Posted on 02/09/2009 12:36:11 AM PST by nw_arizona_granny
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Ah yes, you Freepers are wonderful!! Have seen that resin finish in camps up north but would never have thought of it. I have an OLD (sound familiar?) electric chain saw that I use mostly to chop off a few inches on logs too long to fit in the cookstove. With a couple 100 foot extension cords, I can wreak a lot of carnage around here. With a four foot level, I should be able draw a fairly straight line. Don’t really care if it turns milky. Not looking for a professional look, just usefulness.
Oh, yes, he is a sucker for that macho bit. In 60 plus years, I have used that gambit soooo many times. He usually does know an easier way to do outdoor things, but the day (several years ago) he told me how to hold the dustpan more efficiently was the day it became his job to sweep the floor. Likewise, he hated my dishwasher and complained constantly about the noise and waste of water. One day, he said he would rather do dishes by hand than put up with that. When that dishwasher wore out, we never replaced it. Guess who has done the dishes for the past 30+ years. Too proud to admit that dishwashers are quieter and more efficient now.
Yesterdays tractor is a good source for parts. Have many more sources in my “bookmarks” on the desktop up in the loft. Don’t climb the stairs anymore than I have to. Treated myself to a laptop several months ago, but if someone needs the info, I would be glad to check upstairs. Have sources for parts for golf carts as that is what I use to zip around with. Forgot to mention that is in the pole barn along with 2 John Deere garden tractors. Last spring DH’s John Deere developed strange symptems and we have several acres to mow, so naturally DH had to go purchase a new mower. Subsequently, another old crony of his checked the gas filter and guess what? He replaced the filter and “voila” we now have Mr. and Mrs. John Deeres. He religiously replaces oil filters but the gas filter escaped him.
Dh also makes wine. Doesn’t drink it, but makes it just to prove he can and to give away. Any fruit or berry we grow around here is fair game for wine-rhubarb, blueberry, strawberry, peach and even corn. That corn was too potent for even our grandsons and their “modern” friends. We see more of the grandson than we ever did before the wine-making days.
I laugh when you tell how exhausting it is to use a cross cut. DH and I cut the logs for our first home with a cross cut. We were young and the dreams we had made it easy work. My grandfather owned a sawmill and sawed the logs for us. We used grampas truck to take them to a planing mill for planing and some made into clapboards and were all set. How much more we appreciate the things we work hard to obtain.
Now, I can’t wait for summer and the river to get low enough that I can scavange for small, flat varied colored stones to put under that resin.
By Jeff Gammage
Inquirer Staff Writer When drivers approach Valley Forge National Historical Park from the south on Thomas Road, they're often greeted by hordes of attentive, long-eared hosts:
Deer.
The animals don't run from the noise of car engines. They don't bolt at the prospect of human contact. They stand and stare.
Soon those sentries may be gone.
Valley Forge officials plan a massive sharpshooting operation to kill up to 1,300 deer during the next four years, eliminating more than 80 percent of the herd and maintaining a much smaller pack through contraceptives.
Administrators say lethal actions are necessary because deer are devouring so many plants, shrubs, and saplings that the forest cannot regenerate.
"Our goal is to restore a natural, healthy, functioning ecosystem," said Kristina Heister, park natural-resource manager. "We feel we need to act now, and we need to act quickly."
The first shoot would take place next winter. Federal employees or contractors would fire high-powered rifles mostly at night, dispatching deer baited to areas with apples and grain. The rifles would have silencers. Some shooting likely would take place during the day in areas closed to the public.
Amazing how Goobermint seems to think that only THEY are the answer to everything... Geesh.
Cross cut sawing wasn't too bad, but the pit sawing is a real back breaker... (At least for me now - (grin))
Ewww! LOL.
I've been thinking about the chicken idea. We're rural and that's doable, plus I could get eggs as a bonus. I'm going to read up on keeping egg laying hens. Thanks.
I kept 2 little brown jars all these years just to keep my nice inexpensive bulk yeast in. At least I've gotten many many uses from that jar of horribly expensive yeast. LOL
Thanks for the wine recipe. In your experienced position do ya think I can substitute my frozen cantaloupe juice and follow the same method?
And when you say you used a 2 liter bottle are you talking about a 2 liter soda water bottle? I was told I *had* to use glass.... I’ve been waiting to see my younger daughter to get the official “glass” jug but I got soda water bottles all over the place just filled with water. With that I could do this now.
And... on the wine....
I buy yeast in bulk. What does 1/3 cake of yeast amount to? I should know this but I usually just use a tablespoon in whatever I make.
That's kinda what I was thinkin'. If I leave just enough of the onion attached to nourish the root a little before it sprouts it might work. Anyway, I'm going to try it just for experiment.
I might also try leaving the center bundle where the shoot would come from on another good root and see how that works. Better to experiment while I still have onions coming than when it's too late to waste any.
Some will think this is just a gross idea, but I like zucchinni or other squash dehydrated. Just eat the chips. They have good flavor and are crunchy. Very tasty. Also I like celery this way. Celery dehydrated packs a whallop of flavor despite the relatively mild taste of plain celery.
