Hunger Games: Find this Wild Food and You’ll Never Starve

by Todd Walker

Two weekends ago I spent two days learning from a walking encyclopedia. Mark Warren operates Medicine Bow, a primitive school of Earthlore, in the north Georgia mountains near Dahlonega. Though I attended his Stalking/Tracking class, Mark’s willingness to veer onto other paths and integrate useful plants in the Eastern Woodlands only enhanced my learning experience.

One edible plant we discussed was Wapato (Sagittaria latifolia). Other common names include ~ Duck Potato, Arrowhead, Wapati, or Katniss.

I had an ‘ah ha’ moment with the common name Katniss…

As a fan of The Hunger Games, I always wondered how the arrow-slinging heroine, Katniss Everdeen, received her unusual moniker. Now it makes perfect sense on two levels.

1. Sagittaria in Latin means “arrow”. It also refers to the archer constellation Sagittarius. The obvious one, right?
2. A lesser known botanical reason can be found in her deceased father’s words which Katniss recalls early on in the trilogy…

As long as you can find yourself, you’ll never starve.

In keeping with the Hunger Games theme of this article, we’ll use the common name Katniss when referring to this wild food.

Katniss (Sagittaria latifolia) tubers were a staple in nature’s pantry for indigenous peoples of North America. Mark told us that the Cherokee of Appalachia cultivated this wild plant in wetland habitat as a sustainable food to feed their families. Roasted duck and duck potato sound delicious!

Katniss the Plant

The day before our class I snapped a few photos of a wetland near my school with a closeup of a toxic plant which resembles katniss. Mark took our class to a wetland area near a meadow to observe a patch of katniss. After comparing both plants, one can easily distinguish between the toxic Arrow Arum (Peltandra virginica) and edible katniss (S. latifolia).

Identification: Palmate vs. Pinnate

The leaves of katniss are palmate and arrow arum are pinnate. Leaves can vary greatly in size.

• Palmate – leaves where the nerves radiate from a central point like a curved star burst.

Palmate pattern on Katniss

•  Pinnate – leaves that have a main nerve (midrib) with other nerves branching off the full length of the midrib like a feather plume.

A closeup of the pinnate pattern on Arrow Arum

Arrow Arum leaf

Arrow Arum’s arrowhead-shaped leaf is often mistaken for katniss. With the side by side comparison above, it’s easy to see which is edible by the distinct difference in the leaf veins.

Arrow Arum in Katniss habitat

Katniss Habitat

Katniss can be found along shallow edges of ponds, streams, swamps, and bogs. Beaver habitat is another prime location for this aquatic plant.

A large beaver-manufactured wetland habitat near my school

Their range extends across North America in wetland areas except in extreme northern climates. Large colonies can be found in the shallows of lakes. Larger broadleaf arrowheads typically produce larger tubers.

Harvesting Katniss

Mike Rowe should do a Dirty Jobs episode on harvesting this aquatic food. Nothing about the process is clean. You can’t “cheat” by just pulling on the green stalk to reach the tubers. So roll up you sleeves and get ready for some mudslinging.

I trust and respect Samuel Thayer, author of The Forager’s Harvest. He’s been harvesting wild edibles since he was a kid. I tried his stomp method described on page 111.

Once you become an ‘expert’, you stop learning. There are many people with more foraging knowledge and experience than this novice forager.

But here’s the thing…

You and I will never deepen our knowledge or experience until we trade theory for ACTION. I’ve read books and articles about locating, identifying, and harvesting katniss. But this plant’s starchy tubers are more elusive than I had anticipated.

I have the locating and identification part down on katniss. Putting duck potatoes in my skillet has me stumped… for now.

I now know a few methods that do not produce desired results. Here are a few dirty lessons learned from my recent foraging foray in hot August humidity… waist deep in a Georgia mud bog.

Stomp Method

Traditionally, Cherokee women would wade barefooted into a colony of arrowhead and stomp around freeing the tubers from their muddy bed so they would float to the surface for easy pickings. Days of litter-free waterways and pristine shorelines are long gone. You may opt for an old pair of tennis shoes or waders to protect your feet from painfully locating Bubba’s broken beer bottle.

Fails, in my experience, are instructive. So are experienced foragers. I trust and respect Samuel Thayer, author of The Forager’s Harvest. Unlike me, Mr. Thayer has been Doing the Stuff of foraging wild food since his childhood. I tried his stomp method described on page 111.

Based on my personal experience, you’ll never fully appreciate this method until you’re waist deep in muck hoping you can break the Earth’s suction on your feet and return to solid land. Thayer’s harvesting accounts produced tubers consistently. All I got was muddy… and a bit smarter in the process.

Stomping in progress

Armed with hip waders and a walking stick I made my way to my friend’s property where a thick stand of katniss grows in the swampy end of their pond. The walking stick served two purposes: To move weeds in front of my feet to check for snakes; and, as a horizontal support on top of the bog surface to aid in my rescue from the jaws of waist-deep mud holes.

How hard can it be, right? Just jump into a thick clump of katniss and start stomping a man-size hole in the marsh. The embed tubers are supposed to break free from their rhizomes and float to the top of the water.

After an exhausting hour of thrashing and spinning in muck, not one tuber floated to the surface. In a long-term self-reliance situation, my haphazard expenditure of calories, with no return on investment, could be costly. This is the main reason we should trade theory for action to develop skills and techniques that actually work when it counts.

One other thought about harvesting wild food. Functional fitness should become a priority for anyone pursuing self-reliance. If modern systems fail, imagine the physical dilemma you’ll face harvesting food and performing daily tasks without an established base of fitness. Just a thought.

What went wrong?

Timing

After more research and asking online friends, my problem may stem from bad timing. That is, the tubers on our Georgia plants may not haven’t developed yet. We’re in the dog days of summer here. Katniss plants develop tubers later in the fall as a source of starch for the winter months.

More experimental foraging will take place in the same location in September and October, possibly as late as November. Once the arrowhead leaves turn brown and die back, larger tubers should be hiding in their mud beds under cold water. I image a campfire will come in handy on this adventure.

Other Methods from The Forager’s Harvest

• Potato Hoe – Use a four-prong hoe to rake down into the mud bed to break the tubers free. From what I read, you have to rake a deep hole to reach the “tuber zone.” Thayer used the hoe while in a canoe and standing in the water with good success.
• Hands – Locate the rhizomes and carefully trace down to the end to find the tuber. I attempted this method a few times as well.

I will not be tuber-less. I have faith that this wild food colony will give up her hidden treasure. Stay tuned for updates in my soggy saga. I will find this elusive Katniss tuber and not starve! Recipes will follow.

Keep Doing the Stuff of Self-Reliance,

Todd

P.S. – You can also keep up with the Stuff we’re Doing on Twitter, Pinterest, Google +, YouTube, Instagram, and Facebook… and over at the Doing the Stuff Network.

P.P.S – If you find value in our blog, Dirt Road Girl and I would appreciate your vote on Top Prepper Sites! You can vote daily by clicking here or on the image below. Check out all the other value-adding sites while you’re there… 

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Makin’ Bacon: How to Dry Cure Pork Belly

by Todd Walker

Vegetarians fear bacon. It’s the “gateway meat”. The temptation heightens with the mere aroma of this sizzling strip tease. Only the most hardcore herbivores can withstand the maddening scent in the olfactory receptors!

From a bacon-lovers perspective, preserving this fat-laden meat is a Doing the Stuff skill “worth it’s weight in salt.” However, if you believe the Big Fat Lie, go ahead and brace yourself for some disturbing news…

Your grandparents had it right… bacon fat won’t kill you. You need healthy fat in your diet.

Whether for health concerns or just to build a self-reliant skill, making bacon is a simple process anyone can do.

The recipe I used was given to me by Brian Manning, my instructor at The Pathfinder School. He made a video called “Hog and Hominy” where he carves up a side of his dry cured bacon to fry over an open fire. I had to make my own.

