When to Plant Garden? - Planting by the Moon - Garden Secrets - Learn to Garden What When Why

What you won’t read on a seed packet is when to plant them in the ground.  You can bury seeds to fit your schedule, but they will sprout and grow on their own schedule. Knowing this critical factor is crucial to being able to grow food most effectively. 

Best Beginner Garden - How to Read a Seed Packet - How to Buy Seed - What Seeds? - SHTF - How to Have a Garden

A seed is actually a living and breathing entity.  All she will be is in her now, waiting in anticipation for the fruition of destiny.  Because seeds magically have their own communication with creation, planting a seed and watching it grow is like witnessing Immaculate Conception.  And when that plant joyously blooms, we share in the rapture as if, almost, it was our own creation.

Words on a Seed Packet

Name tells which plant seed is in the packet, usually as we would generically refer to it, like a last name Tomato.  As many plants grow in different areas under different names.  Latin names are used for definitive identification, and allow us to access the pertinent data that has been collected around the world on a plant that might well be a native weed to us.

Start by growing the vegetables and fruit you like eating and expand your repertoire to the food plants which will produce in your area when no other plants are available.

Variety is the unique name for the plant; only plants with this name are totally the same, like a describing name as in Red Beefsteak tomato.  Each variety has different characteristics like appearance and growing habits.  One variety of squash will grow prolifically where another won’t grow at all.  The heritage of vegetables has included a great number of varieties.

Secrets of Homesteading - Survival Homestead - Living off the Land - SHTF 2012

There are words than are very seldom said about homesteading.  As with most relationships in life, there is a secret truth  to why it works so well.  In this case I think homesteaders don't want to admit our nay sayers are correct when they say our endeavor is fool hardy.  But like the joys of parenthood far override the sacrifice, a homesteader paradoxically lives in peaceful satisfaction.


It cost more to raise your own food than it does to buy it from the grocery store.  

Take  turkeys for example, one of course could argue than organic natural rare breed meat is very expensive. Here is a link to buying what I grow on-line, turkey for sale.  But the farmer will tell you that organic grain is equally expensive.  This year chicks cost $16, plus shipping, plus vaccinations, a heated pen, and processing labors are expenses without including everyday care or attrition.  It could be easily calculated today to break even at $4.50 a pound.  Most of my turkeys are 20 pounds.  Who can afford $100 for a dead turkey, or like the link above for  $199..

Here my cost are cut as we usually incubate our own eggs.  I collect seeds and greens,and  grow fruits and berries for them to supplement the feed.  But this is only possible from paying for land, setting up irrigation and years of nurturing and sustaining plants not native to my place, I could buy cheap factory birds but I won't.  Almost all chickens, and most turkey breeds are now extinct, this is the truth.


Milk is wonderful, the homemade ice cream and cheese are outstanding bonuses.  To have milk you must be able to help deliver the baby from the mother you will take the milk from.  To procure this milk from one, you must feed, house and protect a herd of animals.  They all  need to be be fed or milked at least once a day, 365 days a year.

This scenario of step by step development is duplicated in every aspect of a homestead.  The larger the return the bigger the expense up front.  It costs very little to buy led lights to grow vegetables in the house, even less to sprout beans on the counter, even less to pick weeds.  To save vegetables you need a sunny yard and a freezer.  To have eggs all you need is a protected run and 2 chickens.  It is easy to feed 2 chickens with house scraps and worm bins.

Cooking at home is a form of homesteading too.   You can easily see the benefit and pleasure of the food, unless it is your job, it is not so easy to see the acquisition,  preparation and clean up efforts for that meal.  Gradually, meal after meal, day after day, with devoted effort, the kitchen will  begin to runs like a well greased machine allowing the cook to expand like an artist.  Expanding what could be drudgery to pleasure, shared to all with love.  Magic somehow, perfectly natural somehow too.


My day is full of meaningful toil and natural activity. What is presented to me by nature is my labour, my food, my exercise, my bounty, my tithe, my security. I would choose to spend my hours in my garden raising food for the year rather than making money to buy my food, it is as simple as that. I would rather raise my own so I know the meat and eggs I eat are not from a poisoned tortured animal, it is as simple as that. I want healthy home cooked meals, so I stay home an cook them. It is what I choose to do with my time, my choice.

