Potatoes, the perfect self sufficiency and survival crop

Potatoes are just about the perfect survival crop.

the potato is fairly easy to grow they store very well and potatoes are very nutrtious (potatoes are high in vitamin C and potassium) Potatoes can be cooked in many ways such as roasted, mashed, sliced and fried or deep fried, boiled or baked or roasted in a fire, potatoes can even be used as the base for a alcohol (vodka).

The potato will g...row just about everywhere, produces a tremendous amount of food for the labor and space involved and is easily disguised as something non edible to most non rural people.

The Irish before the famine lived largely on a small plot of potatoes, some cabbage and the milk from a cow they grazed beside the roadside verge and maybe a pig or two. The mistake made by the Irish was to grow only one variety of potato, so when the blight hit the entire potato crop died off.

With hundreds of potential varieties of potatoes to plant, potatoes have tremendous genetic varieability and are some of the most important food crop we can plant for self sufficiency.

There are early varieties of potatoes to harvest as early as late spring to mid or late summer, just wait till the flowers open fully then use your potato fork to lift the potato plant and ease your treasure of tubors from the ground.

The main crop of potatoes will produce your heaviest crop. Wait till the plant tops have turned brown and died down completely then fork the potatoes up, let them dry and then take the tubors into storage.

An acre of potatoes on well tended ground, can produce as much as 40 tons of potatoes per acre, that is a lot of spuds folks.

You can store your potatoes in root cellars, just don't let them freeze, or put them in clamps. A clamp is made by selecting a dry corner of your garden, cover it with straw, pile the potatoes, then cover them with straw, then bury the straw under 6- 8 inches of dirt then cover with straw or leaves. This will keep your potatoes all through the winter.

Quote of the day

Laws that forbid the carrying of arms . . . disarm only those who are neither inclined nor determined to commit crimes . . . Such laws make things worse for the assaulted and better for the assailants; they serve rather to encourage than to prevent homicides, for an unarmed man may be attacked with greater confidence than an armed man. ~Cesare Beccaria ~

Violets, an attractive flower, edible flower and usefful medicinal herb

The violet, (Viola odorata from France or Viola canadensis from the Great Lakes watershed), is a low growing perennial with heart shaped leaves rising from creeping underground rhizomes. the common names of the violet are sweet violet, heart's ease and violet.

Violets live in moist shady grasslands on the edge of forests in the Great Lakes area.

Violets symbolized Venus and was regarded as... the flowers of love, and were placed on the hats of brides in ancient Greece. Napoleon, Emperor of France made the violet the symbol of his Empire.

Most people today think of the violet as a springtime flower but the violet is also valuable as a edible flower with attractive white, pale blue or light purple flowers, and is also a valuable medicinal herb.

Violets flowers can be candied and were used in colonial days for garnishes and in salads, put in fruit custards, and as fritters, on sauces and the flower petals are still used candied on cakes and on icing for decoration.

To make a violet syrup, take 1 cup of violet flowers, 2 cups of water, 2 cups of honey and 1 ounce of gin. Bring the water to a boil. Add the violet petals and combine them. Let the flowers infuse the water overnight in a non metallic container. strain and add the honey to the water. simmer for 10 minutes at a low heat. Let the fluid cool and pour it into glass bottles or jars. Add the gin to preserve the mixture. the violet syrup can be kept in a cool place for up to 3 months. This is excellent on cakes and as a topping on sherberts. The syrup is soothing on throats and in the intestines.

Used for the medicinal benefits violets were made into a tincture and into a syrup. Tincture of violet flower is used to treat coughs, and the syrup was used as a laxative. The seeds of violet, gathered in the fall, were used as a purgative and as a diuretic, by chewing. A cold infusion made from the fresh leaves of the violet was used to treat sore throats.

The brushed, washed and dried roots can be used in a concentrated decoction (1t in about 1/3 cup water will provoke vomiting in the case of food or alkaloid poisoning.