That’s Brian Manning hamming it up

I asked and he shared his recipe in the description box under his video. Be sure to check out his channel – Snow Walker Bushcraft – for some great tutorials and 18th century living skills.

I also found a helpful video by Steve Davis on his channel, “woodcrafter76“.

Here’s what you’ll need for makin’ your own bacon to cure what ails you…

The Bacon Cure

• Find a fresh pork belly, pasture raised if possible. I bought mine at a health-food grocery store called Earth Fare. Your local butcher shop may have fresh pork belly or can order it for you. Of course, the freshest route is to butcher a hog yourself. My pork belly weighed 12.6 pounds and was on sale, half-price!
• Buy salt and brown sugar. Lots of it. Three pound boxes of course salt. I used about 12 pounds of salt and 12 pounds of brown sugar. I’d probably use less on my next batch of bacon.
• Brian used cracked black pepper for an outside coating. I did not but may add some for taste.
• A large plastic bin with lid. No need to be air tight. You’ll also need a second large container to combine and store the cure mix.
•  A dark, cool place. A refrigerator, root cellar, or cooler works.
• Butchers string or stainless steel meat hooks. Don’t have any meat hooks? Use string and a needle for hanging your cured bacon to air dry.
• Patience. My pork belly took 14 days to cure.

Step 1 of Makin’ Bacon

In a large container, combine equal amounts of salt and brown sugar thoroughly. In hindsight, I should have used a larger mixing container. Sugar ants made a visit to our kitchen because of the spillage from my smaller container. You can never clean all those tiny granules off the cabinets and floor.

Step 2 of Makin’ Bacon

Rub the pork belly with the cure. Make sure you don’t miss any of the crevices on the flesh side. It’s like applying a rub on a pork butt for smoking… rub it good and cover it all! These little hidden hideaways need cure applied to prevent moisture build up. Moisture is your bacon’s enemy.

The first light coat of cure

Place the coated sides in your container(s) and stick ’em in the fridge or a cooler with some ice blocks. I used a large cooler since there wasn’t much room in DRG’s fridge. Plus, I don’t trust Moose and Abby, our two rescue dogs, to be in the house alone with bacon sitting about.

I found that frozen water bottles worked better than those blue freezer blocks. I even added a 4-year-old glass jar of frozen chili to the rotation. Simply swap out melted water bottles with 4 or 5 frozen bottles in your freezer each time.

Leave the curing container in the cool place overnight and let it work.

The morning after… Drain and rub more cure mix

Drain the collected liquid and re-apply the cure. Only this time you’ll want to add a thicker layer. Spread a 1/2 inch layer of cure in the bottom of your container and place the skin side on top of the cure. Now add a generous amount of cure to the flesh side which is facing up. Remember to hit all the creases with the cure. I added a 1/2 to 1 inch layer on top. In hindsight, that much was probably overkill but Brian said I should add more cure. So I did.

About an inch of cure covering the meat

Put the lid back on the container and place it back in your cool place.

Step 3 of Makin’ Bacon

Repeat step 2. Drain the liquid and re-apply cure mix. After a few days you’ll notice the amount of accumulating liquid on the flesh side decreases. The cure on the bottom (skin side) will still be wet and should be replaced with new/dry cure mix.

Late in the process you’ll have little accumulation of liquid in the container bottom with wet spots on top.

At that point in the curing process, you can scrape off only the dissolved cure mix and apply a thin layer to the area. I didn’t chance it. I basically re-coated the entire pork belly for 10 of the 14 days of the process.

Step 4 of Makin’ Bacon

Once satisfied that the liquid had stopped draining from the meat, I gave it a couple more cure applications. On day 14, I examined the belly and found no liquid had dissolved the cure mixture on top or underneath.

Step 5 of Makin’ Bacon

Wash off the remaining cure mix under cold water. Use your hand and fingers to scrap off any stubborn cure mixture from all sides of the pork belly.

Getting ready for a wash and smoke

Pat the pork belly dry with paper towels or a drying towel.

Step 6 of Makin’ Bacon

This step is optional but I prefer a good smoke flavor in my bacon. Smoke is also an added preservative in meats.

Keep the temp very low… below 200 degrees

I used my Big Green Egg and applewood chips for smoke flavor. You want to smoke the belly not cook it. Keep your smoker temperature under 200 degrees. If you have a cold smoker, even better.

Applewood smoke engulfing my bacon

It took some doing to get my BGE to hover between 150 to 175 degrees. Once regulated, I smoked the pork belly for about 5 hours. I gotta admit that I was a bit worried when I saw the belly looking all sweaty after the smoking process. It was supposed to be dry to keep bacteria from forming on and in the meat.

I hoped that the next step would remedy the wet, flimsy looking sides of pork belly.

Step 7 of Makin’ Bacon

And it did.

Use a large canvas sail needle or leather working needle threaded with butcher’s twine

String up the cured bacon with butcher’s twine and a needle or use meat hooks if you have some. Hang the slabs of goodness in a room in your house to air dry. You’ll want to cover them in a breathable fabric to keep flies and insects off the meat. I was in the process of hand-sewing a canvas bag when DRG, in her common sense tone, suggested using an old pillow case.

The bacon hangout

And the rest is history, folks. I love my smart wife!

The two slabs of bacon are air drying from a shelf in our laundry room encased in cotton pillow cases.

If you took your time and followed the process, the dry cured bacon will last several months at room temperature. I plan on dividing the belly into sections and freeze all but one part for immediate use and save the rest for future outdoor adventures… if it doesn’t get eaten beforehand.

Now go enjoy the intense flavor of your homemade bacon over a campfire! Or your kitchen. Or anywhere you can!

Keep Doing the Stuff of Self-Reliance,

Todd

P.S. – You can also keep up with the Stuff we’re Doing on Twitter, Pinterest, Google +, YouTube, Instagram, and Facebook… and over at the Doing the Stuff Network. P.P.S – If you find value in our blog, Dirt Road Girl and I would appreciate your vote on Top Prepper Sites! You can vote daily by clicking here or on the image below. Check out all the other value-adding sites while you’re there… 

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Copyright: Content on this site (unless the work of a third-party) may be shared freely in digital form, in part or whole, for non-commercial use with a link back to this site crediting the author. All links in articles must remain intact as originally posted in order to be republished. If you are interested a third-party article, please contact the author directly for republishing information.

Manna from Motorists: 8 Roadkill Rules to Follow Before You Swallow

by Todd Walker

It’s practically a self-reliance commandment.

Thou shalt not waste food. 

You won’t find these words on a stone tablet, but these 5 words are rock-solid advice!

The smallest ripple in the industrial food machine can wreak havoc on food prices and availability. That’s one reason self-reliant types grow some, if not most, of their own groceries. Cultivating food independence is hard work, sweat-of-the-brow kind of stuff.

You deserve an unexpected gift, a miracle of sorts. The roadways are the perfect place to claim your next free-range fur or feathered meal.

Disgusting?

Hardly! It’s the ethically thing to do out of respect for the animal victim. See Self-Reliance Commandment above.

More questions swirl in minds of refined readers, followed by the inevitable…

Why, I’d never eat from a ditch!!

Here’s the thing, though…

Roadkill is an overlooked secret survival sauce. You gotta eat to survive. Food costs money. Roadkill is free. Plus, it’s healthier than factory farmed animals injected with who knows what.

How do you know if manna from motorists is safe to eat?

If you experience a fender bender with Bambi or witnessed the crash, you know the exact time of demise. When you run across a potential meal on a road trip or daily commute, how can you be sure it’s safe to harvest? There are many variables to consider.

8 Rules of Roadkill 

Follow these Roadkill Rules to help determine if food by Ford is safe to swallow.

1.) Legal Stuff

Any fur-bearing animal or bird is edible. However, laws on harvesting roadkill or possession of protected species vary from state to state. Check out this interactive map to see if your state allows the collection of roadkill.

