasting), and tendons (the stringy, tough, white things) removed.  Cut it into small enough strips so that it fits into your grinder easily.  I use a grinder attachment for my KitchenAide so I cut them into about 1 inch strips.  first I run it thru with a course blade (it has the bigger holes).  Then I runb it thru with the fine blade.

  As I run it thru with the fine blade I also run the hamburger thru at the same time. I take handfulls of hamburger and put it into the bowl of course ground venison and then get a piece of hamburger and a piece of the venison about the same size.

When you are all done your burger should look like this:

freeze it in 1 qt zipper bags or make into patties and then freeze.  You can make your patties and place them on a wax paper lined cookie sheet.

Put the whole sheet in the freezer.  After they are frozen then take the patties off the tray and put them in a big bag.  Then you can take out how ever many you need for dinner and cook them the same as you would the store bought frozen patties.  The ground venison you can use the same as you would any other ground meat.

Grid down medical

Disclaimer: Until it is a SHTF situation then we should be using Dr's and Hospitals.  This information is for a time when we are not able to utilize healthcare as we have it now!

I just got on Cal Vet Supply and ordered.  They have a large selection of antibiotics labeled for aquarium use (pharmaceutical grade though) at great prices.  It is definately something we need to keep in our storage for emergency use.  They also have diagnostic tools such as urine test strips.  100 test strips are $26.99.  That is equivalent to 100 urine tests.  Only the specific gravity values would be different for humans than for animals.
I became a RN in 1995.  At that time a Dr would many times order a "Urine dip stick"  This is now a thing of the past.  Now they just have the lab run a UA.  A urine dip stick test will tell you many things.  It can tell you if the body is spilling over glucose which would be indicative of Diabetes.  It can tell you if there is blood in the urine which would be indicative of many problems.  It can tell you if there is a UTI (Urinary tract infection) by showing high nitrites or high leukocytes.  You of course would need a lab book so that you could tell which abnormal meant what.  If you have an dip stick test that is indicative of a UTI, then if you had a microscope and some gram stain and know what certain bacteria look like (cocci, rods, gram negative or positive,etc) you could identify within reason the type of bacteria present and which antibiotic would work best.  I would not suggest trying this if you do not have either a medical background or a background in microbiology.

Having a microscope would be handy also to do manual blood counts.  This will take some expertise in being able to identify the difference between a white blood cell, a red blood cell, a platelet.  You can get a lab book that tells you what the normal values would be.

Survive well.....

Happy Mothers day

Happy Mothers day to everyone out there.  I was able to spend the weekend with my son in Kansas and play with my newest grandbaby.  Kansas the land of corn, wheat, silos, storm shelters, and the longest mile in the world. 
I went to the Wal-Mart in Ottawa with my son and I found a treasure.  Wheat!! They had 25lb bags of wheat for $13.  I have been looking online for wheat and with shipping it is always close to $50 for 50lbs.  This made it $26 for 50lbs.  They only had two sacks and I bought both of them.  This makes me think that if that Wal-Mart has it then why can't mine.  I am going to ask the manager to get some.

So if you need wheat... Join me in harrassing the Wal-mart managers until they get this in their store.  I do not see any reason why if the one in Ottawa, KS can stock it why ours can not!!!  I mean it does all come from the same warehouses.

Company has shown up for dinner.. Unexpectedly.. A meal for 11 all from food storage and in 15 minutes

Company just showed up in this case it was my daughter and her two children plus my son-in-laws brother and 2 nephews.  That made 11 counting us.  I did not have anything thawed out for a meal so I went to the food storage and this is what I came up with:
Chipped beef with gravy over noodles and corn

Chipped Beef over noodles
4 jars of home-canned beef
8 packets brown gravy mix
a handfull of dehydrated onions

Put the beef into a pot and the water for the gravy mix (1 cup for each package), the gravy mix and the dried onions whisk until smooth.  Turn on medium heat and heat until boiling and the gravy thickens.

Boil egg noodles and drain when they are done

Serve the beef and gravy over the noodles

Corn

3 cans of corn
Butter (optional)
Sugar
Salt to taste

Drain corn, add 1 stick of butter, 3 tablespoons sugar and salt to taste.  Heat

This entire meal took 15 minutes to make and came entirely from my food storage.  Everyone was telling me "wow this is good"  Then I told them it came entirely from the food storage and they could not believe it.  I made the entire meal in 15 minutes that is why I call this "convenience food", nothing came out of the fridge and everything came out of my food storage.  I had eleven very happy tummies and leftovers for the next day.  Just because it is in your food storage does not mean that it should be difficult to prepare or bad tasting.

Store what you eat and eat what you store.