To preserve the flower petals of the violets, dry the flower petals and pack the petals in a airtight place indoors.

Chicory wild Medicinal Herb

Chicory, also called wild succory has the Latin name Cichorium intybus, and is a common roadside weed in the Great Lakes Area. 

Chicory grows on untilled lands all through the norther hemisphere, on sandy and limey soils, particularly along roads and paths where stones have been dumped.

Chicory is a attractive perennial herb with a thick brownish taproot.   The flowers are a attractive sky blue and appear on the tall stalks rising up to about 4-5 feet and blooming in mid summer. 

Chicory leaves can be used starting in the spring for early salads, and the root of chicory can be dug and in the shortages of WWII was roasted and ground and used as a coffee substitute.

Chicory leaves are prety tasty in salads and are grown as salad greens in Europe while the fresh root can be dried and roasted to treat diabetes.   The salad leaves from the chicory used in a decoction can be used to help clean the blood and gallbladder.

A decoction or tincture of chicory root can also be used as a drink to treat water retention.

Chicory has vitamins, A, C, P, and K as well as the minerals calcium, copper, iron, manganese, potassium and phosphorus and chlorophyll and assorted phytofactors as well.

Chicory has been used as a appetizer, for digestive ailments, as a diuretic, for hypoglecemia, as a vermifuge and as a remineralizing tonic.

A good springtime salad can be made of 15 chicory leaves, 5 endives, 10 black olives and garlic, olive oil and a lemon juice vinagrette.   Wash the salad, chop the leaves finely, and sprinkle with the vinaigrette.  Toss and garnish with the pitted olives.  Serve the salad at the beginning of each meal for several days in a row to cleanse the gallbladder, soften the intestine and deacidify the blood.

Home Security Alarms

Do you think there is anything more important than the safety of your home? Your loved ones and your most prized possesions are there. It doesn't matter if go on a vacation, leaving the house unguarded or if are working late at night, and want your wife and children safe, a home security alarm system will be your answer for your peace of mind and security.

A security alarm system typically featur...es a keypad, with a scheduled series of numbers used to activate or deactivate the alarm system. If a disturbance of any kind occurs, the alarm goes off and and sound's and the authorities are notified.

Many companies offer home security alarms with this feature, in other systems the homeowner must notify the authorities immediately. The latest wireless system makes use of a cell phone system to supervise the alarm system.

Many burglaries take place when house is vacant. That is why you need to choose and install a security system.

A good home alarm system is designed to protect the family and the property. The home you live in and the items inside where purchased by your hard-earned money. a home security system is a way to ensure that nobody can take your things away.

Many home security systems are easy to install but it is always advisable to let a professional to take care of the installation because if the Home alarm system is not properly installed it may fail when you most need it.

Take few sensible steps will help to keep your private security code number safe. Don't reveal the security system code to anyone for any reason, and make sure your families children understand this.

In addition, always memorize the alarm code. Don't leave it written on a piece of paper or some other place. Many criminals search very thoroughly in order to gather private information? You don't want your family security code to be available to the intruder. Once you memorize the code use a paper shredder or scissors to make sure the numbers cannot be written back together.

The home security alarm systems will protect you, your family, and your property if properly designed. If you are not comfortable with the system it won't get you the security, safety and peace of mind you want to provide in your home, and you might as well get another system.

A Household alarm system is not difficult to operate and you should not be intimidated. The home security systems have been developed to make you and your family to feel safe.

You can call Advantage Security Systems for expert caring assistance to protect your family home and property at (269) 660-8067 and get a free security evaluation of your home by our professional staff.