In the Peach state, motorists may collect deer without notifying authorities. Bear collisions must be reported but you get to keep the bruin.

Texas, California, and Washington are among the few states that prohibit roadkill collection. In Alaska, the Fish and Wildlife personnel collect reported road-killed animals and distribute to charities helping the needy.

Check your state laws first!

2.) Impact Damage

The point of impact determines how much meat is salvageable. My experience with broadside impacts are not good. Internal organs usually rupture and taint the meat. Not to mention all the bloodshot meat. As in hunting, a head shot saves meat.

Tire treads over the body usually means a bloody mess. Squashed squirrel would require a spatula to remove from the asphalt and should be avoided.

3.) Clear Eyes

If the eyes are intact and clear, the animal is likely a fresh kill. Cloudy eyes hint that the animal has been dead for some time (more than a few hours).

Creamy discharges around the eyes or other orifices indicate a sick animal. If the eyes are gone, leave it alone.

4.) Stiffness and Skin

Rigor mortis sets within a few hours of death. This is not a deal breaker depending on other indicators. The steak in the butcher’s glass counter has undergone the same process of “decay” or tenderizing.

Pinch the skin of the animal, unless it’s a porcupine, to check if the skin still moves freely along top of the muscle beneath. If so, you’re probably okay. Skin stuck to the muscle is a bad indicator. If fur can be pulled from the hide with a slight tug, the animal has been deceased far too long.

5.) Bugs and Blood

Fleas feed on the blood of warm blooded animals. Brush the hair on the carcass and inspect for fleas like you would on a family pet. If fleas are present, that’s a good thing. Fleas won’t stick around on a cold body.

There’s usually blood involved when animals come in contact with 3,000 pound machines in motion. Blood all over the road may mean there’s too much damaged meat to salvage. The color of blood present should be a dark red, like, well, fresh blood. Dark puddles of blood have been there been there a while.

Flies could be a bad sign. They lay larvae in wounds and other openings of the body. A few flies present isn’t always a deal breaker. A prior wound on a living animal may contain maggots. We had a live deer seek refuge in my mother-in-laws car port who had a broken hind leg from a vehicle collision which was infested with maggots. I approached her in an attempt to humanely dispatch her and put her out of her misery. Sadly, she gained her footing and disappeared through our neighborhood woods.

In the hot, humid summers of Georgia, it only takes a few minutes for flies to zero in on dead stuff. Which brings us to our next consideration…

A large beaver I found on the road last month

6.) Climate and Weather

The weather conditions and geographical location are variables to consider. Cold to freezing temperatures is ideal – think… roadside walk-in freezer or fridge. Meat will decompose quickly in hot and humid conditions.

One steamy August evening years ago, I was in my backyard and heard tires screech followed by a distinctive thud on a nearby road. I walked two doors down and found a freshly dispatched deer laying on the grassy right-of-way. That gift primed my freezer before fall hunting season.

7.) Smell

This one is pretty obvious.

If it has a putrid odor, leave it alone. You don’t have to be a TV survival expert to identify bad meat. Your old factory sensors will let you know… along with your gag reflex.

Ever break the cellophane on a pack of chicken breasts you forgot about in the back of your fridge? Register that stench for future roadside foraging.

8.) Collection and Processing Tips

Our vehicles are prepared with Get Home Kits. You may want to add a few items to it or build a separate Roadkill Kit. My kit is simple and includes:

• Tarp
• Surgical gloves

If you don’t drive a pickup truck, wrap large carcasses in a tarp and place in the vehicle for transport. Smaller animals usually go in a contractor grade garbage bag to get home.

It’s common sense in my mind… Do NOT field dress an animal on the side of the road! It’s dangerous, illegal (hopefully), unsightly, and disrespectful to both animal and human. I’ve seen some really stupid and disgusting practices over the years from unethical “hunters” and idiots. If you’re not prepared to harvest game properly, stick with the supermarkets.

Don’t practice slob self-reliance!

Rant over…

When processing wild game animals or fowl, (road-killed or not) always check the internal organs – heart, liver, lungs, kidneys – before going any further. Dispose of the animal properly (or report it to local wildlife officials for study) if the organs are discolored or showing yellow-greenish discharge. Again, use your sniffer. If it smells bad, it probably is.

Keep Doing the Stuff of Self-Reliance,

Todd

P.S. – You can also keep up with the Stuff we’re Doing on Twitter, Pinterest, Google +, YouTube and our Facebook page… and over at the Doing the Stuff Network on Pinterest, Google +, and Facebook.

P.P.S – If you find value in our blog, Dirt Road Girl and I would appreciate your vote on Top Prepper Sites! You can vote daily by clicking here or on the image below. Check out all the other value-adding sites while you’re there…

Thanks for Sharing the Stuff!

Copyright: Content on this site (unless the work of a third-party) may be shared freely in digital form, in part or whole, for non-commercial use with a link back to this site crediting the author. All links in articles must remain intact as originally posted in order to be republished. If you are interested a third-party article, please contact the author directly for republishing information.

How to Build a “Stairway to Heaven” Rat Trap in 15 Minutes

by Todd Walker

Rats… I hate rats!

We dropped our bushcraft kits in my shop when we got home. I’d just taught my grandson to cook his first simple meal over our campfire – Raman noodles! The next morning I was greeted with this…

Good thing we don’t live in bear country

In our excitement over his latest bushcraft lesson, we forgot to remove his food items from his pack.

Rat noodles!

Apparently, rats love Raman noodles.

Actually, these rodents will eat just about anything. We were fortunate that we only lost a pack of cheap noodles and was left with only one extra opening in his pack. If left to their own survival instincts – they gotta eat – rats can destroy non-hardened food storage items and spread disease.

I’m always trying to build a better mouse trap. I saw a couple of bucket rat traps on YouTube that seemed clever. This would be the perfect time to test the theory.

Here’s how to make a bucket rat trap in 15 minutes from everyday stuff.

How to Make a Bucket Rat Mouse Trap 

Gather Your Stuff

Here’s what you’ll need…

• One 5 gallon bucket
• One unopened can of liquid
• Ice pick, awl, or drill bit for making holes
• Pliers
• Wire
• Bait – peanut butter

First Step

Drill two holes on opposite sides of the bucket about a half-inch below the rim. The hole diameter should be a little larger than the wire you’ve chosen to use.

Second Step

Remove the paper label. Use you’re ice pick or drill to bore a hole in the center of the can lid. If you plan to reuse the liquid, turn the can over and bore another hole in the bottom of the can over a container. This will vent the can and empty in a few minutes.

Third Step

Skewer the can with the wire. This took time and patience trying to thread the wire through the second hole blindly. You could use a clear water bottle with the cap on to make this easier.

Once the wire is through both ends, make sure the wire extends a few inches past the bucket on both edges. With the threaded can centered over the bucket, crimp the wire at both ends of the can. This will keep the can sliding to the edge of the bucket which would defeat the trap.

Once crimped, insert the wire into both holes. You will need to bend the second side of the wire to get it in the hole. Just straighten the wire after it’s through the hole. Center the can over the bucket opening and bend the spare wire on the outside of the bucket around the bucket rim to keep the can centered over the bucket.

Fourth Step

If you think you’ve got a rat to deal with, pour about 6 to 8 inches of water in the bucket.Big rats can jump. The water prevents the vermin from leaping to freedom. For mice, use less water. At least that’s the theory…

—————————————————

PROJECT ALERT!

Warning: You’re about to see dead stuff! If easily offended by the sight of dead rats, turn back now!

Just walked out to my shop to check the bait and Ratzilla just ran up the wall onto some storage shelves. This sucker stands on the edge of the bucket eating my peanut butter!

Change of plans. This bucket trap may work for mice but not for this nemesis! As Roy Scheider, star of Jaws, said when he laid eyes on the shark, “Your going to need a bigger boat.” When dealing with Ratzilla and his kin, you’re going to need a bigger bucket!

