Posted on 02/09/2009 12:36:11 AM PST by nw_arizona_granny
Yahoo ran an interesting article this morning indicating a rise in the number of survivalist communities cropping up around the country. I have been wondering myself how much of the recent energy crisis is causing people to do things like stockpile food and water, grow their own vegetables, etc. Could it be that there are many people out there stockpiling and their increased buying has caused food prices to increase? It’s an interesting theory, but I believe increased food prices have more to do with rising fuel prices as cost-to-market costs have increased and grocers are simply passing those increases along to the consumer. A recent stroll through the camping section of Wal-Mart did give me pause - what kinds of things are prudent to have on hand in the event of a worldwide shortage of food and/or fuel? Survivalist in Training
I’ve been interested in survival stories since I was a kid, which is funny considering I grew up in a city. Maybe that’s why the idea of living off the land appealed to me. My grandfather and I frequently took camping trips along the Blue Ridge Parkway and around the Smoky Mountains. Looking back, some of the best times we had were when we stayed at campgrounds without electricity hookups, because it forced us to use what we had to get by. My grandfather was well-prepared with a camp stove and lanterns (which ran off propane), and when the sun went to bed we usually did along with it. We played cards for entertainment, and in the absence of televisions, games, etc. we shared many great conversations. Survivalist in the Neighborhood
BREAKING NEWS: Plane On Fire Lands Safely
A plane with an engine fire has landed safely at McCarran Airport, according to
the Federal Aviation Administration.
MORE DETAILS: http://www.fox5vegas.com/tu/5ExKDvxdH.html
Odd, with your New York crash, above was coming in about 1 or 2 pm, as I heard it on kdwn.com or kdwn radio is what I listen to.
Does make me nervous.
Sleep well and safely.
See post 921 for a plane with an engine fire in Las Vegas today.
Leaves lots of questions.
The news says it hit a house in New York, how sad and heartbreaking, the fire is spreading right now still.
Don’t think that I will get to anything new tonight, as I too am thinking fondly of my bed.
Have a good nights sleep, we have to take on tomorrow shortly.
I did send out a ping a day or so ago, but only to the names on my ping list.
If you want to send to your list, I do not see any reason to not do so, and will even say please do so.
Thank you for thinking of it.
That is odd to have two airplane incidents in such a short time. Hmmmm....
Just pinging you all to the new survival thread on FR. Granny is well and back to posting, hooray!!
Please forgive me if this is a repeat ping. I know some of you have already been here.
Thanks!!
Related:
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Handy Farm Devices And How To Make Them
(very detailed resource published in 1910)
http://journeytoforever.org/farm_library/device/devicesToC.html
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Great Depression Predictions may be too Sanguine
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/bloggers/2184342/posts?page=1
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Please add me to you PING list ........ ;)
Related:
Return of the 1950s housewife?
Adelaide Now ^ | December 31, 2008 | Kylie Hansen
Posted on Thursday, January 01, 2009 3:05:40 PM by CE2949BB
She sews, cooks, knits, gardens and raises chooks. The housewife is back – with younger women embracing traditional domestic crafts in droves,...
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2157325/posts
Make Your Own Laundry Detergent
###
Posted By Suzanne McMinn On December 14, 2008 @ 1:05 am In Handmade Soaps, Primitive Crafts & Country Style
Make laundry soap at home! You can! It’s easy and frugal and doesn’t even take very long.
The ingredients are simple and inexpensive–Borax, washing soda and/or baking soda, and any plain soap such as Ivory.
Borax, washing soda, and baking soda are all natural laundry boosters that help remove soils, fight stains, and freshen laundry–basically, they are soap enhancers.
You can find Borax and the laundry-size baking soda in the laundry aisle at the store, and many places you can also find washing soda there, too, but I had a hard time finding washing soda here.
(Tip: If you live in this area–the only place I found that carried washing soda was Smith’s Food Fair in Big Chimney.)
You can find a number of laundry soap recipes (and soap bar suggestions) here. I tried Recipe #3, which includes one-third of a large bar of soap, 1/2 cup Borax, and 1/2 cup washing soda.
I didn’t find that it was quite strong enough to suit me, and so with some experimentation, I came up with my own recipe. If you’re interested in making laundry soap, I suggest you do the same–try a recipe or two, then experiment and modify until you find the mixture that works for you. Try mine for starters if you like!