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Homesteading is expensive, a huge amount of work and personal time commitment, including 24 hours of guard duty, and offers little chance of cash return.  You will always have to bring in cash from somewhere else to pay the shylock banks and the extortionist bureaucracies like insurance companies.

This news would be devastating if not for the fact a homestead has nothing to do with cash return.  What homesteaders quietly know is the cash they have to  earn is spent to pay their way out of consumer slavery.  From a homestead, one can perpetually suckle from nature, creating health and joyful existence rarely experienced in these modern times.  My labor I freely give, following the chores of the seasons, rooted as my trees and free.  There is no price that replaces the security of making an agreement with nature to cater to her needs so she will cater to yours.

You don't need a farm for a homestead.  You can start in your kitchen, then to your backyard, any where you can begin to enjoy these pleasures for yourself. 

Solar Storm - Magnetic Field Affected - SHTF

Biggest solar storm in years hits earth

• by: By Seth Borenstein in Washington, From AP March 8, 2012 6:50 pm
  
  A solar flare erupts on the Sun's northeastern hemisphere. Picture: AP/NASA AP
  
  
  EARTH'S magnetic field is being shaken like a snow globe by the largest solar storm in five years.
  After hurtling through space for a day and a half, a massive cloud of charged particles arrived today and could disrupt utility grids, airline flights, satellite networks and GPS services, especially in northern areas. But the same blast also could paint colourful auroras farther from the poles than normal.
  Scientists say the storm, which started with a massive solar flare early in the week, is growing as it races outward from the sun, expanding like a giant soap bubble and moving at 6.4 million km/h.
  

flower planting chart

Downloadable flower chart - including starting schedule

Jet Stream Split - Wacky Weather - SHTF

I have been mentioning this, the wacky weather possibly caused by the under reported jet stream split.  Now, here is an actual scientist reporting the same thing.

Why Much of North America Skipped Winter

By Wynne Parry | LiveScience.com

January ranked as the fourth-warmest for the 48 U.S. states on record since 1895. December, too, was above average, although not as significantly. The final analysis for February is not yet in, but weather watchers expect last month to rank above average temperature-wise as well.

Of course, this year hasn't brought early beach weather for everyone; just ask residents of Alaska and Europe, where a frigid cold snap is blamed for hundreds of deaths. And the warmth has been blamed for contributing to the slew of devastating tornadoes that hit the Midwest and southern U.S. on Friday (March 2).

While scientists have said that global warming willcause an uptick in extreme weather, they are hesitant to link any one event or even an unusual season to climate change. Even so, they say, global warming may play a role in the weird winter weather.

The jet stream

The key to understanding the unusually warm winter lies in the jet stream. It is made up of high-altitude, westerly winds. Its polar branch, the one important for determining winter weather, travels over the mid-latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere in winter, according to Jeff Masters, director of meteorology at the weather service and news site Weather Underground.

Poppy's Money Tree House: Easy Homemade Egg Noodles

Poppy's Money Tree House: Easy Homemade Egg Noodles

Excellent tutorial here, with pictures, take a look, it is amazing!  Peace

Free Food - Preserving Food - Save Money - Eat Local - Frugal Living - Survival Homestead

Note this post is a re-post, to set the table so to speak for my guest, Micheal Bloomfield, head of the Harmony Foundation

Our first year was so lean, with 2 extra mouths to feed, that it was necessary to learn about the wild food available. I would search for them then put them in paper lunch bags and staple it to the wall of our shack to dry. I was amazed over 50 different plants we identified and preserved to the winter. I truly believe that the medicinal properties of these plants and mushrooms help sustain us through the tough winter.

It is not natural to buy nutrition from countries far away. I bought some cinnamon the other day, it was such a bargain. I threw it out as soon as I got home, compared to my other cinnamon, it was cut without a light coloured substance. I am not a paranoid person, but I wonder if a country can put white poison in baby formula, what is stopping them from slipping it into food destined for unknown privileged tables.