I stand there in shock as he hides on top of the shelf mocking me with his shrieks. It’s on! No more cute little YouTube contraptions. You know, there are times when a better mouse trap has already been built. Use it!

I pulled a rat trap from my bushcraft kit. Large rat traps are part of my survival trapping kit. They’re useful for trapping tree rats (squirrels) and other small game in a survival scenario.

I’ll finish the MOUSE trap tutorial in a moment. But for now, I’ll share my progression of trap sets for this monster…

Epic fail! The Victor rat trap trigger had been stripped of peanut butter and was dangling from the bucket. Now what? DRG suggested that the “Stairway to Heaven” was not wide enough and the Victor trap needed to be placed, as designed, flat on the floor. I reset the trap and anchored it. I’ve had rats drag traps out of reach before. Rotting rat inside a wall is not pleasant!

I ditched the bucket and used the Victor rat trap alone. Think he’ll drag 10 pounds?

Update: He didn’t have to. He cleaned the peanut butter off the trigger… AGAIN!! I’m ready to load the .38 with snake shot! On second thought, he may take a hollow point. This is war!

DRG suggested using a different bait, one he wouldn’t easily remove. I modified the trigger to make the V-shaped metal tab stick up at a 45º angle. I then formed a ball of cheese around the trigger and reset the trap.

Thirty minutes later I flip the light switch on with my neck hair bristled. It looked like a murder scene minus the white chalk outline. Finally, Ratzilla was dead. I’ll spare you the bloody shots. No, this is not the bloody shot below. He measured over 15 inches from nose to tip of the tail.

R.I.P Ratzilla

If you see one, there is usually more. And they don’t leave on their own accord. I reset the trap after 11 o’clock that night – way past my bed time. Checked the next morning and one of his girlfriends couldn’t resist the cheese. Disposed of her and reset. You guessed it, caught another one! Three dead rats.

Note about sanitation: Avoid handling dead rats and mice with your bare hands. Wash your hands throughly after handling rat traps.

——————————————-

“Stairway to Heaven” How-to Continued…

Not sure if the continuation of the tutorial is even necessary at this point. I didn’t have a mouse problem, I had rats! This is why I continue to stress the importance of trading theory for ACTION before you actually need critical gear and equipment.

Here’s how to finish the bucket mouse trap.

Fifth Step

Spread peanut butter over the surface of the can. When a mouse scurries up the ramp to eat, in theory, he will leap to the can for the bait, spin off the wheel and drown. I can’t see why this bucket mouse trap wouldn’t work on mice.

Trading Theory for Action Lessons

This set up is genius on paper. It would allow me to catch multiple varmints without having to re-bait or reset the trap. Set it and forget. But in real life, you’re going to need a bigger bucket – or smaller rats.

The thought of using a wide-mouth bucket to increase the distance to the bait wheel occurred to me early on in this epic battle. But due to my obsession with destroying Ratzilla’s posse in a timely manner, I had no time to waste. I wanted them dead. Now!

What I discovered is that my bucket trap was nothing more than a rolling rotisserie for large rats. Stick with proven traps for Ratzilla and company or build a better mouse trap.

Keep Doing the Stuff of Self-Reliance,

Todd

P.S. – You can also keep up with the Stuff we’re Doing on Twitter, Pinterest, Google +, and our Facebook page… and over at the Doing the Stuff Network on Pinterest, Google +, and Facebook.

P.P.S – If you find value in our blog, Dirt Road Girl and I would appreciate your vote on Top Prepper Sites! You can vote daily by clicking here or on the image below. Check out all the other value-adding sites while you’re there…

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How I Preserve Food: Modern Mountain Man MRE’s

by Todd Walker

Humans have been preserving their harvest well before modern conveniences like pressure canners and deep freezers were invented. Preserving the harvest was the art of delaying nature’s natural effect on food – spoilage.

Being resourceful… and just plain hungry, our ancestors figured out ways to make food safe to eat long after living food was dead. Fermenting, smoking, drying, grinding, pounding, salting, and/or curing were preservation methods Native Americans, frontiersmen, long hunters, mountain men, and pioneers used.

Maybe you hike, camp, or hunt. What I’m about to share will even be useful to hungry desk jockeys looking for a  protein-rich, healthy snack you won’t find in the processed-food vending machine at the office.

The vast majority of us are not mountain men/women or Amazon explorers. We’re simply on a modern-day journey of self-reliance. Learning to preserve foods with traditional methods is a skill you’ll be glad to own when the power grid fails.

In the meantime, let’s make a Mountain Man MRE (Meals Ready To Eat). The MRE will consist of four items; pemmican, jerky, parched corn, and dried blueberries. Here is another article on our site for pemmican with dried fruit mixed in. Parched corn is being added to the MRE with a brief tutorial. Today’s post will focus on making jerky in traditional fashion – over an open fire.

Modern and old ways will meld together. For instance, I used our electric Excalibur dehydrator for drying corn to parch and made jerky over a fire pit. This is my modern version of traditional trail foods eaten by Native Americans, fur traders, and mountain men.

Our Mountain Man MRE’s need to meet the following criteria:

• Convenience – similar to pre-packaged, processed fast food – only ours is whole food and healthy
• Storable – long-lasting without modern refrigeration
• Transportable – dense, compact, and light-weight (less than 1/2 pound)
• Tasty – an acquired taste by some but I love this primal stuff

Onto the first item of your MRE…

How to Make Jerky

If this is your first attempt at making jerky, you may want to read how to safely dry meat in my Definitive Guide to Making Jerky.

Being a Mountain Man MRE, this was a fine opportunity to dry meat over an open fire. I’ve cooked many meals over campfires but never made jerky this way.

Every new preserving technique we own, no matter how small, is one step closer to food independence.

Step 1

Start a fire with hard wood to create a coal bed. A fire pit is nice if you have one. A charcoal grill may work for you.

Step 2

Design a way to hang the meat. I used poplar and sweet gum saplings lashed to my outdoor kitchen tripod.

Step 3

With a bed of coals underneath the rack, place the meat over the heat. The rack was about two feet over the fire.

Jerky hanging

Then the rain came down. I improvised and wrapped a tarp around the tripod which did two things; protected the fire, and created a smoke chamber.

Smoke house teepee

Step 4

Wait. The meat took about 4 hours to dry on the fire. I keep the coals going from time to time by adding wood at the back of the fire pit. The key here is to keep a constant heat (shoot for 225-250º F) inside the smoke house. Low and slow. You not cooking the meat.

Step 5

Check for doneness. If the jerky strips bends and no fibers are exposed at the bend, it’s not ready to be used for pemmican. You want a very dry meat that can be ground into powder.

Now you’re ready for the next item on our MRE package…

How to Make Traditional Pemmican

Down and dirty (traditional) pemmican consist of dried meat and rendered fat. I’ve seen a few fat-free pemmican recipes on the internet but that idea is just plain ludicrous and feeds the big fat lie. Stick with healthy, grass-fed fat for a satiating trail food. Ever heard of rabbit starvation? If you hate the thought of eating fat, substitute honey as a binding agent instead of tallow. Peanut butter pemmican is another option.

For today’s recipe, we’re using rendered tallow and jerky made over an open fire – mountain man style!

Disclaimer: This was my first attempt at jerking meat over a fire. Not an easy task in the rain – but doable. After the jerky was ready over the fire pit (approximately 4 hours), for added safety, I tossed it into our Excalibur for an extra hour. Also, modern kitchen appliances were used to grind and prep the jerky. The old school method is to place the dried meat on a stone and pound it to a powder.

 Step 1

You’ll need equal parts of tallow and ground jerky. Here’s how I render tallow. You may add dried fruit to the mix if you like. I prefer the taste without the fruit.