Horseradish, the versatile and healthy condiment

Horseradish, (Cochlearria armoracia) is a versatle and healthy condiment that is also a very useful herb.   Originally from Eastern Europe the horseradish is one of the five holy plants consumed by Ashkanazi Jews as part of Passover celebrations, the others being common horehound, nettle, lettuce, and coriander.  The Germanic and Slavic peoples of Eastern Europe also ate horseradish as a condiment, thus it was nicknamed, "German Mustard" 

Russians use a decoction of horseradish mixed with honey as a tonic they call hren and use it to clean the liver.  Another German use was grated and applied to a fine cloth and used as a external poultice applied to pained areas for the treatment of gout , a sprain, or sciatica.   Horseradish is very useful as wherever the tissue is congested or needs a rush of blood and circulation. 

Horseradish can be made into a diuretic drink by grating the horseradish and mixing it with cider vinegar and letting the two sit for at least a hour straining out the liquid and drinking it.  This is a hot tasting drink very rich in Pottasium.

Horseradish is extremely effective as a antiscorbutic to use to prevent or treat vitamin c deficiency including scurvy.   Horseradish is extremely high in vitamin C, Glucosides, and the minerals potassium, sulphur, calcium, magnesium iron and phosphorus.

The herbalist Fritz Weiss states that horseradish is one of the most effective antibiotics against skin, lung and bladder infections.  The medicinal  properties of horseradish are Antibiotic, Anelgesic, aphrodisiac,  a revitalizing tonic, a appetizer, a choleretic, a expectorant, a anti scorbiotic, a diuretic, a anti-inflammatory, a dissolvent, and a vermifuge and parasiticide.

A way to make a effective horseradish syrup uncooked of course is to take two cups of unpasturized honey (500g) and 8 ounces of fresh horseradish root.  Cover the horseradish root with the fresh honey.  cover the container with a lid that will keep out bugs and insects.  By the end of a week a syrup will form along the top don't remove the roots for at least a month.  For a 30 day cure take 1 tablespoon pure or diluted in water 3 times daily before your meals.  This syrup is a excellent way to treat bronchitis, hoarseness, fatigue, arthritis and anemia.

To grow horseradish pick a spot with moist garden soil I put mulch from my composted chicken house litter for the nitrogen, in a area that you aren't going to need to disturb in a place in full sun.  Horseradish plants grow very exurberently in this enviroment and are perennial,s that come up year after year and unless you are sure to remove all the root from your harvest will continue at the same spot.

The green herby perennial plant grow a foot and a half to over a yard tall with rank long green leaves.  The attractive white flowers of horseradish plants cluster in a lanceolate growth.  The horseradish taproot is a long brownish on the outside and white on the inside and has a distinctive tangy "horseradishy" scent.
You can use the flowers in June and the roots can be harvested in the late autumn when the leaves have frosted down.

Something to be careful about when using horseradish, either externally as a poultice or internally is that horseradish can be very caustic and also dilates the blood vessels so rely on common sense and use your senses to tell if if you think you might be taking a overdose, if it feels like you are taking to much... stop.

Finally Horseradish is of course a tasty addition to your home diet, as a marinade, pureed and of course grated as a tasty seasoning as well as added to ketchup as a great seasoning for your seafood and crayfish tails caught from your farm pond or lake. 








 

Preserve meat without refregeration by Jerking (drying), smoking and making Pemmican

To preserve meat by drying it, cut the slices really thin and you can either dry them in the sun, by placing them in covered racks in the sun until they have lost most of their water or, we used our smokehouse.   Cut off all the fat and save it for making pemmican.

First thing we cut the strips of beef and or venison in long strips about 1/4 inch thick and a foot or so long then we rolled them in a drying mix of salt covering the meat over night, ...this took out a good deal of the moisture from the meat before we started. 

Next we hung the cut meat strips in the smoke house and I or my Grandpa lit the fire in a trench pit with dry corn cobs and filled it with green hickory and apple branches, then covered the fire and let the smoke and warm dry air fill the smoke house. 

We kept the smoldering smoky fire going filling the smoke house until the meat dried into blackened , dry hard strips, that were simply delicious and the women added to our soups all winter.

Even without salt the same can be done but would of course be slower, and it is a good way to preserve the meat for the future without refrigeration. 