Herbs and seeds dried for spices, are the perfect example of how easy and free preserving food can be. Parsley, sage, thyme, oregano, and mint should be grown and dried in every household. They grow like weeds and pound per pound more nutritious than vegetables. Their flavors enhance any recipe. It is my job to save money and I do it at all costs. This time of year money is particularly tight as winter stores of rice, coffee, sugar, flour and the like are purchased. We buy in bulk at wholesale saving 80% of store prices. We also buy a beef and pork from other farmers in the fall. At just over $2 a pound for both steak and hamburger, clean meat is a bargain. Mostly we grow the only vegetables and fruit consumed during the summer for the winter. All our meals our whole foods as fresh as possible, cooked at home.

After 10 years, the farm produces without needing money or bringing money in. Of course one could argue that it is part of my mortgage cost. Money was also used to pay for the infrastructure and upgrades here. Fencing, pens, raised beds, soil, energy efficiency upgrades costs eventually pay for themselves in returned savings.

I could tell you we have 10 mature nut trees, 30 mature fruit trees, 12 mature grape vines, a large raised garden and all the food they provide and you could be all impressed. I wouldn't tell you of the hazelnut orchard with 100s of trees growing wild on the hill (no doubt the work of squirrels), or how easy it is to grow a new grape from a cutting, or how one of the biggest jobs in the orchard is to keep the self-seeded saplings cut down. Packed away is 5 pounds of seed saved for planting. We have vinegar and too much wine. Wild herb and mushrooms fill my apothecary cabinet. This time of year clean lake fish fill the smoker. The wood grows here that heats our home. The cats get the rodents and the dog the predators. There is enough weed seeds and worms to feed enough chickens to keep us in eggs and crispy fried all winter. I haven't bought a chick in 7 years. This year alone more than 30 chicks were born and raised without intervention from me. (No really, free ranged in the yard with the mom I didn't even need to feed or water them.) All this is available every year, with variance but without fail.

We used to raise our own pigs and goats too. It is impossible to do this for only one family. A family will eat a couple of pigs a year. A mother pig can have a dozen piglets 3 times a year! A good goat will present over 2 litres of milk twice a day. Even if one makes cheese it is far more milk than can be used in one kitchen. The goat only has milk after pregnant. To maintain these animals you must keep a male and female. They are herd animals and thrive best if you can keep a little herd. They must be fenced always and monitored to protect them from predators. They must have fresh feed available all year all year and their health maintained daily. You can see where the expense of time and money would make total sustainability prohibitive for a single family. I don't have the time or the money to feed, raise, process and market this many animals.

You can see this patch of nature we've nurtured for years can produce enough for 3 or 4 families. Nature certainly does her part and I do mine by reaping what was sown. I am shocked to finally realize, without a doubt, what is missing to make this farm self-sufficient is people. If only I had the seed to grow a community, hmmm . . . . .

Spices - Fried Rice Recipe - Frugal Living - Secret of Cooking at Home

Do not underestimate the impact and nutrition of spice.  Store them very close to the stove so they will be convenient to use.  The spices you need are garlic, and/or tumeric, pepper, cumin, ginger, oregano, rosemary, parsley, sage, thyme, cinnamon, and dry mustard.  Salt, sugar, soya sauce, apple cider vinegar, rice vinegar and/or balsamic vinegar are also value components of appetizing meals. Use spices liberally, except for sage and pepper, it is very hard to use too much.  Start with a teaspoon per meal of each spice, then remember to add or reduce to suit your taste the next time you use that combination.  You won’t use all the spices everyday, but each imparts unique flavors which allow you to have a an appetizing, exciting menu.

Fried rice is an excellent nutrient dense entrée.  Put one and one half cups of rice and three cups of cold water in pot with lid.  Cook on high until steams, without taking off the lid, turn the burner down to low and let cook for twenty minutes.  In a large frypan, on medium put dry spices like tumeric or curry, when warmed add one quarter cup of olive oil, garlic, ginger, mushrooms and fresh or frozen vegetables cut fine.  Turn temperature to high and stir vigorously.  When the vegetables are hot add hot or leftover rice.  Make three holes in the rice, and fill with raw eggs.  Quickly stir into the rice, letting the heat of the rice cook the egg.  Then turn down to medium and let cook without stirring for a few minutes.  Add soya sauce, a pinch of sugar, pepper and salt to taste, then stir vigorously with fork.  Turn off heat.