Jerky dried over an open fire

For time’s sake, I used our Vitamix blender to turn jerky strips into a fine powder. Dump the powder in a mixing bowl while your tallow is warming on the stove.

Jerky powder!

Pre-made tallow melting

When heating the tallow, don’t allow it to get so hot that it smokes/burns. Low to medium heat here.

Step 2

Pour a small amount of tallow into the powdered jerky and stir. Don’t pour all the tallow in at once. It’s easier to add more tallow than to grind more jerky.

It took two pours of tallow for the correct consistency

Step 3

You’ll know when you’ve got enough tallow mixed in with the jerky when it compresses without crumbling.

Needs more tallow

Add too much tallow and the pemmican’s jerky flavor will be overwhelmed by tallow. Mix while your tallow is warm to better saturate the meat powder.

Step 4

When the right consistency is achieved, add mixture to a loaf pan. Press it down evenly into the bottom of the pan. Place a piece of wax paper on the counter and, with one motion, drop the upside down loaf pan onto the paper. Lift the pan and you should have perfect pemmican. Another option is to form pemmican patties or balls. I’ve thought about sprinkling powered sugar on top and slipping these on the snack table at faculty meetings. 😉

Pemmican loaf!

Wrap the wax paper around the loaf and place it in the refrigerator until the tallow hardens. Slice into individual serving sizes and wrap in wax paper. Place in a container (ziplock bag or paper bag) for your next adventure. Wax paper and ziplock baggies have redundant uses… wax paper = fire starter; ziplock bags = container.

Or – go fur trader style and stash your fresh pemmican in a “parfleche” – an untanned animal skin bag. For further reading on the benefits of this amazing trail food, check out my article on Bread of the Wilderness.

Pemmican may be eaten as stand alone snack/meal or added to beef up wild onion soup for a hot trail meal.

Add the third item to your MRE…

How to Make Parched Corn

Dried corn that has been roasted is called parched corn. Removing/reducing he moisture content makes the corn last a long time. Parched corn is easier on the teeth than plain dried corn. You’ve bitten a popcorn kernel before, right?

Ideally, you’d walk out to your corn crib and grab a few ears. If you’re like me, you may not have access to dried corn on the cob. Dirt Road Girl and I took a road trip looking for dried corn. We stopped at a local organic farm we buy from, but their corn crop was gone and stalks plowed under.

We ended up buying two green ears for this experiment. I shucked them and tossed them into our dehydrator as a test – along with a bag of frozen organic grocery store corn. The bag corn was cut from the cob. Traditionally, you’d want the whole kernel. We adapted and used the cut corn. Dehydrating corn on the cob was a big waste of time.

Step 1

Heat a pan/skillet over medium heat. You can parch corn in a dry pan or with oil added. I tried both and found the dry pan batch tasted the best. You’d think bacon fat would make anything taste better. Not with the corn.

Parching with bacon grease

Add salt or other spices (optional) to the pan and cover the bottom of the pan with a single layer of dried corn. Shake the pan to keep the corn from scorching. A spatula is also helpful for stirring. Keep the pan and corn moving for a few minutes until it turns golden brown. Dump that batch and add another.

Step 2

Allow it to cool and bag and tag your snack. Pretty simple.

The completed Modern Mountain Man MRE!

Pictured above is the full-meal deal: Two bars of pemmican, one bag of parched corn, one bag (about 8 pc.) of water buffalo jerky, and a bag of dehydrated blueberries. The entire Mountain Man MRE weighed less than 1/2 pound (0.418 # to be exact).

Where’s the bread? Since I don’t eat bread, I didn’t include traditional hardtack in the MRE. Survival News Online has a great how-to for your reference if you’d like to make your own.

Hopefully, this light-weight, nutrient dense MRE will keep you moving on your next outing. Toss it in your coat pocket or haversack and you’re set for mobile fast food on the trail!

To see how a few of my Prepared Blogger friends preserve foods, check out our “How We Preserve Foods” round robin below with over 20 articles to help you achieve food independence!

Keep Doing the Stuff of Self-Reliance,

Todd

P.S. – You can also keep up with the Stuff we’re Doing on Twitter, Pinterest, Google +, YouTube, Instagram, and Facebook… and over at the Doing the Stuff Network.

P.P.S – If you find value in our blog, Dirt Road Girl and I would appreciate your vote on Top Prepper Sites! You can vote daily by clicking here or on the image below. Check out all the other value-adding sites while you’re there… 

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Copyright: Content on this site (unless the work of a third-party) may be shared freely in digital form, in part or whole, for non-commercial use with a link back to this site crediting the author. All links in articles must remain intact as originally posted in order to be republished. If you are interested a third-party article, please contact the author directly for republishing information.

The 4 Standards of SmartPrepper’s Nutrition Plan

by Todd Walker

Part 3a in our series – The Essential Pillars of Preparedness for SmartPreppers

Essential Pillars of Preparedness Series

• Part 1 ~ Health: The Essential Pillars of Preparedness for SmartPreppers
• Part 2 ~ Water: The 2nd Essential Pillar of Preparedness for SmartPreppers
• Part 3 ~ Food: How to Build a Big Fat Pantry

[In Part 3a, I felt the need to supplement Part 3 with the 4 essential standards of any SmartPrepper’s healthy nutrition plan]

Six pack abs are built in the kitchen – not the gym.

Training time in the kitchen pays off! Image Source

This is not a tutorial on how to build sculpted Spartan abs. However, if that’s your goal, spend more time prepping in the kitchen than over-training in the gym.

Here’s the thing.

80% of your body composition is determined by what you eat!

You won’t reach optimal health or survival without feeding your body good stuff. Could you survive eating processed junk? Yes – for a while. But eventually your SADiet (Standard American Diet) food choices will turn into SADisease (Standard American Disease).

Here are the main SADiseases linked to the SADiet: obesity, type 2 diabetes, 80% of cardiovascular disease, and over 30% of cancers. Consuming processed food (chemicals resembling food) is the best path to leaving the land of the living.

That’s the SAD news.

Here’s the GOOD news – SADisease is completely preventable – even reversible!

Making simple chances to your eating pattern can prevent you from being a SADisease statistic. Knowledge is empowering. But only if you take action and start Doing the Stuff for optimal health.

Part of Doing the Stuff is practicing skills before a crisis occurs. We call it Preventative Prepping. You can apply the same principle nutritionally to prevent SADisease and reach optimal health.

Healthy nutrition is not only an essential pillar of preparedness, it’s the foundation upon which all other pillars rest. Nutritional professionals, aided by Big Agra and corrupt corporations, have successfully demonized what your body needs to thrive before and after any crisis.

So, what does a ‘healthy’ nutrition plan look like?

A SmartPrepper’s nutrition plan should include these 4 standards 

1.) Nourishes your body

Avoid processed foods. You can only read food labels if your food is pre-package. Eat what your body needs to thrive. Most packaged, processed foods don’t meet this standard and leave you overfed and under nourished. Instead of eating chemicals resembling food, feed your body real, whole foods like these ….

• Naturally raised animals
• Plants
• Nuts
• Free-range eggs
• Healthy fats – butter from grass-fed animals, coconut oil, nuts, to name a few (if you’re fat, you’re not eating enough fat)
• Fermented foods gets your gut flora in shape

2.) Recharge your brain batteries

Here’s a study suggesting that eating foods rich in vitamin B12 will keep your brain from shrinking and stave off dementia. Meat, fish, fortified cereals or milk should be part of your balanced nutrition plan. Liver and shellfish are your best bet for boosting your B12 intake – especially for senior preppers. 

More smart foods that nourish your noggin:

• Eggs – the yellow yolk are high in protein, fat, and other essential vitamins and minerals.
• Fish – your brain is 60% fat. Feed it high quality, wild caught, oily fish for an Omega-3 feast.
• Nuts – excellent for your grey matter
• Check out the Brain Pyramid here

3.) Feeling full

Does your food satisfy your body and kill hunger? If an hour passes and you’re hungry again after eating, it’s a good chance you’re not feeding your body what it needs to stay satiated. High carb, sugary meals may be the culprit.

