We have all heard of different mentoring programs...experienced mothers mentoring young first time mothers, successful businessmen mentoring high school students to help them succeed, etc.
I am proposing a new mentoring program; a Survivalist mentoring program!
Yes, we have all belonged to forums and such where we posted advice, etc for folks. A lot of us (including me and many of my dear readers) have blogs where we dispense advice, tips, etc to any and all that wish to read.
What I am proposing is that each and every person that reads this finds one person, just one, that has little or no experience at the skills/knowledge you already have (that are survival oriented) and teach them a few.
Now, at age 53, I have a wee bit of knowledge. After having a *passel o' kids*, I have a few more skills. After having raised gardens and canned/dehydrated/preserved their bounty, raised livestock and hunted game (and butchered same) to feed my family, plus worked myriad jobs to support my family---I realize I have quite a few skills and some knowledge that can help others.
I may not be able to wander hither and yon finding someone to mentor, but I can mentor through this blog.
I suggest other experienced homesteaders and survivalists do the same.
It is not like the old days, where you went to see the village elders to get advice on how and when to plant, how to treat a sick goat or what was the best way to thatch a roof...
In our electronic age, you can look up the majority of things you need to know in just a few minutes online.
What is missing is a personal touch.
Women, especially, need another woman they can count on , talk to, ask questions of, without fear of ridicule or embarrassment. (Sorry, guys, but sometimes the male version of this involves arm punching, horrible jokes and calling each other names. I know, it's a *guy thing* and you rough creatures are welcome to it!)
I think the reasons I see mentoring in the homesteader/survivalist community as a good thing are:
The better equipped others are, the less help they will need later on.
Passing on knowledge to a younger generation will keep that knowledge alive for them to pass on.
There are things you just can't learn from books!
Networking increases our collective strength.
So, here's the deal...if anyone has a question or needs suggestions/advice/etc on skills or knowledge in subjects I am pretty well versed on, send me a question!
I have sorta picked out a person to mentor...even if it is from afar, and will help them as much as I am able,
but will be happy to help anyone who has a question.
Happy mentoring, all!
Showing posts with label survivalist. Show all posts
Showing posts with label survivalist. Show all posts
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
Saturday, November 28, 2009
You can do what?
I have a tenant here at the rooming house that is most excellent at Guitar Hero. (That is a video game). She puts in two to three hours a day practicing her technique.
This is on a plastic guitar that plugs into a plastic box that plugs into the (mostly) plastic t.v..
She cannot play a real guitar, mind you. Just her pink, undersized, toy, plastic one.
I asked her how long she had been playing Guitar Hero.
A couple of years.
Now, if she had expended the same time and effort, not to mention money, on learning to play a real guitar, she would probably be a virtuoso by now!
She can not cook or bake. She can barely wash dishes...and then, only under duress. She can not sew a stitch. She has never gardened or raised livestock.
But, WOW!, can she play Guitar Hero!
Look, guys, the way I look at it, her parents did her a disservice. If the proverbial shit does hit the fan, her parents have condemned her to death. Or perhaps she can prostitute herself --there's a cheerful thought!--and in that manner keep a roof over her head and food in her belly.
She can always start learning some skills now. Except she has absolutely no interest in learning anything but the new riffs on her video game.
If you have kids, do them a HUGE favor.
No video games for Christmas.
Sign them up for a cooking class.
Or buy them a sewing machine.
Get them some cookbooks.
Get them a gun and spend time at the range with them.
Get them camping gear.
I sometimes despair when I see young adults like my tenant. They have absolutely no clue as to how really bad the world can be. They have been protected from harshness by well-meaning and loving parents their whole life. What a disservice to a childs survival that is!
Invest in your son or daughter's actual survival.
Yes, Junior or your Princess may be pissed that the video game or electronic doo-dad they coveted isn't under the tree, but let them be pissed. They'll get over it. Long after the video game or i-pod is useless and in the trash or stuffed in the back of the closet, they will remember going camping with dad, or sewing a dress with mom.
