A lot of prepper blogs out there talk about storing information in such a fashion that you can access it easily during an emergency. One aspect of this is by printing out information from websites, blogs, etc. and keeping it in a binder. I have been doing that myself, and I discovered a wonderful browser application that helps me save the meat of a website, and eliminate the useless chaff (advertising).
Check out PrintFriendly. I find that it works for about 95% of the pages I want to be able to save. It creates a printable PDF of the page with the option to remove items. The one thing I don't care for is that on blog pages, it doesn't capture comments.
In any case, with this app I have PDF's on my computer. When I have enough articles on a particular topic to be worth printing out, I collate information into a Word document so that I can eliminate duplication, and reduce the size of the print to save space. Two sided printing also helps me save space.
My topics?
1. Clothing, and textiles (including laundry)
2. Communications
3. Food: Finding Food (foraging, hunting), Growing Food, Preserving Food, Storing Food, Preparing Food
4. Hazards, and security (include defense)
5. Health (including sanitation)
6. Heat, Fuel, Power
7. Income, Skills and Home Industry
8. Shelter (including bugging in)
9. Travel, Transportation (including bugging out)
10. Water
Where do I draw information from? Aside from the many blogs and information sites available out there, I also use the Internet Archive's Text Section to find information on how it used to be done. Currently, the archive houses digital copies of books published up to the early 50s. Another source of info is Scribd. There are a few uploaders who have collated a lot of useful information and posted it there, as well as posting the cream of the crop from the Internet Archive. I also visit thrift stores, and second-hand book stores and find treasures in print, and have scanned many of my own books so that if I can't take the paper copy with me, I still can have my library with me.
Monday, April 18, 2011
Monday, April 11, 2011
A Woman's Perspective on Prepping
I just read the guest post by Terrylynn over at the Survivalist Blog, entitled "Survival - Princess Style", and I found it very thought provoking. I have wandered around the periphery of the survivalist/prepper movement since I was in my teens. At one time back in the 70s, I took a "Survivalist" course. I even talked my mom into taking the course. I subscribed to "Mother Earth News", "Harrowsmith", assorted other more hardcore magazines, bought the Foxfire books, took archery lessons, learned to forage,... well, I could go on, but the interesting thing is that not one of those objects really prepared for things going to heck in a hand-basket.
It was trying things, learning how to do things, and realizing that I had useful skills. And when I went through a decade of really trying times, those acquired skills helped me. I shopped at the thrift stores because I couldn't afford to shop anywhere else. I regularly remade items of clothing to fit my son and I. I had a garden in the yard of the house I rented an apartment in. I learned to make bread (very fine bread, in fact). I learned how to make jams, and pickles and to can garden produce. It wasn't a lifestyle choice. It was necessity. I learned how to make do. I picked apples and pears from the cemetery near my place. I gathered acorns in my neighbourhood, prepared them and ate them. It's doing the prepares you.
Terrylynn is right about one thing. No matter how hard things are, the little comforts make the sacrifices easier to make. Having a pleasant looking home, a comfortable place to sit, these make it easier to handle still being hungry when you finish eating your meal. Reading a well-loved book yet again still helps to take you away from the worry. Playing a lively game of cards by candle-light and having a good laugh gives you a reason to get up the next day and keep on struggling. And even though I'm not a girly-girl, I do have a few dresses, and make-up for those special occasions. We want to do more than survive, we want to thrive. And thriving means we need to live, not merely exist. It's those civilized touches that help us thrive.
And yes, chocolate is a food group, and ought to be part of any woman's preps.
Anyhow, there's my two cent's worth...
It was trying things, learning how to do things, and realizing that I had useful skills. And when I went through a decade of really trying times, those acquired skills helped me. I shopped at the thrift stores because I couldn't afford to shop anywhere else. I regularly remade items of clothing to fit my son and I. I had a garden in the yard of the house I rented an apartment in. I learned to make bread (very fine bread, in fact). I learned how to make jams, and pickles and to can garden produce. It wasn't a lifestyle choice. It was necessity. I learned how to make do. I picked apples and pears from the cemetery near my place. I gathered acorns in my neighbourhood, prepared them and ate them. It's doing the prepares you.