Eat from the list on #1 above. Quality, saturated fat is the key to feeling full.

4.) Peak physical performance

Eat a diet of happy animals who ate a healthy, natural diet, plenty of green, leafy plants, and listen to what your body tells you. You body is a high-performance machine. Treat it that way.

Take action, analyze, and adjust to how your body reacts to the fuel you feed it. Action is the first step.

These are the four standards to keep in mind when making your grocery list and food storage plan. You may think this is not realistic for long-term storage. If you’d like, you can take a peek at my Primal Pantry here.

This is not a fad diet. It must become a lifestyle. Once you begin your journey to food freedom and healthy nutrition, you’ll begin to see positive results. Eating healthy stops being something you have to do and become something you love to do.

You’re plan doesn’t have to be perfect. The key is to start and make this a lifestyle change. It gets easier the more you do the stuff.

Keep Doing the Stuff!

Todd

P.S. ~ Please share our stuff! If anything from our site adds value to your life, please pass it on. You can also connect with us on Twitter, Pinterest, and Facebook. 

Copyright Information: Content on this site (unless the work of a third-party) may be shared freely in digital form for non-commercial purposes, in part or whole, with a link back to this site crediting the author. All embedded links in our posts must stay intact if you wish to repost our material. If you are interested in a third-party article, please contact the author directly for republishing information.

Rendering Tallow for Cooking and 12 Other Uses

by Todd Walker

Rendering the fat of animals (beef, sheep, bear, deer, and poultry) is a process that produces tallow. Lard is pig fat that has been rendered. Since I don’t have a source of pastured pig fat, I use grass-fed beef fat. My butcher at our local Earth Fare market freezes grass-fed beef fat just for me. Just picked up 8 more pounds yesterday. I’m now known as the ‘fat man’ every time I walk by their meat counter.

Finding Healthy Fat

Don’t expect to find grass-fed beef fat at big chain supermarkets. I’ve not had success dealing with the big boys. If you don’t have a store that sells grass-fed animals, local farmers may be an option. Of course, the animals need to be raised naturally – not factory farmed.

Here’s a couple of resources that will ship omega 3 and CLA-rich grass-fed tallow to your door!

• US Wellness Beef
• Grass Fed Traditions
• Eat Wild
• Eat Local Grown
• Local farmer’s markets, food coops, and locally grown farmers/ranchers

Why grass-fed, free-range, and naturally raised? Factory farmed animals are pumped with hormones, fed chemicals, and are just not happy animals. Just ask them. If you use tallow for cooking or skin care, you want the best quality fat you can find.

If the thought of eating tallow is disgusting to your delicate sensitivities or eating style, consider the many other uses for animal fat.

12 Non-Cooking Uses for Tallow

1. Cooking is the most obvious use at our home. Tallow has a high smoke point (420 degrees) making it an excellent oil for frying foods. This means you can fry on higher heats without creating free radicals in the oil which is a concern with vegetable oils.

2. Skin care – Saturated animal fat (tallow) was used for beauty products back before the low-fat myth became ‘truth.’ Your grandma and grandpa likely used it to heal cracked, dry hands and as a moisturizer.

Tallow is biologically compatible with our bodies largest organ, our skin. Animal fat contains vitamins A, D, K, and E.

Tallow (especially tallow from grass-fed animals) also contains fats like conjugated linoleic acid (CLA), which has anti-cancer and anti-inflammatory properties, as well as palmitoleic acid, which has natural antimicrobial properties. – Source

3. Lubricate stuff, like the proverbial squeaky wheel. Tallow greases moving parts but is resistant to water. Steam engines and ships uses tallow for many years to keep things running smoothly.

4. Flux for soldering.

5. Leather conditioner.

6. Soap making. The best shaving bars are made from tallow.

7. Candle making. Can’t make a traditional candle? Improvise by placing tallow in a container with a piece of cotton clothe in emergencies.

8. Biodegradable motor oil.

9. Deer tallow is preferred by German athletes to make a salve to prevent sore skin and blisters.

10. Biodiesel. Tallow can be used like plant-based material to produce diesel.

11. Make your own pemmican.

12. Pastry baking.

13. Lubricate muskets and rifles.

If you’re wondering, here are some nutrition facts about this healthy fat:

 

The DiY Rendering Process

Step 1: Trim the grass-fed beef (or other animal fat). You want to get all the red meat off the fat.

Step 2: Cut into small squares. The smaller the cuts, the more surface area is exposed. I did this cutting twice. Then, in a stroke of SmartPrepper brilliance, I pulled out my meat grinder. Now I just stuff the trimmed fat into the meat grinder and collect it my cast iron pan.

Way faster and creates more surface area!

Step 3: Load your cut or ground fat into a pan or cooking container. I use a large cast iron skillet. Be careful not to overload the pan with fat. It will cook down. But you don’t want to have to transfer hot tallow if it’s up to the lip of your container.

Step 4: Heat your pan of fat on low heat. I shoot for 200-250 degrees. I set up in my outdoor kitchen. My turkey fryer is my heat source. You can use your stove if you don’t mind smelling up your house a bit. It ain’t as bad as cooking chitlins. Still, a distinctive odor.

Almost ready.

As I’m typing this, I’m thinking I could use my Big Green Egg on my next batch. It’s so easy to control the temp – set it, and forget it!

Step 5: Stir the fat occasionally just make sure it doesn’t sick to the bottom of your pan. You’ll notice liquid starting to collect in the pan. If it begins to smoke, you’re burning fat and not rendering it. Turn down the heat.

Step 6: Once you notice the fat turning a dark brown (think crispy bacon), you’re done. Take the pan off the heat and let it cool for a while. If it cools to room temp, you’ll have to reheat to liquefy for pouring.

Step 7: Once it’s cooled down a bit, pour the contents through a fine mesh strainer. You can add cheese cloth to the strainer to catch even smaller pieces. I’ve stored tallow in wide mouth mason jars. We go through tallow pretty quickly around here. Mostly, we just pour it up in a few two-quart containers and place them in the fridge. Tallow can be stored in the freezer as well.

Oxidation can cause the tallow to go rancid. From what I’ve read and followed myself, rendering the water out of the tallow prevents the oxidation to occur. To be on the safe side, we store ours in the fridge.

I’ve read of other methods of rendering tallow by using a slow cookers. Never tried it.

Any of you rendered tallow or lard in a different way? I’m always interested in learning new ways. Drop your method in the comments if you’d like.

Keep Doing the Stuff of Self-Reliance,

Todd

P.S. – You can also keep up with the Stuff we’re Doing on Twitter, Pinterest, Google +, YouTube, Instagram, and Facebook… and over at the Doing the Stuff Network.

P.P.S – If you find value in our blog, Dirt Road Girl and I would appreciate your vote on Top Prepper Sites! You can vote daily by clicking here or on the image below. Check out all the other value-adding sites while you’re there… 

Thanks for Sharing the Stuff!

Copyright: Content on this site (unless the work of a third-party) may be shared freely in digital form, in part or whole, for non-commercial use with a link back to this site crediting the author. All links in articles must remain intact as originally posted in order to be republished. If you are interested a third-party article, please contact the author directly for republishing information.

Related articles

• How to Build a Big FAT Pantry! (survivalsherpa.wordpress.com)

 

How to Build a Big FAT Pantry!

by Todd Walker

Part 3 in our series – The Essential Pillars of Preparedness for SmartPreppers

This is not your typical food storage article. You won’t find buckets of wheat lining our pantry wall. But you may find a few 5 gallon buckets of coconut oil.

Coconut oil. A must have for a FAT Pantry!

Photo by The Organic Prepper

Food is what fuels your body to do all the pushing, pulling, lifting, and surviving – doing the big stuff. But doing the big stuff starts by feeding the small stuff – your cells.

