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Marti’s Corner – 70
Hi Everyone,
NOTES:
** You should be familiar with the website: Alert RivCo | Emergency Management Department | Riverside County Most communities now have a similar alert system to Riverside’s. It’s always an advantage to get a heads-up. From this page, you can sign up to have alerts sent to your phone in case of emergencies. Scroll down until you see “registration portal” and click on that.
** You can also go to Find Your Home’s Climate Risks | Risk Factor. You type in your address and they tell you what dangers you should be aware of. My house is “unlikely” to flood in the next 30 years. Whew. And I have an 11.8% chance of being in a fire. So……. now I can sleep at night.
You can get risk information about your community and lists of providers that offer insurance.
GARDEN HAPPENINGS:
**Pest of the week.
So, I was in the garden and decided it was time to start inspecting the “underside” of the plant leaves. I’m not always good about it because there are just SOOOOO many leaves and it’s tiresome to look under them all. But at the bottom of the cucumbers, I found this on the backside of a leaf:
It was totally invisible from the top.
Not EXACTLY sure what they are, but they don’t belong there and I think they are aphids. I sprayed them with safer soap. It seemed to do the trick.
I also found them on this new baby cuke:
I sprayed those too. I found a few leaves with leaf miner damage and pulled those off. As the weather gets warmer, the life cycle of the bugs speeds up. You have to be a good detective! Spray, spray, spray. Do NOT let it go.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
Marti’s Corner – 55
Marti’s Corner – 55
NOTES:
* I thought I’d share some gardening adventures. I planted tomatoes on Jan 5, and have been babying them along. They are still small. But the tips of the leaves are turning yellow. Sometimes that means they need to be fed. So I thought I would “pot-up” and feed at the same time.
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By contrast, here are the tomatoes I bought at Lowe’s last week. Makes ME wish I had a greenhouse!
Again, why bother with planting your own? For one reason, you have access to better variety. For another reason, the Lowe’s plants are about $5 each, which can be pricey if you are doing several plants (my goal is 12 tomato plants this year). By the first of April, you won’t be able to tell the difference.
We still have cold nights ahead. In fact, we are expecting freezing temps this week. So, don’t plant “warm” plants outside yet, unless you are prepared to cover them on cold nights.
* What’s the difference between storing something in a #10 can, or a Mylar bag, or in a jar? They all have advantages. The #10 cans are easy to stack and store. Most items you buy online will come this way. We “used” to be able to do this canning at home, but unfortunately, you can no longer get the empty cans and lids. Especially now. Even the church is having trouble getting the raw materials for the cans, or so I heard. Plus, there are some things I don’t like to store in the cans. I don’t like how the flour or the oats smell after being in the cans for long periods. Some say you can get rid of that smell, but I was never able to do that.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
Marti’s Corner – 51
NOTES:
* Egg substitutions. I have some dehydrated eggs stored, and have even used them to make scrambled eggs once (they were pretty good actually). But in this article by “I Am Baker” she experiments with 4 types of egg substitutions: {4 OPTIONS!} Egg Substitutes – i am baker I was surprised to see seltzer water on that list. Seems like that would be an easy and cheap alternative.
* Every December, I buy new baking soda and baking powder. When I checked the “use by” dates on the old baking powder, it was “use by Oct, 2021”. It was only about 1/2 empty. I don’t always go by those dates, but baking powder and baking soda DO lose their effectiveness over time – usually about a year. Luckily they are inexpensive, so I don’t mind tossing the old one and paying $.89 for a new one. My daughter and I were talking about it once, and she never even buys baking powder. But I’m always thinking WHAT IF. Baking powder is a must for homemade pancakes, waffles, and quick breads.
So, this is a good time to repurchase and start the new year fresh.
* Besides, baking soda has a lot of other uses: 21 Clever Uses For Baking Soda Around The House | HuffPost Life
* I got an advertisement for a “Healing Garden” today in the mail. Healing Herbs Garden Kit
Many of these herbs I’ve bought online, usually dried. Some of them I’ve tried growing myself, although I’m still not very good at it. Growing herbs and flowers is different from growing vegetables. It’s a good variety, however, and includes echinacea, calendula, marshmallow, mint, chamomile, lavender, and yarrow (among other things). I grew yarrow once and even used it to make a
salve.