Be sure not to let the fire get to hot, you don't want to cook the meat, just dry it out and keep the flies off. When the jerky is ready, it will be hard, and pretty dark almost black and should keep for almost ever so long as you keep it dry and away from flies.

You can eat the Jerked,  smoked meat "as is" or use it as additive to soups and stews or best yet make it into Pemmican.

To make Pemmican the way my family did for time out of mind from the deer we hunted and later the beef we raised take the dried jerky and shred or powder it.   Now we use the beef and venison jerky to make our own Pemmican. 

Start with the Jerky, now pound it or shred the dried jerky.

You will want to take a lot of dried animal fat, we used the fat trimmed off the beast we made the jerky from, cut the fat into tiny bits about the size of a black walnut and render them ...in a pan being sure not to let the fat boil up. when you have rendered the grease out of the fat, yoyu can digard these lumps or keep frying them seperately and eat them as a snack with a little salt. (they taste pretty good.)

Now pour the hot grease overover the shredded jerky mixing the animal grease with the jerky until they have the consistency of a sausage, you can then pack your Pemmican into bgs, we used the cleaned out intestine of the animal, but there are other products today, for the squeamish, or you can use animal skin bags as well.
Then we lightly rubbed the pemmican with a salt brine and smoked it again to make a protective barrier once more.

You will need about one half dried shredded jerky by weight to mix with about the same weight of rendered animal grease. It will take about 5 pounds of fresh lean meat to make one pound of jerky, that you can make into Pemmican.

This Pemmican is with the addition of some dried or fresh fruits like cranberries almost a complete diet that yoyu can live on for some time.

Book Review: How to grow mint guide

The use of the mint plant dates back millenia, all the way back to the Ancient Greeks. Long believed to be a punished naiad of the river Cocytus of the Underworld named Menthe, the sweet plant has been associated with both honoring death and also with cures.

Now though mint is most commonly associated with toothpaste and candy canes. But the truth is that it is so much more, ranging from teas t...o stomach soothers. Mint is a great way to ease both a sore throat and stuffed nose too. The oil can be a great way to start or end the day by slipping a few drops into your coffee or other teas.

And don't forget the deserts. Mint is great for garnishes, just a scattering of leaves, or for the desert itself, such as mint cupcakes and brownies. Use as much as you like, since mint is safe for most people. Personally, I love as much mint as I can get, especially around Christmas time!

If you're curious for more about growing mint and even for just a few recipies, take a look at this new book on Kindle~

http://www.amazon.com/grow-Mint-Herbal-Guide-ebook/dp/B006UJFVA4/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1325951618&sr=8-1#_

If a solar flare like that of 1859 would hit the Eart today, what would happen to our electrical Grid?

In September, of 1859, during a major solar maximum like we are entering into this year a huge solar flare hit the Earth. Northern lights were seen as far south as Havana Cuba and as far north as Santiago Chile. Telegraphs, the only real high tech of the day arced and sparked for days and newspapers could be read outdoors at midnight in Baltimore from the light of the aurora.
What would happe...n to today if a similar solar flare would hit the Earth in todays high tech era? National Geographic ran a good article on the Carrington effect and what would happen to our high tech civilization? http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2011/03/110302-solar-flares-sun-storms-earth-danger-carrington-event-science/

If the same occurred today the results could be catastrophic.   Today's high tech world is terribly vulnerable to disruptions to the communications and transportation system and if the electrical grids over wide areas was smashed, by a large solar flare, then the damage could literaly, bring about a Dark Age, as the concentric systems our modern civilization collapsed in the dark and cold.   

A year ago I was at a FEMA briefing and one of the speakers told me they were concerned the government wouldn't be able to survive for more then four to six weeks without modern communication which would be very degraded if not utterly smashed by a large 1859 level solar flare hit on Earth.   The satelites used for the global communication would be destroyed by such a solar flare, and even worse most of the electrical; grid would be down, maybe for weeks maybe months maybe for longer (and that is if the systems could even be gotten back on line without massive repairs.