Your body’s 100 trillion cells depend on proper fuel for rebuilding,  regeneration, and healing. Cells need real food to do this stuff.

I had planned on covering more than just healthy fats today, but felt friendly fat needed an article all to itself. We’ll cover more real food later in this series. Stay tuned!

The Big Fat Prepping Paradigm

For optimal performance, you wouldn’t put three-year old untreated, emergency gasoline in your vehicle and expect the engine not to skip, knock, and sputter. It’s a very good chance your ride will leave you stranded at a time you need it most.

And it doesn’t matter how pretty the paint job looks. It’s the things that are NOT seen that cause locomotion.

So, it stands to reason that we should take care of our tiny cells that are hidden under our exterior. Actually, our ‘paint job’ is made of cells too.

In an emergency situation, especially a long-term disaster, you’ll want your body to perform at optimal levels. Firing on only 3 cylinders of your body’s high-performance V-8 engine won’t get you very far.

To get the most out of your ‘motor,’ feed it real, nutrient-dense food.

You don’t have to look hard to see the fat myth alive and… err, getting fatter by the day. In spite of the history of our species and scientific fact, most people still believe fat is a killer and should be avoided like your crazy aunt at family reunions.

Your view of fat depends on what prism you’re looking through.

One dictionary definition of prism is…

~ a medium that distorts, slants, or colors whatever is viewed through it

The unavoidable truth, if you’re willing to dig deeper, is that we humans prefer (physiologically) fat over carbs to fuel our bodies. Our genes came from fat burning ancestors. The obesity epidemic we face today comes from all the glucose released from the high carb grains and sugar of the Western Pattern Diet.

Fat Fuels

When I first ditched grains and sugars I had a hard time figuring out what fats to eat. But once I found them and got fat adapted, my reset button on my genes (and jeans) got pushed. My personal diet consists of about 50% fat intake. So…

What do I store in my fat pantry?

• Animal Fats. These are on top of my list. Tallow, lard, fat fish oil full of Omega-3’s (the fatter the fish, the better). Think canned sardines in olive oil – not water – preferably wild caught fish.
• Pemmican. Here’s my recipe. Prepared and stored correctly, it’ll last for years. My recipe included dried blueberries. For a better recipe, click this link. This is shared for educational purposes only. Do your research and eat at your own risk.

Good thing you don’t eat with your eyes!

• Coconut Oil. This oil is about 92% saturated fat and has an excellent shelf life of several years. I eat it, cook with it, and use it on my skin after shaving. Here are 160 more uses for this amazing oil.
• Olive Oil. Buy the virgin oil.
• Nuts. Loaded with healthy fats, nuts are always close to me at home and work. I eat a small handful in between meals if I get hungry. To keep them from going rancid, we store almonds, cashews, pecans, walnuts, sunflower seeds, and other varieties in the freezer. If our electricity is lost for an extended time, nuts would come out of the freezer and could be eaten without a fire source.
• Yogurt. We don’t actually store yogurt in the pantry. It’s a good source of fat, though. Learn to make your own organic yogurt so you never run out. And none of that low-fat stuff.
• Eggs. The dark yellow yoke of yard bird eggs is what you’re going for. You can preserve your real eggs without refrigeration.
• Butter. Canning butter is an option for longer storage. Can only unsalted butter.
• Rendered Tallow and Lard. I render my own grass-fed beef fat. I have a butcher at an organic market that freezes the fat for me. I buy it very cheaply – $1.00 or less per pound. After rendering the fat, we store it in the fridge and freezer for cooking. An old preserving technique of pouring rendered fat over meat has been used for years.

Rendering tallow in a cast iron skillet – outside. It can smell up the kitchen.

• Ghee. Choose products that are made from quality, grass-fed butter. Making your own is cheaper. Butter contains 16% water and milk fat solids that cause it to spoil if not refrigerated. Ghee is almost pure fat and will last a couple of years in a dark, cool pantry.

I haven’t personally tried the Fat Fuels listed below. I’ve heard good things about them. If you have, please share your experience with the rest of us.

• Avocado oil
• Palm oil
• Palm kernel oil
• Red palm oil

Fats to Avoid – No, Never Eat!

For optimal, long-term health, do not eat refined oils like canola, corn and soybean oil. Avoid all hydrogenated oils. I do own one can of Crisco. It’s earmarked for an emergency candle 😀

Here’s my attitude on food storage. The longer the shelf life, the shorter your shelf. DRG and I don’t aim to store food that will last 30 years in a dark basement. Ideally, we shoot for foods that last 6 months to a year. We store what we eat.

Got any tips on storing fat? Please leave them in the comment sections!

Keep doing the stuff,

Todd

P.S.

If you’d like connect with us, you can sign up for our blog updates, follow us on Twitter, and Pinterest, and ‘like’, comment, and share on our new Facebook page. Any information on this site may be shared freely, in part or whole, with a link back to this site crediting the author. Thanks for sharing the stuff!

Essential Pillars of Preparedness Series

• Part 1 ~ Health: The Essential Pillars of Preparedness for SmartPreppers
• Part 2 ~ Water: The 2nd Essential Pillar of Preparedness for SmartPreppers
• Part 3 ~ Food: How to Build a Big Fat Pantry

Daisy Luther’s Plan for Stocking One Year of Food in 3 Months

Editor’s note: What would you do if you lost your food in a fire or disaster or moving to another country? Here’s Daisy Luther’s first hand experience of starting over with a plan to build a one year supply in 3 months. 

Be sure to check out her bio at the end of this article. This article was originally published on her website, The Organic Prepper. 

Keep doing the stuff,

Todd

P.S. – For the Primal folks, you can adjust the food items to your lifestyle. 

———————–

THE PANTRY PRIMER: HOW TO BUILD A ONE YEAR FOOD SUPPLY IN THREE MONTHS

Posted by: Daisy Luther | on August 4, 2013

Did you ever stop to think about what you would do if all of your preps were gone?  Heaven forbid such a misfortune might happen, but what if your pantry was wiped out in a fire or flood?  If you had to start over, how would you go about it?

As many of you know, my daughter and I have recently moved across the continent, from the easternmost part of Ontario to the Pacific Northwestern US.  Because we were crossing the border, driving through extreme heat, and then storing our belongings in a trailer for a month, I couldn’t bring our food supplies.  We still have our tools and equipment, but we are starting over as far as our pantry is concerned.  As well, we only brought a small trailer, so we are also starting from scratch for goods like toilet paper and laundry soap.

Being without my one-year supply of food makes me feel uncomfortable and very vulnerable, given the economic circumstances in the US today.  To make matters worse, because of the timing of the move, I won’t have a garden to rely on this year aside from a couple of tomato and pepper plants that my friend kindly allowed me to plant in her own garden.

We are fortunate enough to be staying with friends while waiting for our new home to become available, and much to our anticipation, we’ll be moving in this week.  I’ve gotten away from blogging about the day-to-day stuff, but I thought that it might be interesting, especially to new preppers, to see how we rebuild our food supply and get our little farm going on a very tight budget. (That move was expensive!)

Why do you need a one year food supply?

Why do you need a one year food supply?

Simple. A one year food supply means freedom.  It means that you are less subject to the whims of the economy. You can handle small disasters with aplomb.  You aren’t reliant on the government if a crisis strikes.

Food is a control mechanism and has been for centuries.  I wrote an article recently about how governments around the world have used food as a way to subjugate people and bend them to the will of tyrannical leaders.

Here we are, just like at other times in history, right on the verge of losing freedoms to the government machine.  In question is our right to bear arms, our economy, our choices in health care and taxation without representation (via the Obamacare bill).  The offerings at the grocery stores are not just poor, they’re toxic, but growing your own food is frowned upon and made difficult.  Many people believe martial law is close at hand, and there is discussion in the US Congress about microchipping people and about requiring global ID cards.