We don't buy rice anymore.  It takes so much water to produce and has to come so far to our house.  I use various beans and lentils for this recipe.  In our house this recipe is always made with leftovers.

Easy Soup Recipes - How to Make Soup - Frugal Living - Survival Homestead

To make soup stock cover a whole chicken with water, add a few bay leaves and a tablespoon of salt to a large pot.  Cook on high until the water boils and turn the heat down to one quarter; cook until all the meat falls from the bone.  Let cool, then remove fat off the top, bay leaves and the bones.  You will see the soup is a jelly, a concentrate of soup.  Use three or four cup of the concentrate of soup to make a full soup by adding rice or potatoes, and any other vegetable available.

It is very convenient to freeze a meal serving size in a bag.  Use a cup of food per person per bag as your general guide; it is better to have a little more than a little less.  A bag is easier to fill if it is sitting open in a cup when it is filled.  Press the seal of the bag until only a small airhole is left, then roll the bag up from the bottom rolling the extra plastic around the soup and pushing all the air out of the bag.  Never put warm food in the freezer.  

Cream soups don’t freeze well but they are easy to make and a hit with picky eaters.  Melt two tablespoons of olive oil and/or butter over medium heat.  Add two potatoes and/or broccoli, asparagus, celery, onions, cauliflower, add portion of soup stock.   Put a lid on pot.  Bring to a boil on high, then turn down and cook at quarter heat until all vegetables are soft when pierced with a fork.  The trick is then to use a handheld blender to puree the soup until velvety smooth.  If it is too thick add some water.  While not really necessary but if you want to add it milk do it here, while adding salt, sugar and pepper to taste.

With basic cooking, milk, butter, cheese and cream should added to the recipe at the end of the cooking time.  Not cooked but rather melted into the dish like a condiment.  A grater is excellent on cheese because cutting cheese with a knife is hard on your hands and it makes little bits that melt quickly reducing the amount of cheese needed.  Avoiding heating yogurt at all as it destroys the friendly bacteria it contains. 

Sustainability and Self-Sufficient Living Off the Land SHTF Survivial Homestead

The post of a blog friend has been on my mind since I read it.  Because  of careful planning and major life changes she was fortunate to set up a farm and throw herself 100% into farming, gardening and homemaking.  Unfortunately she now sees what we, her brothers and sisters in sustainability and self-sufficiency also have learned from years of experience, these are not viable ways to procure cash.  Nature will always fill your belly but you can never count on her to fill your purse.  One will only burn out trying to prove otherwise.

I feel partially responsible for not exposing the cold hard truths of living like this, off  grid so to speak,  that newbies and daydreamers can't know.  The truth is cooking, gardening and farming are excellent ways to save money and feed your family.  The truth is to maintain and secure the necessary infrastructure for these activities  requires the labour of at least one more person and other resources including a cash flow.

I blog about my successes and each picture carefully taken to show a  sense of perfection.   Are there any dishes, can you hear me panting, do you see my dirty nails or the weeds, or the unswept floor?  The truth is I never have time to make my house or my yard look pretty.  I am too tired from keeping enough food growing to fill my freezer for the winter and the wolf from the door.

Anyone who is serious about sustainable living encounters feelings of inadequacy and overwhelming everyday.  We just live with it and keep trudging down the path.  Each day too we take our eyes from our obsession and to see how beautiful the journey really is.  The rewards far outshine the losses,  never posh and frilly but always an exciting adventure.

Peace

The Back Forty: Easy Homemade Mayo: Mess or Success

The Back Forty: Easy Homemade Mayo: Mess or Success: Once upon a time... What do olive oil, egg, lemon, vinegar, and salt grow up to be? If you do it right, it makes great mayo! If you don't,...

Good News - Thriving in the World - Solar Power - SHTF

 I just watched an amazing video about successful social change, without bureaucracy and corporations.  Necessity is the mother of all.  Peace 

Rural Women Solar Engineers

Cooking at Home - Easy Recipes - How to Cook a Roast Dinner - Easy Gravy - Easy Soup - Frugal Living-

An oven roast meal is the easiest to make.  Use an oven to cook larger meals and/or larger cuts of meat.  Put the meat in a pot or pan and sprinkle with salt and pepper; cover with lid.   