Terrylynn is right about one thing. No matter how hard things are, the little comforts make the sacrifices easier to make. Having a pleasant looking home, a comfortable place to sit, these make it easier to handle still being hungry when you finish eating your meal. Reading a well-loved book yet again still helps to take you away from the worry. Playing a lively game of cards by candle-light and having a good laugh gives you a reason to get up the next day and keep on struggling. And even though I'm not a girly-girl, I do have a few dresses, and make-up for those special occasions. We want to do more than survive, we want to thrive. And thriving means we need to live, not merely exist. It's those civilized touches that help us thrive.
And yes, chocolate is a food group, and ought to be part of any woman's preps.
Anyhow, there's my two cent's worth...
Sunday, April 3, 2011
Squirrels
Love 'em or hate 'em, squirrels are remarkable critters with a knack for survival. I recently read a couple of articles about squirrels on Psychology Today's website that I thought I would share. In the article "Learning About Survival from the Squirrel", it talked about the importance of community, and learning from others, as survival characteristics.
Another terrific article is "What Can you Learn from Squirrels About Motivation, Procrastination and Intent". I think everyone will agree that procrastination is something that we all have to struggle with. Sometimes we get bogged down in the details; sometimes we are frightened by the effort that we will need to make to get something done; sometimes we just don't want to do what we have decided we need to do. Squirrels are not burdened with the human "ability" to worry about consequences or how much work it's going to take to get a job done. They just do it. Sometimes, you need to forget all that human complexity and just do what you need to do.
So, the next time someone gives you a hard time about "storing nuts" for the winter (hard times), and being a bit squirrelly, take it as a compliment.
Another terrific article is "What Can you Learn from Squirrels About Motivation, Procrastination and Intent". I think everyone will agree that procrastination is something that we all have to struggle with. Sometimes we get bogged down in the details; sometimes we are frightened by the effort that we will need to make to get something done; sometimes we just don't want to do what we have decided we need to do. Squirrels are not burdened with the human "ability" to worry about consequences or how much work it's going to take to get a job done. They just do it. Sometimes, you need to forget all that human complexity and just do what you need to do.
So, the next time someone gives you a hard time about "storing nuts" for the winter (hard times), and being a bit squirrelly, take it as a compliment.
Thursday, March 31, 2011
Bread
Check out Emma's guest post over at City Roots, Country Life on making bread. This is a great way to get started with cooking with food storage (even if what you are storing is flour), and to start rotating.
I made my first loaf of bread in grade 4, long before home economics classes would commence. My teacher, Miss Drake, was a hippie at heart, and we learned all kinds of things that we might otherwise not have ever had the chance to do. I certainly didn't learn bread-making in home-ec.
For many years, when the kids were both at home, I used to make bread twice a week, 7-8 loaves at a time plus, of course, pizza for the Friday night's supper. I used to buy yeast in a large can, and had the whole process down to a science. Into the bread sponge would go any compatible leftovers like potatoes, carrots, oatmeal... Every batch was an adventure.
The best way to get good at making bread is to do it often. People can tell you all about knowing when the bread has been kneaded enough because of the way it responds when you press your thumb into it. But nothing is more gratifying then to suddenly realize as you eat a piece of warm bread out of the oven slathered in butter that this time you automagically knew when the bread dough was kneaded enough, and bowled it for rising, without thinking about it. (Believe me, this is a milestone!)
When I first started making whole wheat bread, I was not terribly impressed with the taste. It lacked something. The problem was that I was merely substituting whole wheat flour for white flour in my recipes. Bleh! I discovered that I needed to add just a little more salt. Not a whole lot, but some. Where I would use a tsp of salt for a batch of white bread, I needed 2 tsps if the bread was entirely made with whole wheat bread, or 1 1/2 if it was going to half and half white flour and whole wheat flour.
My recipe? The basic French bread:
Oil a bowl, and your dough; put the dough in the bowl, cover and set to rise in a warm place. For me, this is inside the microwave after using it to heat a cup of water for 1 minute.
Let the dough rise until doubled in size, usually 45 to 75 minutes. Plenty of time to clean up the prep area, have a cup of tea and move a load of laundry from the washer to the dryer (yeah, I had a routine).