It’s surprising how many of these flower seeds suggest planting them in the winter, then waiting for them to come up in the spring.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
Marti’s Corner – 49
Hi Everyone,
NOTES:
* And…….just like that…….it’s cold. Okay, it’s not Indiana cold, just California cold. Even though we’ve had frost on the lawn, my tomatoes have not died yet. I have maybe 2 dozen green tomatoes and I’m just hoping they will ripen (at least blush so I can bring them inside). I got ONE zucchini, and ONE yellow squash, so we are having them for dinner in a recipe I made up. I call it Andrew-ala-Toni because it was my son’s favorite dish when he was little. The recipe is below.
* My peaches that I canned back in 2016 are looking sad. But I didn’t want to just throw them away. So into the blender, they went (after I drained most of the water). I didn’t need to add any sweetener because I used a medium syrup when I canned them. I blended them up, spread them on sheets for the dehydrator, and in they went. This is my second batch. The fruit leather from the first batch is really good!!! I’m including it in all my Christmas boxes for my kids. What child doesn’t like fruit leather? Now the jars are freed up for other things.
* I want to share that I finally made a successful batch of almond Roca! I’ve tried several times and could never get it right. This year, I found the winning recipe (see below). I’ve made three batches so far. Chocolate chips are on sale at Winco for less than $2
* My lettuce is flourishing! In fact, it’s time for me to pull out the lettuce that is bolting and plant 2 new tubs. It takes 4-5 weeks before you can harvest the lettuce.
* Thank you to Paul Diffley for sending me this link: 5 Imported Foods From China You Should Avoid
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
How to Make Soap From Scratch (DIY)
How to Make Soap From Scratch (DIY)
Soap-Making 101: Prepping Skills to Learn Now“Soap and water and common sense are the best disinfectants.” –William Osler.
The average American consumer spends almost 90 dollars a year on soap and detergents. Once you’ve made a batch of your own soap, you may never use store-bought soap again. Soap making is incredibly easy, and it’s an excellent skill to have after a disaster if you are homesteading or just want to pick up a highly addictive hobby. One large batch can provide you, your friends, neighbors, and their friends all the soap you could need for months and months.
In this video, I will make a simple batch of fragrant soap using oil, and sodium hydroxide, commonly known as lye. Because there is some chemistry here to get it right, I have done all the calculations for you. Lye is highly corrosive in its pure state and can cause chemical burns, so you will want to wear hand and eye protection and even a mask. You will also want to mix these chemicals in a well-ventilated area or outdoors, as the sodium hydroxide can give off poisonous gas. Don’t let this scare you, though. You won’t have to worry if you practice reasonable safety precautions, as I will outline here. I will take you step-by-step through what you need, the recipe and method, an example of a usable failure, and then a bit of the history on soap, fats, lye, and my shocking theory about the origin of soap. By the end of this video, you will have a batch that works that you can play around with and tweak however you like…
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
Taco Meat Freeze-Dried: 25 Years Shelf-Life
Freeze Dryer Meals Ready to Eat: Taco Meat (MREs)
“I wish I was full of tacos instead of emotions.” –Unknown.
Having a meal ready to go in just 5-minutes with just the addition of a bit of water is an obvious game-changer. You don’t even need water for this one. You could crunch on it right out of the bag if you had to. Whether you are amidst a disaster or on the road fleeing to a safer location, freeze-dried foods provide a super lightweight meal ready to eat. Even if you just rehydrate a meal in 5-minutes instead of spending an hour or more cooking it after work, you save time, money, and you get better nutrients by eating food you made yourself instead of snacks pressed and fried off an assembly line.
Continuing our adventure into freeze-drying, here we will cook up some taco meat. You can rehydrate pounds of this with just a little hot water. You can eat it straight out of the bag, add it on top of chips or salad, or throw it in a flour tortilla or lettuce leaf. I like this recipe because, with a few ingredients, it is incredibly flavorful and reminds me of the food I ate growing up. That home-cooked feel in a mylar bag, that’s what it is all about. It’s delicious and high enough in protein and iron to keep you moving under the worst of conditions. This is also one of the best, cheap, and easy things I’ve made in the freeze-dryer. I highly recommend this.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
How To Make Emergency Ration Bars (DIY)
Sometimes you only need some ration bars to get you through a short disaster. A high-calorie, nutrient-dense bar can provide you with sugars, proteins, and carbohydrates to keep you moving and keep you alive. The problem with many bars is that you don’t know what they are putting in them. The other problem is that they can focus on nutrition so much that they taste as good as wet cardboard. While having some granola bars in your inventory is great, when you make a batch of bars yourself, you will find that they taste better, and you know exactly what kind of nutrients and calories you are taking into your body. These are calorically-dense bars that will fuel you up through any disaster.