According to the  FEMA speaker I took out to lunch and plied with lubricants he was very worried that in six months to a year some parts of the country would have taken 80 to 90 % or more casualties.   When thinking of how dependent on transortation to provide just in time deliveries of food, purify our water and provide all the other supplies and life support needed to keep our mega cities population alive,  I have to agree it would be awfully bad in any large urbanized area.

Edible flowers for your garden, pretty and tasty

Edible flowers

Not only pretty, but nutritious too.

I have grown a number of different flowers since my grandmother taught me gardening in the late 1960's early 1970's. It was Grandma's contention that the garden was not only the most productive part of the farm but should be the prettiest. So always it was full of annual and perrienial flowers, many of which doubled up as either herbs or slad vegetables or both.

Here is a list of some of the flowers and what you can use them for.

Begonia; The stems can substitute for a late season rhubarb.

Calendula; Also known as pot marigold the pretty yellow flowers add a
golden color to your soups, scrambled eggs and grain dishes
substituting for saffron.

Carnations: Are both edible, although i find them rather bland but add a pretty
garnish to your meals.

Chives; One of my personal favorite, i love their flowers, the bees love
them and i love adding them to my potatoes, soups stews and
salads.

Chrysanthemums; Depending on which plant they can be a bitter or mild salad
herb, to taste the flower before adding it to yoursalads and you
can briefly blanch and add to your stir fries too.

Dandelion; My mom and grandma's favorite flower and herb and tonic and
early spring vegetable. You can use the leaves in the early spring
as a salad or boiled green wwith a touch of vinegar it is delicious,
the flowers are not only pretty but the bees love them and we
fried them and used them as garnish in our salads, and the roots
grandma and mom dug and used for a coffee type drink substitute
after cooking until very brown. The only problem we had is we
could never get enough to satisfy my mother and grandmothers
appetite for dandelions and I would always laugh when people
complained about them in the yard, they didn't know what good
eats they were missing.

 Daylily; Eat these beautiful flowers either raw or fried.

Dianthus; You can use these pretty members of the carnatian family as a
addition to your salads or as a colorful addition to herbal butters.

Gardenia; The blossom is a pretty garnish for your salads.

Geranium; The geraniums have very many tastes and scents and can be
used on and in pastries and as a flavor for water based drinks.

Honeysuckle; The nectar in the trumpet shaped flowers is sugary and deliciious.

Lavender; A beautiful herb, medicinly it is used as a herbal expectant and
antispasmodic and the flowers are a favorite for our bees. It
smells good dried as a scent and is quite pretty in our garden
edges.

Nasturtium; One of my favorites, I love the flowers plant it everywhere and I
love the peppery taste of the flowers as well.

Pansy; Can be added to your salads and used as a garnish.

Rose; Not only beautiful, but also the petals can be used to make
scented rose water, the rose hips can be used to make high
vitamin C drink, rose hip jam and jelly and we raise a pale
flowered variety mostly for the hips that can be eaten as a
delicious fresh fruit.

Rosemary; The herb has pretty blue blossoms that have a delicate
fragarence. The bees like most herbs love Rosemary. You can
use the flowers and the leaves in soups, stews, on pizza and as
a sherbert.

Sunflower; You can eat the seeds but also pick the flowers before they open
and steam or boil the buds as you would artichokes and eat with
a vinegar dressing or with butter. The yellow flower petals can
be added to your salads as a slightly bitter garnish as well.

Thyme; Another beautiful and fragerent herb, with different varieties
such as lemon and pinapple thyme, there are over 500 varieties
of thyme. Thyme can be made into potpourri, added to soups
and other recipes.

Tulip; Origanly domesticated in what is now Turkish anatolia for the
edible roots, today they aremostly grown for their flowers. Tulip
flowers are also edible with a sweetish taste and can be added to
minced vegetables or salads.