Once the dough is doubled in size, turn it out on your kneading surface, punch the dough down and knead it for a few turns, and shape it back into a ball. Throw a cloth over it, and get your loaf pans ready. A light coating of oil to help the loaf slip out readily at the end of the baking time is nice. Some people use cooking spray. Sometimes I would use a cookie sheet and make a proper French loaf or baguette, and sprinkle a little cornmeal on the sheet.
Now, divide the dough up for the loaves. The dough will not fill up the loaf pans at this point, and you can also make buns, or put some aside for pizza dough.
Put the covered loaf pans in a warm place to rise until the dough fills the pans, about 1/2 an hour or so. Preheat the oven to 375 F. When the oven is completely heated up, uncover the loaf pans, and put them in the oven. If the oven is crowded, after about 15-20 minutes you will want to rotate the pans so that they bake evenly.
They're done when you hear a hollow sound when you thump them. That takes between 30-35 minutes. Times depend on your oven and how hot it actually gets relative to how hot/cold it is in your kitchen and the levels of humidity.
I made my first loaf of bread in grade 4, long before home economics classes would commence. My teacher, Miss Drake, was a hippie at heart, and we learned all kinds of things that we might otherwise not have ever had the chance to do. I certainly didn't learn bread-making in home-ec.
For many years, when the kids were both at home, I used to make bread twice a week, 7-8 loaves at a time plus, of course, pizza for the Friday night's supper. I used to buy yeast in a large can, and had the whole process down to a science. Into the bread sponge would go any compatible leftovers like potatoes, carrots, oatmeal... Every batch was an adventure.
The best way to get good at making bread is to do it often. People can tell you all about knowing when the bread has been kneaded enough because of the way it responds when you press your thumb into it. But nothing is more gratifying then to suddenly realize as you eat a piece of warm bread out of the oven slathered in butter that this time you automagically knew when the bread dough was kneaded enough, and bowled it for rising, without thinking about it. (Believe me, this is a milestone!)
When I first started making whole wheat bread, I was not terribly impressed with the taste. It lacked something. The problem was that I was merely substituting whole wheat flour for white flour in my recipes. Bleh! I discovered that I needed to add just a little more salt. Not a whole lot, but some. Where I would use a tsp of salt for a batch of white bread, I needed 2 tsps if the bread was entirely made with whole wheat bread, or 1 1/2 if it was going to half and half white flour and whole wheat flour.
My recipe? The basic French bread:
- 2 tbsp dry yeast
- 2-1/2 cups warm water
- 1 tbsp. sugar
- 6+ cups flour
- 1 to 2 tsp. salt (depending on the type of flour(s) used)
- 1 tsp. oil
Oil a bowl, and your dough; put the dough in the bowl, cover and set to rise in a warm place. For me, this is inside the microwave after using it to heat a cup of water for 1 minute.
Let the dough rise until doubled in size, usually 45 to 75 minutes. Plenty of time to clean up the prep area, have a cup of tea and move a load of laundry from the washer to the dryer (yeah, I had a routine).
Once the dough is doubled in size, turn it out on your kneading surface, punch the dough down and knead it for a few turns, and shape it back into a ball. Throw a cloth over it, and get your loaf pans ready. A light coating of oil to help the loaf slip out readily at the end of the baking time is nice. Some people use cooking spray. Sometimes I would use a cookie sheet and make a proper French loaf or baguette, and sprinkle a little cornmeal on the sheet.
Now, divide the dough up for the loaves. The dough will not fill up the loaf pans at this point, and you can also make buns, or put some aside for pizza dough.
Put the covered loaf pans in a warm place to rise until the dough fills the pans, about 1/2 an hour or so. Preheat the oven to 375 F. When the oven is completely heated up, uncover the loaf pans, and put them in the oven. If the oven is crowded, after about 15-20 minutes you will want to rotate the pans so that they bake evenly.
They're done when you hear a hollow sound when you thump them. That takes between 30-35 minutes. Times depend on your oven and how hot it actually gets relative to how hot/cold it is in your kitchen and the levels of humidity.
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