I doubled the Borax in the original recipe and used a combination of washing soda and baking soda, as well as doubling the soap. (I didn’t want to double the washing soda since that might be too hard on fabrics. I can get the added cleaning power with the addition of the gentler baking soda.) This mixture makes over two gallons of detergent.
How to make Homemade Laundry Soap:
1 regular (not large bath-size) bar of plain soap
1 cup Borax
1/2 cup washing soda
1/2 cup baking soda
water
Grate the soap. (Soap grates easily.)
Heat 3 pints (6 cups) of water on the stove and add the grated soap. Stir occasionally, until the soap melts.
I use a pint jar and a quart jar for all the water measuring for this recipe as it’s faster than doing it one cup at a time.
Once the grated soap is melted, add 1 cup Borax, 1/2 cup washing soda, and 1/2 cup baking soda, stirring to dissolve.
I use a large pot, large enough to hold all the water I’ll need for my mixture so I don’t have to get a separate pail. If your pot isn’t large enough to hold over two gallons, you’ll have to transfer the mixture to a bucket at this point.
Add one quart jar of very hot water to your soap mixture.
Stir well. Add six more quarts of cold water. (If you’d like to add some scent, now is the time. Add 10-15 drops. I don’t add scent–it’s no big deal to me and would increase the cost. I’m happy with my laundry simply smelling fresh.) Stir well again and ladle or scoop the mixture into your container(s).
I’ve found that three large plastic coffee containers are exactly right to hold this recipe. They come with handy snap-on lids and one is just right to keep by the washer for daily use.
Use 1/2 cup per large load of laundry. Mixture may gel or clump as it sits, so stir before each use. (I keep a 1/2 cup scoop–in a plastic bowl to prevent mess–on top of my washer to measure out the detergent. I just stir it with the scoop before measuring it out.)
Works for me! And it’s cheap. For the price of a couple of average size containers of store-bought laundry detergent, I can make gallons and gallons and gallons of homemade laundry detergent. (It’s better for the environment, too–no steady stream of containers to throw away.)
It’s easier to stock up and store the Borax, washing soda, baking soda, and soap bars than cumbersome containers of store-bought detergent, and it only takes 15-20 minutes to whip up a new batch when needed.
If you do any experimenting, I’d love to hear about it!
http://suzannemcminn.com/blog/2008/12/14/homemade-laundry-detergent/
http://suzannemcminn.com/wp-content/uploads/IMG_62491.jpg
This message contains the following:
1. Nordica USA Recalls to Repair Skis; Binding Plates Can Break, Poses Fall Hazard to Skiers
(http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prhtml09/09127.html)
2. Disney Store Recalls Toy Tool Sets Due to Choking Hazard (http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prhtml09/09128.html)
3. Strangulation Death of a Child Prompts Hill Sportswear To Recall Hooded Sweatshirts with Drawstrings (http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prhtml09/09129.html)
Thank you for sending the pings.
Welcome and glad you found us.
Thank you for the links and information.
You are on the ping list, which is a ‘once in a while ping’.
Did you find thread #1, it has 10,000 posts in it and is full of important information.
One never knows what we need to learn, for down the road or next month.
I thank all of you for adding to the information here.
Thank you. I have not seen that 1st thread.
Dogs’ miraculous survival lifts spirits in Alexandra
When Peter Dowling saw his wife patting a pillow and calling it Coco, he knew the deadly Taggerty bushfire had broken her mind.
Nina Mortimer’s two dogs were her babies, and on Sunday morning she was told by her neighbours they had not managed to rescue the dogs.
By the end of the day she was in Alexandra Hospital, and Mr Dowling thought his wife was in the midst of a mental breakdown.
He and his wife were away from their house on Saturday, and when they heard about the fires they told the neighbours to take their dogs to safety. The message from their neighbours was “no worries”.
But it was a very different story when they drove into Alexandra on Sunday to meet their neighbours. Mr Dowling said he knew something was wrong as soon as he saw his neighbours’ car.
“I walked past the car and looked in and there weren’t any dogs there and I felt really bad,” he told the ABC.
“I walked into the pub and I looked at them and their faces just fell. They said to my wife ‘we’re so sorry, we just didn’t have the time to get the dogs out.’
“Nina just broke down. She said if the house was probably gone and the babies had died in there, she wasn’t ever going back again.”
Grief can do unusual things to people, and Nina’s mind started playing cruel tricks on her.