We are being spied on, taxed, and silenced.  The sheeple don’t care – they just want that next refill on the EBT card, or the next paycheck that will go to pay the minimum payment on their maxed-out credit card. There will be different levels of resistance before it gets to the point of starving people into submission.

First, there are the liberal left-wingers, who don’t require persuasion or bribery – they are giving away their freedom with both hands for the greater good.

Then, you have the dumbed-down population on assistance by choice.  It would be an easy thing to persuade them to take a microchip or hand over their guns.  In fact, we’re seeing just that with the buy-back programs, where folks are trading guns for gift cards.

As times get more desperate (and they will, you can count on it) regular everyday people, like the ones you work with, will give up what seems like a tiny amount of freedom in order to have the “privilege” of putting more food on the table or keeping a roof over the head of their families for another month or two.

That’s when the real crackdown will begin.  When the majority of people are subjugated, tagged and inventoried, even more than they are now,  that’s when the rest of us will be targeted.  Suddenly, without an ID chip, we won’t be able to access our bank accounts.  This would mean that we can’t buy necessities or pay our bills.  If we won’t surrender our weapons, we won’t be able to send our kids to school or access our money to buy food.  Our children won’t be able to see a doctor if they’re sick.  The plan will be to make us so desperate that we will opt for subjugation over freedom.  And they’ll use food to do it.

But you can avoid all of this…simply by being self-reliant. And that starts with a pantry full of food.

The Plan

The goal is to rebuild a healthy one-year food supply over the next three months.  I plan to do that using the following methods:

• Shopping the sales
• Buying in bulk
• Buying from local farmers and preserving the harvest
• Getting a fall garden going

Our budget isn’t big.  We are starting at square one – our cupboards are absolutely empty. Our journey is comparable to that of a family with a week-to-week budget who is just beginning to build a pantry.  Because we are concurrently shopping for groceries and all of those odds and ends which arise when you move into a new home, I won’t be able to blow an entire weeks’ grocery money on a 100 pound bag of sugar and a 100 pound bag of wheat berries – I have to also keep us fed, healthy, and in clean clothing. After a few weeks of building the pantry, I’ll be able to forgo a weekly shopping trip and put that money towards some large purchases.

Today’s Shopping Trip

Today we took a small shopping trip to Big Lots and found some good sales.  Please keep in mind that the foods I purchased can probably be found cheaper than what I paid. However, I opt for organic and chemical free whenever possible. The good health we enjoy from our careful eating habits is well worth the added expense to me.

• 2 boxes of organic granola $1.95 ea
• 1 box of organic puffed wheat cereal $1.50
• 1 box of couscous $2
• 4 pounds of organic brown rice $2.80
• 1 box of organic instant oatmeal packs (cringe) $2.50
• 2 pound bag of sea salt $2
• 2 cans of organic pasta fagioli soup $1.50 ea
• 5 containers of spices $8
• 1 bottle of extra virgin olive oil $6.50

Total with tax:  $33.72

Except for the olive oil, half of the above items will be repackaged and moved to the pantry for storage.  We also purchased

• 60 rolls of toilet paper $15.00
• 2 pump bottles of hand soap $1 ea.
• 1 jug of laundry soap $4
• 2 bottles of dish soap $1 ea

The laundry soap will last us until we gather the supplies to make our own homemade soap in a couple of weeks.

The dried beans and the peanut butter weren’t a good price, so I’m still on the lookout for those.  We’ll require some fresh items once we get moved in this week: fruit, vegetables, meat, and dairy products, and I plan to pick most of those up at the farmer’s market on Friday.

If you’re new at this…

Please don’t be discouraged when you see all of the doom and gloom out there.  You can take the most important step today…the step of getting started.  I invite you to take this journey with me – we’ll both have a year’s supply of food in no time at all!

About the author: Daisy Luther is a freelance writer and editor.  Her website, The Organic Prepper, offers information on healthy prepping, including premium nutritional choices, general wellness and non-tech solutions. You can follow Daisy on Facebook and Twitter, and you can email her at daisy@theorganicprepper.ca

 

Fermented Foods: Feeding Your Second Brain

by Todd Walker

There are 10 times more bacteria in your gut than total cells in your body. All those microscopic critters can either help or hurt.

For thousands of years humans have used this ancient method to extend the usefulness of food. The Greeks called it ‘alchemy.’ Not the kind where you’d attempt to change base metals into gold. No. They discovered that the chemical change that took place in fermentation was very beneficial in preserving food. This was before we even knew bacteria existed.

Down and Dirty Sauerkraut in the making

Now we know there’s more to this fermentation stuff than just making food last longer. The fermentation process boosts nutritional value, vitamin level, and the seer number of beneficial bacteria as it transforms cabbage into Down and Dirty Sauerkraut, raw dairy into yogurt, and cacao into dark chocolate. Even for us non-grain eating Primal/Paleo types, an occasional slice or two of sourdough bread made from fermented wheat is a better choice if you just gotta have a slice of bread sometime.

Fermentation takes food that is indigestible and turns it into a vitamin rich, microscopic, gut flora building power house.

Listen to Your Second Brain

I often advise people to ‘follow your gut‘ when struggling over a big decision. It seems there’s more to this gut-brain axis than we think.

According to Dr. Mercola,

Your gut literally serves as your second brain, and even produces more of the neurotransmitter serotonin—known to have a beneficial influence on your mood—than your brain does.

Your gut is also home to countless bacteria, both good and bad. These bacteria outnumber the cells in your body by at least 10 to one, and maintaining the ideal balance of good and bad bacteria forms the foundation for good health—physical, mental and emotional. [Emphasis mine]

More importantly, the good bacteria in fermented foods promote self-healing. Science has proven what people have been practicing for thousands of years: Delicious, bacteria laden foods promote optimal health.

You may be eating fermented food without realizing it. Here’s a few ‘rotten’ items that you probably enjoy:

• Cheese
• Coffee
• Tea
• Pickles
• Vinegar
• Yogurt
• Kombucha
• Kefir
• Kimchi
• Beer and wine
• Seal flippers – One of you favorites, right? Add this one if you’re bugging out to the Arctic.
• And one of my favorites – sauerkraut

Feed Your Second Brain

All of the yummy goodness listed above (with the exception of seal flippers) are Second Brain Food. You don’t have to eat fermented foods all day long. Just a serving (1/4 to 1/2 cup) adds millions of friendly bacteria to your system. The health benefits are plentiful.

• Decreased chance of colon cancer
• Dental health
• Detoxifier – grab and eliminate toxins and heavy metals
• Boosts your immune system by balancing the trillions of friendly bacteria with the bad bacteria in your intestinal tract
• Reduces inflammation
• Helps in digestion
• Aids in weight loss by stabilizing blood sugar
• Traditional fermented foods helps reduce our modern diet deficit of good bacteria
• Introduces variety in textures and tastes to our ‘civilized’ guts

If you don’t like sauerkraut, it may be because you’ve only tried store bought imitations that taste bland and colorless. My homemade Down and Dirty Sauerkraut is full of flavor and kick. It’s alive and full of probiotics!

Next, I’m going try my hand at DiY kombucha. My good friend, Crunchy Mama, is sending me some scoby to get started. I’ll post a follow up on our latest fermented adventure.

Until then, I highly encourage you to store and add fermented foods

to your pantry. Some of these foods have very long shelf-lives. Learn to make your own with things like yogurt, kombucha, and kefir.

These resources will help get you started on your path to a healthy gut flora. What’s your best methods for adding beneficial bacteria to your gut and pantry?

Doing the stuff,

Todd

Related articles

• Learn How to Make Cultured Veggies at Home to Boost Your Immune System (articles.mercola.com)
• The Importance of Good Bacteria in the Gut (junoweightloss.wordpress.com)
• Adding the art of alchemy to our diet….. (fatnotfabulousandforty.wordpress.com)