With a dry cloth, rub dirt off potatoes (rinse them if you can spare the water) and stab them twice with a knife. Put the roast in the middle of the oven surrounded by the potatoes making sure they aren’t touching each other.  Turn the oven to 350F, no need to preheat it.  Cook the potatoes until a fork goes in the flesh easily, and the meat until the juices run clear when poked with a fork. Watch out for the steam when you open the pot lid!

Transfer the meat to plate.  Let it cool a bit before you cut it.  While it is cooling, put the pot on a burner turned to medium.  Scrap the bottom of the pot with the bottom of a fork to blend the drippings. Put two tablespoons of cornstarch in a cup of cold water, mix well and add to the drippings, mix together well and bring to a boil.  This is gravy!  If it is too thin add more cornstarch solution, if too thick just add water.

Put frozen vegetables in a pot will a lid, sprinkle with salt, cover and cook over medium.  Watch them carefully, stir them often, they will cook very quickly.  Cook the vegetables at the same time as the gravy so everything will be ready at the right time.

Most fresh vegetables are easily cooked in a frying pan.  Put a cast iron pan or stainless steel wok on the burner, turn the temperature to high, add a couple of tablespoons of olive oil or butter.  When the oil is hot, before it smokes, add food cut in bite size pieces.  Stir vigorously with a fork, then turn temperature down to medium.  Sprinkle with salt and sugar, then stir with fork to blend.  Turn off heat and eat. 

Turn the vegetables and gravy off. Cut the roast.  The fibers in meat can be long and hard to chew, but if we cut the fibers short the meat is easier to chew.  If there are strings on the roast your cuts will be parallel.  Without strings, remember the fat will be on the outside edge of each slice.  A pork chop or steak is a slice of meat cut against the grain. 

When the meal is over, put the bone from the roast in the gravy pot and put in the fridge, this will become soup the next day.  Fill the pot with water to cover bone, with the bone, to three quarters full, add three good pinches of salt and bring to a boil.  Reduce heat to low and slowly good the bone for three hours or so.  An hour before you are going to eat, take the bone out and let cool.  Add to the broth, either a chopped up potato or two or a half cup of rice, and an onion and some celery chopped up.  Cook for a half hour or until soft, then add a cup of vegetables you have fresh or frozen, and herbs like parsley, and a tablespoon of sugar and soya sauce.  Taste your soup, it will taste bland if it doesn’t have enough salt; you would be surprised how much salt is in soup. 

Easy Salad Recipes - Cooking at Home - Learn to Cook - Frugal Living

Salads are combinations of fresh vegetables cut into small pieces.  It is very convenient to use a little stainless steel grater here to make little bits from the garlic, unpeeled carrots, unpeeled beets, onions, and unpeeled ginger.  Large leafy vegetables are most easily and conveniently cut up with a large pair of scissors, keep them clean and only for cutting vegetables.  Mix and match the ingredients available will make salads seasonal delicacies. 

Choice salad oils are olive, apricot seed, flax seed, hemp seed and/or grape seed combinations.  This component to a healthy diet should not be disregarded there absence in the body is unforgiving.  In much the same way as oil in a car allows it to operate smoothly, so too you should think of salad oil.  Don’t skimp using these oils on salads and cooked vegetables oils.  These oils loose their effectiveness when heated.

Dressing is made from a combination of two tablespoons of healthy salad oils, a half tablespoon of vinegar, a half teaspoon of sugar and salt and pepper to taste. Apple cider, balsamic, wine, and rice vinegars when used as the solo with salad oils bring excellent flavor to any meal. Put ingredients directly on salad greens in the order given.  This is only a base recipe, by adding herbs and spices on hand, use your taste buds to decipher if the flavor will make this salad perfect.

A Mediterranean salad mix includes every kind of peppers, cucumbers, tomatoes, parsley and onions.  The dressing is one part balsamic vinegar to four parts salad oils sprinkled with rosemary, oregano, thyme, and/or basil, and salt and sugar to taste. Feta cheese and olives are traditionally used in this combination.