Let’s get one thing clear. I am not much of a baker. I have had more than my share of failures trying to develop a good-tasting calorie-dense bar. I can make an occasional loaf of bread and maybe some cookies, and I can cook just about anything else in the world, but baking just isn’t my thing. Sometimes, the trash can is the only place for some of my baking experiments. 
With that in mind, this is my latest calorically and nutrient-dense bar. It might not be the best, but it tastes good and has the calories you would need after a disaster to sustain you. Here we will make a calorically dense, nutritious emergency ration bar with a decent shelf-life. I will take it a step further in this video and take moisture readings from one I left out overnight, one that I dehydrated, and one that I freeze-dried. From this, we can try and determine shelf-life. There are many recipes online for emergency ration bars, and I have tried many. Let’s do this…
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
Do-It-Yourself Freeze-dried MREs
Make Your Own MREs: Freeze-Dried Chili Mac
While I like to have a range of freeze-dried foods on hand, I may not have time to prep a meal in an emergency. That may result in my having to chew on rehydrated carrot chips or crunchy corn washed down with swigs of water, but having my Meals Ready to Eat (MREs) can be a huge nutritionally complex advantage. First, I know what’s in it, so I know it’s good for me. Second, my body had already processed some of this same food when I first made it, so I’m not shocking my system at a time when I need as stable of physiology as possible. Third, I have a meal ready to eat anytime I don’t know what to have for dinner on a particular night. And, though there are many other reasons I could probably go into, like the fact that the food has a shelf-life of upwards of 25 years, a huge reason is its cost savings. Food prices aren’t going down, so when I cook in bulk today and set it aside, I am essentially putting food in an interest-bearing savings account of sorts. The ten dollars I might spend today on food will be worth even more five years from now, and after a disaster, it will be priceless.
In this video, I’ll make and freeze-dry classic Chili Mac. To rehydrate, just add hot water, and you’re eating a home-cooked meal while the disaster rages outside. Throughout this series on the Harvest Right Freeze-Dryer, I’ll give you a few pro-tips based on lessons I have learned and one technical fact per video….
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
Marti’s Corner – 42
Hi Everyone,
NOTES:
* If you want to store some food for emergencies and are looking for some low-carb ideas, check out this site: 30 Low-Carb And Keto Emergency Food list – get the printable lists NOW
* Want to try dehydrating but don’t want to buy a dehydrator? Try the oven. How to Dehydrate Food Without a Dehydrator « Food Hacks
This site shows you how to use an oven, a toaster oven, a microwave, and the sun. The author even shows you how to make your own dehydrator.
* Garden Notes – Even though the weather is still warm here in So. Cal., the days are gradually getting shorter, which also means that the sun does rise as high in the sky, which means that the plants don’t get as much sunlight even during the day. Last year I gardened all winter long, and frankly, the plants did NOT do very well, except for the lettuce. So this year, I’m not going to do that. I will take the plants out as production decreases and just let the garden rest, except for the lettuce. My zucchini and yellow squash that I planted in the spring is just about done. But the zucchini and squash that I planted about two months ago are now starting to produce. Somehow the aphids got away from me and seemed to be everywhere—spray, spray, spray. I’m using BT, an organic spray for the aphids.
LONG TERM FOCUS: Fruit
Last week to gather cans of fruit, fruit roll-ups, dehydrated fruits, jams, powdered fruit drinks, and other types of fruit. Cans of fruit, although bulky and heavy, have sweet syrup that will give
needed calories in an emergency.
SHORT TERM FOCUS: Raisins, Craisins
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
Sunchokes: The Ultimate Prepper Survival Food
Sunchokes: The Ultimate Prepper Survival Food
“Keep your face to the sunshine, and you cannot see the shadow. It’s what sunflowers do.”— Helen Keller.