Violets; These beautiful spring flowers are not only attractive but edible
as well. the blossoms can be added to your spring salad, added
to a syrup for flavor and the flowers can also be candied and
used to decorate cakes and pastries.

These are just a few of the many edible flowers you can grow in your garden for color and flavor.

Tactics boils down to just a few things, General Bedford Forrest makes mention of one of the most important.

Something to remember about tactics from a great American general of the Confederacy in the First American War of Disunion. "Git there Fustest with the Mostest" General Bedford Forrest.

General Forrest was one of the most capable Generals in the entire war.  Self taught he commanded in the Western theatre against Union armies that consistently outnumbered his ill supplied forces, and just as consistently beat them.   One reason is the speed General Forrest would mass his forces, strike at a portion of the Union force hunting his forces, shatter there will to resist and move on. 

The essence of combat tactics is what General Forrest mentioned here, use speed to mass overwhelming force against a portion of the enemy force and destroy them peicemeal.  

 

The whole purpose behind survivalism is to protect your live and the lives and property of your family and friends in a disaster and emergency

The mission of the survival group  " Great Lakes Survivalist and Preppers Haven"  is fivefold: 

First)

We will act to preserve, and of course grow the group, so that it can continue to perform it's protective missions;

 Second)

We will protect and defend the members of the group, our groups dependents, retainers and other close family and and associates in any disaster, emergency or other situation, working to ensure as a mutual protection organization that we as a group and as individuals are taken care of particularly the civilian dependents;

Third)

The group will work to provide security and to protect the lives and property and means of survival and recovery in the area of the groups operation from destruction, removal, captivity or seizure by any outside force;

Fourth)

We will provide assistance to include organized security to help any legitimate lawful government seeking to protect the lives, property and liberty of our community and the means of survival and recovery in a disaster as our resources allow as to be determined by the council assembled.

Fivth)

we will assist all persons individuals families and communities or groups seeking in a ethical way to preserve the lives, liberty, property and means of survival and recovery from disaster, collapse or emergency and help by education etc all such individuals, families and groups in their survival and emergency preperations by providing quality information on means equipment, tactics and strategies for survival, survivalist, self reliance, self sufficiency, homesteading, gardening, farming, firearms, emergency preperations for disasters, and worse including "grid down" end of the rule of law, TEOTWAWKI (the end of the world as we know it) situations.
This is the reason we are working on developing this group, to help achieve a wider area of prepared peoples able to deal on a individual family and group or community level with disaster and emergency of any kind.

We will do this by providing information on safety, personal and group survival, survivalism, emergency preperation, self sufficiency, homesteading and all aspects of surviving hard times and worse, up to and including being able to protect oneself from a total collapse called TEOTWAWKI (The End Of The World As We Know It) and the collapse of social order and law and order known as the end of the rule of law.  We will be providing tips on surviving anything life throws at you, from simple job loss to economic collapse, or even worse. We  are scouring the Net looking for the best survival & emergency preparedness information, articles and supplies and equipment for you and your survival group.

The Great Lakes Survivalist and Preppers Haven is also a  place to network and share knowledge with other survivalists, folks preparing to deal with emergencies and homesteaders whether they are rural, urban, soon-to-be, or wanna-be with a emphasis in the Upper Midwest of North America, in Canada and The Unites d States, Great Lakes Basin, and Ohio River Watershed. A Sampling of topics include: gardening, canning, dehydrating, beekeeping, farm animals, simple living, self-sufficiency, soapmaking, survival, survivalist, survival retreat, security, storing food, self sufficient living, cheesemaking, spinning, sewing, herbs, edible flowers, wild foods, permaculture, baking from scratch, hand powered machines, greenhouses, log cabins, composting, vermicomposting... and more.
By doing this we can help our society as well as ourselves stand a much better chance of surviving a disaster, emergency and or collapse.