A family favorite is cheeseburger salad.  It is basically all the ingredients of a cheeseburger without the bun.  Using leftover cooked hamburger, cheese, onions, tomatoes, pickles, and lots of lettuce cut into bite size pieces.  The dressing is mayo, mustard, ketchup and relish to taste.

Mayonnaise is easily made if you have an electric blender.  In a very clean blender jar whip one fresh egg add a teaspoon each of sugar, apple cider vinegar and dry mustard powder.  Then blend on a lower setting while pouring one cup of salad oil slowly through the hole in the lid.  Don’t over blend the mayo; once you see the right consistency turn the blender off and stop adding the oil.  Transfer to a sterilized jar and store in the fridge.   Mark the date on the jar and use within a week. Keep mayonnaise in the refrigerator.

Chicken salad is chicken, onions and parsley cut into small bits and mayo mixed with a teaspoon of dry mustard and salt and pepper to taste, served over salad greens.  Fish salad is made exactly the same way, although dill is an excellent addition to this recipe. 

Egg salad is boiled eggs, onions, parsley, carrot and/or celery and pickles cut into small bits and mayo mixed with a teaspoon of dry mustard and salt and pepper to taste served with lettuce on bread as a sandwich. 

To boil eggs will a pot half full with cold water put it on the burner.  Add eggs to fill the pot, put on a tight lid and turn the burner on high.  Once the water is boiling turn it off, leaving the pot on the burner.  After three minutes, carefully drain the hot water from the pot.  Put the pot in the sink on the faucet to pour cold water on them to cool them down.  If the egg isn’t cooled fast enough the yolk edge will darken, this does not however affect its edibility.  Peel an egg by tapping the bottom and top to crack the shell, peel and rinse.  Older eggs are easiest to peel.

A coleslaw salad can include cabbage, carrots, beets, onions and/or garlic grated or chopped up fine.  The creamy dressing is three parts mayo with one part salad oil with salt, celery seed, pepper and sugar to taste.  Process large quantities of the the veggies and freeze them, so it is a fast thaw and serve salad.  Post about freezing vegetables here.

The tangy dressing is three parts salad oil, one part vinegar with salt and sugar to taste.  The tangy dressing works well with bean salad.  Combine cooked and cooled beans, with chopped onion and/or parsley and cucumbers.  Soak mixture in tangy dressing overnight in the fridge.

Two myths that keep the world poor - SHTF - Frugal Living - Vandana Shiva

Vandana Shiva | November 2005 issue

 From rock singer Bob Geldof to UK politician Gordon Brown, the world suddenly seems to be full of high-profile people with their own plans to end poverty. Jeffrey Sachs, however, is not a simply a do-gooder but one of the world’s leading economists, head of the Earth Institute and in charge of a UN panel set up to promote rapid development. So when he launched his book The End of Poverty, people everywhere took notice. Time magazine even made it into a cover story.

But, there is a problem with Sachs’ how-to-end poverty prescriptions. He simply doesn’t understand where poverty comes from. He seems to view it as the original sin. “A few generations ago, almost everybody was poor,” he writes, then adding: “The Industrial Revolution led to new riches, but much of the world was left far behind.”

This is a totally false history of poverty. The poor are not those who have been “left behind”; they are the ones who have been robbed. The wealth accumulated by Europe and North America are largely based on riches taken from Asia, Africa and Latin America. Without the destruction of India’s rich textile industry, without the takeover of the spice trade, without the genocide of the native American tribes, without African slavery, the Industrial Revolution would not have resulted in new riches for Europe or North America. It was this violent takeover of Third World resources and markets that created wealth in the North and poverty in the South.

Two of the great economic myths of our time allow people to deny this intimate link, and spread misconceptions about what poverty is.
First, the destruction of nature and of people’s ability to look after themselves are blamed not on industrial growth and economic colonialism, but on poor people themselves. Poverty, it is stated, causes environmental destruction. The disease is then offered as a cure: further economic growth is supposed to solve the very problems of poverty and ecological decline that it gave rise to in the first place. This is the message at the heart of Sachs’ analysis.