The sunflower should be the symbol of preppers and survivors, and it’s the unsung hero that every prepper should grow, know how to recognize in the wild, and use. Helianthus comprises about 70 species of annual and perennial flowering plants in the daisy family Asteraceae. Except for three South American species, the species of Helianthus are native to North America and Central America, but they now grow around the world.
In this blog, we will take a look at Helianthus tuberosus. Its common names are sunroot, wild sunflower, earth apple, Canadian truffle, and Jerusalem artichoke. The tuber of this plant can commonly be found in some grocery stores, and it is sometimes referred to as a fartichoke. The taste is similar to that of artichoke hearts, but it derives this slang name because of its high amounts of inulin. When the tubers are stored for an extended period, this inulin will convert to its component fructose. Still, inulin is only digestible by gut bacteria, hence the gas that it sometimes causes.
I will show you how to grow, harvest, and cook the sunchoke to reduce the gassy effect. I will also freeze-dry some and make it into pasta. Let’s explore this ultimate of prepper plants.
GROWING & HARVESTING
The first thing to know about this plant is that it grows wild in almost any soil. Colonists first brought it and other sunflowers back to Europe, and it now extends around the world. Its tuber roots are prolific, and it will take over whatever garden plot you put it in to start. One planted acre will yield almost 9 tons of tubers…
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
Marti’s Corner – 40
* So I decided to follow my own advice and can some vegetables this week. I bought 20 pounds of potatoes for $6 and then went here: Canning Potatoes Last time I canned potatoes, I did NOT soak them first to get the starch out. When I opened them, I had to rinse them really well to use them. PLUS, after about 6 years, they have “grayed” somewhat. I have to kind of sort them and discard the gray pieces. This week’s final tally: 20 pounds of potatoes = 33-pint jars.
* AND I dehydrated some corn. It was $1.39 at Winco. (prices are climbing!!) This was all sparked by a recipe I found for Wild Rice and Vegetable soup. I’ve included the recipe below. Add meat if you want. But I’m thinking I’ll make some “Mylar Meals” and give them to my kids for Christmas. The recipe says it serves 6-8 (that will work for all my kids) and it only uses 1 TB of corn, carrots, etc. So the 5 pounds of corn that I dehydrated should work. LOL
* My garden is still producing. The cooler temps are allowing the plants to set fruit again. My lettuce is growing again. Here is an October guide for zones 9-10. October Garden Checklist Zones 9-10 | Kellogg Garden Organics™
* THIS week is the Great California ShakeOut. The official event will happen on Thursday, October 21, at 10:21. Your church or school may choose to have their drill on another day, but it will be sometime around then. Be SURE to talk to your family members about what to do when there is a real emergency.
* Paul Diffley shared this link with me. He says they still have stock. He asked for a discount and they gave him 10% off his second order…
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
Building a Dakota Fire Pit
“Anywhere the struggle is great, the level of ingenuity and inventiveness is high.”– Eleni Zaude Gabre-Madhin
There are several dangerous aspects to a post-disaster open fire or even a fire in the wild. High winds can make your fire difficult to light, and sparks can cause your fire to grow and potentially become out of control. Smoke and radiating light from the flames can announce to all the locations of your encampment and attract undesirable people that could threaten your safety. Still, having a safe fire after a disaster could mean the difference between life and death for you. Fire is a prepper’s essential tool, and it’s key to survival. Fortunately, the ancient indigenous people of North America developed a method to deal with all of those issues. And we are going to follow their model in this video and build what is commonly called a Dakota Fire Pit or a Dakota Fire Hole. In this video, I will explain how to build a basic Dakota Fire Pit, why it’s far superior to an open campfire and why it was probably developed in the first place. Let’s break some ground…
HOW TO BUILD IT
The Dakota Fire Pit is essentially just two holes in the ground that connect up. Your slightly larger fire hole is fed by the smaller hole that should be at least as big around as your fist and will open up at the bottom of your larger fire pit hole.
Having a steep-sided, narrow, and deep fire hole will protect your fire from high winds, which will help you get it started under challenging conditions. The sides of the fire pit will also focus the heat energy upwards and not in all directions like a campfire. This will allow you to generate a concentrated heat sufficient enough to boil water or cook in a very short amount of time.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
Marti’s Corner – 38
NOTES:
* Here is a great article about storing water: Drinking Water Guidelines.