She was convinced her dogs were still alive, and when Mr Dowling walked into the relief centre later that afternoon he saw her cradling a pillow in her arms.
“She was saying, ‘The dogs are OK, Coco and Cody are fine, I’ve got them just here’ and she was patting the pillow,” he said.
“I knew she was having a breakdown so I took her to the hospital and on Monday they were booking her into the psychiatric ward.”
‘The doghouse’
Just as Ms Mortimer was being assessed by psychiatrists however, stories began filtering in from Taggerty of a miraculous survival story.
“I got a phone call and the neighbours said there was a rumour going around the CFA there was a house still standing and there were dogs going barking their heads off inside,” he said.
Taggerty residents rushed up to the house to get the dogs out, and what followed not only saved the dogs’ lives but three houses.
“When everyone went up there they found a shed next door that was on fire,” he said.
“And if people hadn’t gone up there and put that out the whole row of houses would have gone up.”
The dogs had been trapped inside the house for over 48 hours as flames engulfed the area, filling the rooms with toxic black smoke and ash. But as Mr Mortimer said: “you wouldn’t have known it.”
“They were fine and they were jumping all over us. We were so relieved and they were so relieved,” Mr Mortimer said.
If the news of her dogs’ deaths pushed Ms Mortimer over the edge, the news of their rescue was the lifeline that brought her back from the brink.
“She’s become a new person, a renewed person,” he said.
“She’s made a lot of new friends, we all have.”
Coco and Cody’s escape has become somewhat of a local legend around the Alexandra and Taggerty region.
“Yesterday a friend from Narbathong came up to me and asked if I’d heard the doghouse story,” Mr Mortimer said.
“Everyone’s calling it the story of the doghouse. I might put a sign up outside saying this is the scene of the famous doghouse.”
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/02/13/2490988.htm
I looked back at it and my description of Yucca was'almost' right LOL T'was Gold they were after and I thought it was Silver -
LOL - last time I was there, Yucca consisted of a automobile test track outside of town, a VERY General store/hotel and about 8 or 9 houses. That General Store sold hay for mules, even had a stable and blacksmith, provided assay service for the miners, sold provisions, bar, meals, and even had a number of Comfort Girls who provided for the needs of the silver prospectors. I really liked to see their converted farm wagons which had a back porch that they loaded with hay, had their bed, kitchen, food storage, everything! All pulled by a pair of mules. They would go out prospecting and bring their gleanings in to the store - have it assayed and sell it - bought their provisions for the next trip and then blew the remaining money at the bar and with their temporary partners. When it was gone, they would hitch up their mules and go trailing off into the distance in their search.
You were certainly right as to where the prospectors went - I remember them trailing off toward the West - toward a mountain range that was East of the Colorado river boundry with California.
The wagons they had reminded me of the Gypsy wagons I'd seen pictures of in Romania or Hungary.
Never can figure that one out. City folks want out of the city because they think they'd like what we've got, then the first thing they do is bring their rules and regs right along with 'em.
Really wish I knew how to build rock walls and had the strength to do it.
Me too!!! For me the strength pretty much gets me but I would try anyway. Even just my stacking of rocks along the beds and wherever I want them adds to my place I think. I don't know what I'd do with a whole river full of boulders. We got lots of rocks but they're mostly little. They build up nice though.
Last year, we didn't think we were going to get any greens (we get them from the state prison where my wife works a farm crew). When we finally did, I called Mom and told her we were bringing greens. She immediately took her LAST HELPING of greens that she had frozen and cooked them up. She was saving them for winter, afraid that there wouldn't be any more. THe next day, she had greens 12" deep in her bathtub, both sinks full, and more waiting. We had 6 huge bags that we just couldn't get to. I hated to waste it, so it went to the compost pile.
Thanks, Granny. I don’t have chard on my garden list this year, but maybe I will add it and try it again.
Thanks, too, for this thread and the first one. I haven’t made it all the way though the first one yet, but have had it bookmarked for quite a while. You’re a wealth of knowledge and I thank you for sharing it with all of us.
“A keg of Rum and a sharp cutlass. Yo Ho Ho.”
When the balloon goes up, I’m coming to YOUR bunker, LOL!
LOL I had to stop and think for a second on that.
Since I have 3 two liter bottles of a wine making experiment where you have balloons on top for the air-lock - when the balloon goes up, the yeast is working - when the balloon goes down, the wine is ready!
First thought was hey another balloon wine maker - wonder how it works for them...
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