Cooking at Home - Easy Recipes - How to Cook Steak - How to Cook Hamburgers -Beginners Cooking - Frugal Living

The reason we don’t eat at home is we don’t know how to cook.  Homecooking is a lost art, with an unfair stigma, mainly because it doesn’t produce money but it can quickly turn your life around.  It drastically reduces packaging and the pollution that creates, it vitalizes and heals your body, nurtures your loved ones, conserves money and enables you gain control of the security of your food in these uncertain times.

Steaks, chops, boneless chicken pieces and bacon are easy to cook in a frying pan.  Turn the burner on high to get your frying pan hot before adding your meat.  Meat closest to a bone will always take longest to cook, so put it in the center on the pan.  Make a cut into the fat on steak and chops to keep the meat from curling.  Continue on high for a few minutes until you hear the fat spatter.  Then turn temperature down to medium for a few minutes.  When you see blood on the top of the meat, turn it over for a few more minutes.  Sprinkle with parsley or savory and salt and pepper to taste. 

 

You will know when meat is done when you press it with the bottom of a fork and the juices come out clear.  Roasted birds are done when the cooked leg pulls away from the body and the juices run clear.  The meat of cooked hamburger, pork or chicken should not be pink, not even at the bone.

Hamburgers are made by forming plain ground beef into patties.  They are cooked in a frying pan the same way.  Burgers are only ready to flip when the bottom is firm enough to turn over without loosing the shape of the burger.  Remember, once the meat has cooked, use a clean flipper or fork other than the one you used for the raw meat.

Cooking Secrets - Frugal Living - Survival Homestead - Cooking at Home

A small sharp knife like a paring knife or steak knife makes preparing foods easier.  Some knives are made with a “permanently sharp” serrated edge and others come with a sharpener.  A knife must be sharp to be effective, it should easily slice a carrot.  A dull knife is dangerous, frustrating and requires much more effort to use.  A good knife will hold its sharp edge for a long time and hold its blade tight in the handle.  The blade should not easily bow or be too heavy as to become tiresome for the user. 

Cheap pots and pans are hard to cook with and difficult if not impossible to clean.  To use anything else is a waste of your time and money in the long run.  It is important to cook only with 10/18 stainless steel or cast iron pots with tight fitting lids.   Try to buy also 10/18 flatware, as these forks and spoons don’t easily bend and will, like the pots last a lifetime.  A tablespoon is the large spoon and the teaspoon is the small one.  Use only cast iron frying pans or a good stainless steel wok for frying.  Buy them used if you can find them.

A grater is very helpful in quickly cutting fruits and vegetables into small bits.  Try and find a good used stainless steel grater the new ones are cheap and bend too easily.  The tools you use should be as pleasurable as toys to use. 

Stove and oven temperatures vary from unit to unit.  For this reason, the temperatures here are only guidelines.  You only need to preheat an oven for baked goods.  Don’t

get burned from the steam or heat while taking off pot lids or the opening oven door.  Always use an oven mitt or a folded towel to protect your hand from getting burned on hot pot. 

Burning the skin is a hazard in the kitchen, from steam, hot pans or spattering fat.  Don’t leave the kitchen unattended while cooking at high temperatures.  Always turn pot and pan handles in, so they can’t get knocked off the stove.  Keep a box of baking soda by the stove to douse a fire if necessary. 

Be mindful of the temperature under the pots to ensure you don’t burn what you are cooking.  When food boils too hot it will bubble out of the pot.  If the oil spatters out of the pan the temperature is too high, turn it down.  Burning food renders it unpalatable.  If what you are cooking starts to stick and burn on the bottom take it from the heat and remove as much of the food as possible, without disturbing the burned bottom.  If, on the other hand if you have left a pot on a high temperature and smoke is coming from it, remove the pot from the burner, open the kitchen windows, don’t take off the lid and don’t eat it.  Not only can burned food ruin a meal, but burnt on food can wreck even the best pots.

On the stove top most food is cooked by adding it to a hot pan or a pot of boiling water.  After adding the food wait a minute, then turn down the burner to one quarter heat.  Covering pots and pans with lids will help food cook faster using less energy.  Don’t use a lid when cooking in a lot of oil or when frying breaded items.  A sprinkle of salt in a pot of water will help water boil faster, enhance flavors, and help vegetables retain green color when cooking. 