* I came across a FaceBook group called, “Simply Prepared With CFD Publications.” From there I found this website: CFD Publications You will find a lot of good information in both places. You will also find a book called Pantry Cooking by Cheryl Driggs, which offers over 350 shelf-stable recipes.
* Beginning in late 2020, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints began to publish “Local Area Preparedness Guides.” Go here to find YOUR area: Local Area Prepare Here is the one for So. Cal: Temporal-Preparedness-Guide-North-America-Southwest-Area-Guide-May-2021
* I apologize if I’ve offered this before, but it’s really great: Houston Emergency Preparedness Cookbook You can download it now and look at it later.
** Garden Update. For several weeks, something has been eating my lettuce – AS SOON AS IT SPROUTS!!! I tried sprays and diatomaceous earth. I finally dug up all the lettuce and started over in new tubs. Same thing. I took pictures and sent them to a master gardener. She suggested mice, rabbits, or squirrels. I bought some sticky mouse traps and laid them right in the tubs. BUT, then I decided to move the tables away from next to the house. If it’s a mouse, I thought, it won’t be able to climb up the table if it’s away from the wall. Soooo… I did not catch a mouse, only a bunch of flies in the sticky goo. BUT, moving the tables has seemed to work, and I’m now harvesting lettuce again. In addition, I have also gotten zucchini and yellow squash from plants that I sprouted only a few weeks ago. Yay!!! I feel that the plants are finally starting to bloom again after the summer heat.
LONG TERM FOCUS: Milk
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Marti’s Corner – 37
* Here is the email I got from USU Extension this week:
PLAN
- Meet with your family or household and discuss the disasters that are most likely to occur.
- Review basic actions for each situation and decide on a family meeting place.
- Decide how you’ll contact each other if separated.
PREPARE
- Make an inventory of your home.
- Show all family members where to shut off the utilities.
- Assemble an emergency preparedness kit. Instructions can be found here.
- Compile a list of emergency contacts.
- Identify the best evacuation routes from the house.
PRACTICE
- Choose a regular time to practice your plan.
- Conduct a practice run of evacuation routes, and evaluate any changes that need to be made.
- Examine your emergency preparedness kit and replace items that have expired or are no longer viable.
- Practice cooking a meal using electricity-free methods.
This list is not comprehensive, but it is a good place to begin. Check out more emergency preparedness tips here.
LONG TERM FOCUS: Milk
Milk is available from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints here: Nonfat Dry Milk | United States Store. You do NOT have to be a member of the church to purchase any of the food they offer. Each pouch makes 32 servings. 12 pouches = $66. Or about $11 per pouch. $11 for 2 gallons of milk is NOT cheaper than fresh. But the shelf life is listed at 20 years! I checked with Emergency Essentials. They have a #10 can for $19.99. It makes about 36 servings (slightly more). That’s an $8 difference in the price PER POUCH! Plus, I don’t think the Church charges shipping. (I could be wrong about that). You MUST buy by the case.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
Signs The Worst Winter in Years is Coming
“You think winter will never end, and then, when you don’t expect it, when you have almost forgotten it, warmth comes and a different light” – Wendell Berry.
It’s hard to think about winter when many regions are broiling in the sun right now, but there are enough indicators out there that this winter may be particularly brutal. We may have another record-breaking winter in the northern hemisphere. Scientists, climatologists, and meteorologists are all reporting a perfect storm of conditions coming together to brew up a winter as we have never seen before. In this video, I will explain these conditions as best that I can. I am not a meteorologist, by any means, but I can follow the science enough to know that if you’re in Europe or the United States, you should be paying attention.
And, as I have shown in other blogs, our aging infrastructure isn’t equipped to handle the extended periods of extreme cold that are currently being predicted. Just ask anyone in Texas about that, as almost the entire state was left without power for many days this past February due to the extreme cold. Ice on sagging power lines and frozen pipes could result in an outage that can quickly escalate to a disaster for many.
At the end of this video, I will give you a warning I would encourage you to heed. But for now, here’s why this winter might be especially brutal…
POLAR VORTEX
The first piece of this colder than average weather prediction is the polar vortex. A polar vortex is a low-pressure, vast expanse of swirling cold air that is parked in the polar region…
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