Have used the mineral oil on corn silk for years. I apply as soon as the silk is showing on the ears. Back breaking job but worth it as corn is my very favorite vegetable and I just hate to find those ugly earworms. I used to apply it with an eye dropper but that is so labor-intensive as one dropper full only does a few ears and I plant a lot of corn, so then I started putting the oil in a dish detergent squeeze bottle. Much easier that way. Tried many ways of freezing corn and found I preferred it best just cooking a few extra ears whenever we had corn, cutting it off the cob and popping it in the freezer. The oil kills the eggs before they develop into worms. I still have to apply the dreaded Sevin to the stalks to kill the borers. Sevin is deadly to bees, so I always use it before the pollen sets on and attracts the bees.
We used to have several hives of bees and one year a neighbor called and mentioned that he didn’t have many bees in his garden. I told him we had thousands of dead bees in front of our hives which indicted someone was using Sevin indiscriminately. A long silence, then a long oooooh told me who was using the Sevin.
I do understand what you are saying here, however, I think the term "survival" in the sense this thread is titled is varying degrees of survival. There are some folks who have never "cooked" a dish from scratch in their lives. They wouldn't know what to do with raw ingredients if you put them in their kitchen. Some of those folks are being hit with the reality of the economic situation in a very hard way and the first step in their learning to survive is to learn how to feed their families on a budget.
In that sense I think some of these recipes are very useful to folks just realizing that they *have* to do something different. On this thread we don't know how many lurkers may be reading and are not ready for some of the more detail "hard" survival tips that a lot of us long time freepers/survival minded types know. There are still folks out there who are just getting their feet wet. This thread is for those also.
For me, the recipes are not something I need. I tend to skim over those and only take note if something sounds good today. LOL. But, I don't begrudge those people reading who many not have been cooking for 40 years. Just a matter of degree IMHO.
I find searching for native plants that are edible a very entertaining and fulfilling enterprise. I have done it for several years but in no means do I think I could feed my household that way - YET. I'm still working on that. I would enjoy it if you share more things you know about this. In my locale I know enough plants to gather "extras" for meals but I need to know lots more. If TSHTF today and I didn't have a thing in the world prepared, my stash was wiped out, I had to hit the road I'd look for game and cactus. There's lots of seasonings out in the wild that I know. And greens that I know. But, the more we know about this the better. When I have time I will try to post some of those and I'd like to see other things you have.
When I go to harvest any parts of cactus I try to find an area where I can build a small fire. (Well, if I'm getting more than a pear or two or a pad or two.) Wear leather gloves and leather jacket if you have one. Knee pads are good if you're going to kneel. Have pliers with long handles and a good sharp knife. I am a woman I don't know if the long handled pliers have an official name. But I use the pliers to hold a cactus pad or pear if I can then use the sharp knife to cut it off. Using the pliers to hold the cactus part I then hold it in the flame to burn off the spines. That works pretty well. You still have to watch for prickles but they are mostly taken care of in the field that way.
When I get them home I still use gloves to peel them "just in case." But, also the flame on a gas stove can be used to pass the cactus parts through to burn the spines.
I think sliced up prickly pear pad or fruit are good sauted in a little butter.
Oh man, that is good stuff with grits and biscuits!!!
Heck yeah!!! Deterents to crime are better than aftermaths any day!!!
Another thing that takes the sting right out of a bee sting is tobacco and saliva. Okay, gross, but if it's what you have, it works. Put a pinch of tobacco in your palm, spit on it, mix it around and slap it on the sting. It works!
Portable hutches work great and their design is limited only by your imagination like some of these:
Fancy or plain, the chickens don't seem to mind.
I get my chickens from Ridgway Hatchery I bought my first from them in the '50's and their family run hatchery has always been very good as far as I am concerned. As an example, this last order I received a call that Mrs. Ridgway canceled that shipment and they would go out in 3 days - she inspected the chicks and was not satisfied with them so she was not going to ship them. Received them from the next batch and they were great - 100 Buff Orpingtons - Lost "0".
There are quite a few other good hatcheries out there but I can only relate my experience with Ridgway Hatchery
Oregano is also a very easy plant to start from cuttings. If you know someone who has a good patch of it just cut a few ends off, apply some rooting hormone or dip the ends in honey and stick 'em in some dirt. Keep them moist and in warm weather they'll have good roots in about a month.
You are probably right. If you don't like bugs and worms it takes a while to get used to the fact that *most* of them are very good for your plants. In a greenhouse you can control your elements a little more and figure out what's good and what's not. I welcome those honeybees because I know they are pollinating my plants. Yesterday I had my first bloom of the season on one of my scented geraniums!
That's what I keep hearing from Lloyd's family. He's pretty bitter about it. Most of the family's old homes are now owned by Bostonians because taxes went sky high and nobody local could afford them anymore. He still has 3 kids up there who find it harder and harder to make it.
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