Funny thing about being able to boil water, efficiently, for cooking.  Once a pot is boiling, it with continue that boil even on the lowest burner setting.  Knowing this, if you add pasta to boiling salted water just removed from the burner and stir, then return to the same burner on low, the pot will not boil over.  Add eggs to cold water, heat to a boil in a covered pot then turn burner off and let the eggs gently poach in the hot water. 

Always have all ingredients cut before turning on a burner to cook.  The smaller the pieces, the faster they cook, the sooner you eat.  Cut food by pressing a sharp knife through it on a hard surface like cutting board.  Respect the damage the blade could do to your flesh, if cut you would be well advised to disinfect the cut immediately with tea tree essential oil.

Plan the next day’s meals before you go to bed.  Assess which resources are on hand for the recipes you like and your time available for preparation.  Take any meat you need out of the freezer to thaw.  Don’t be afraid to partially prepare for the next meal ahead of time.  Cook

extra meat or eggs the day before to have the ingredients ready for your meal. 

  

Time your activities to make the most of your resources.  I bake and make soup during the winter months when doing so helps heat the house.  In the summer heat, I roast meat and vegetables in the oven late at night to use the food cold in sandwiches and salads the next day.  Scheduling the main meal at noon is most effective as it allows the cook day to best utilize the day.

You can’t just turn on a burner and eat.  Cooking is a process an ever changing ongoing activity.  You have to know how to acquire, select and store ingredients.  A necessity as well are the proper tools and the know how to   use them to ease with preparation and cleanup.  Once you know the nature of your ingredients and the tricks of your equipment, cooking is more a pleasure than a chore. Keep following this blog for all the details.

2012 Event - Food Shortage - SHTF - Surviving the Future - Hope

  It is no secret I am anticipating an event.

I am a farmer, gardener and forager in the most abundant place on earth, please hear my words, there will not be enough food next winter.  The unprecedented weather activity this year will create havoc with food production.  Frost, flood and fire take time to recover from.

Last year, the vine which usually gives over 800 pounds of grapes, gave none - why?  The fruit did not ripen.  Some fruit  did not produce because a late frost killed the tender buds.  Most crops here were a write off and I have only filled the top of my fridge's freezer with food. Normally we go through a x-large freezer during the winter.

 All my turkey flock is gone after 10 years, the last one 2 to bears. The bears, which are now 2 year old cubs and their mom (400 pounds at least), have demolished much of the orchard. The snakes and weasels have been getting my chicks and eggs.

We got 50 turkey chicks year but they all died one at time over a month period.  Because of this the breeder no longer supplies them rendering them extinct.  The replacement breed chick costs $10 each chick.  Chicken chicks are $5 each.  Ten years ago, they sold for $1.

There were over 594 earthquakes (over 4) this month.  I have been following this daily for years, and I can tell you the number is on the rise like never before.  Magnetic shift, jet stream split, EMPs, GMOs, . . . .And let's not get started about how the infrastructure of this modern world is collapsing . . .

The only way to prepare for the future is to start preparing for the future.  Survival starts in your kitchen and yard.  It is not a worry, it is to be free of worry.  Keep following this blog, and my friends blogs listed to the right on this page, to learn how.

 Do not be afraid of the future. 

There is nothing to fear. 

Living as freely as nature intended is immeasurably satisfying. 

The world is still trying to be a wonderful place,

 are you doing your part? 

Jet Stream - Wacky Weather

150-mph Jet Stream a Key Factor in Wednesday's Tornado Outbreak

Heather Buchman
AccuWeather
Fri, 29 Apr 2011 06:24 CDT

© National Weather Service Forecast Office
This image shows tornado reports from Wednesday's outbreak. There were more than 160 reports of tornadoes, most of which were in Mississippi, Alabama and Tennessee.

A 150-mph jet stream was one of the key players in why Wednesday's historical tornado outbreak in the South was so devastating. The persistent presence of a strong jet stream over the South is the main culprit in why this April has been such a terrible month for tornadoes.