This is on a plastic guitar that plugs into a plastic box that plugs into the (mostly) plastic t.v..
She cannot play a real guitar, mind you. Just her pink, undersized, toy, plastic one.
I asked her how long she had been playing Guitar Hero.
A couple of years.
Now, if she had expended the same time and effort, not to mention money, on learning to play a real guitar, she would probably be a virtuoso by now!
She can not cook or bake. She can barely wash dishes...and then, only under duress. She can not sew a stitch. She has never gardened or raised livestock.
But, WOW!, can she play Guitar Hero!
Look, guys, the way I look at it, her parents did her a disservice. If the proverbial shit does hit the fan, her parents have condemned her to death. Or perhaps she can prostitute herself --there's a cheerful thought!--and in that manner keep a roof over her head and food in her belly.
She can always start learning some skills now. Except she has absolutely no interest in learning anything but the new riffs on her video game.
If you have kids, do them a HUGE favor.
No video games for Christmas.
Sign them up for a cooking class.
Or buy them a sewing machine.
Get them some cookbooks.
Get them a gun and spend time at the range with them.
Get them camping gear.
I sometimes despair when I see young adults like my tenant. They have absolutely no clue as to how really bad the world can be. They have been protected from harshness by well-meaning and loving parents their whole life. What a disservice to a childs survival that is!
Invest in your son or daughter's actual survival.
Yes, Junior or your Princess may be pissed that the video game or electronic doo-dad they coveted isn't under the tree, but let them be pissed. They'll get over it. Long after the video game or i-pod is useless and in the trash or stuffed in the back of the closet, they will remember going camping with dad, or sewing a dress with mom.
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
Illegal Medicinal Plants on the Homestead
I wrote this some time ago and posted it on the Backwoods Home forum. It is posted here for informational/educational purposes. All opinions are my own.
Opium poppies and Marijuana...will you or would you grow them on your homestead for medicinal use?
Lets tackle opium poppies first...
Today, people search the ‘Net for naturally-occurring medicines. A patchwork quilt of information suggests this quest is as old as time. Records indicate a variety of plant drugs were used by early civilizations. These peoples sought out the psychological boost of alcohol, tobacco or opium.
There were several variations of the benefits from a plant-derivative intoxication. The drug-induced state was sometimes used to see visions of the future. As medical knowledge expanded by discovery and conjecture, it was believed that one could remove the mental or physical symptoms that were caused by an imbalance of the Ancient Greek humors of blood, bile and phlegm by cleansing superfluous humors from the brain. One natural medicine in particular can be dated back to the earliest human settlements: the opium poppy Papaver Somniferum.
The earliest relationship between people and the opium poppy dates back to the Sumerians of approximately 3300 B.C. The Sumerians were one of the world’s first organized faming communities. They harvested the opium poppy as one of their many main crops. The Sumerians are credited with the invention of writing in the Middle East. They recorded using the opium poppy Papaver Somniferum for medicine and pleasure. The Sumerians called Papaver Somniferum the “plant of joy”. They used opium from the poppy to induce the same intoxicated and relaxed conditions as the manufacture of beer from barley crops. The poppy plant was also commonly used and traded at this time for its value as a supply of food, animal fodder oil and fuel.
The value of opium from the Papaver Somniferum poppy spread along trading routes from the Persian Gulf all the way to Greece. The records of the Greek physician Hippocrates contain prescriptions for the healing power of opium to cure insomnia. Other physicians would later agree with Hippocrates’ views on opium. Galen advocated eating opium as well as vegetable therapies. Dioscorides described how opium mixed with a liquid was a valuable medicine for added strength. Dioscorides described how the pod of the poppy could be crushed and mixed with the liquid. He is credited with proposing that the word “nepenthes” in a passage from Homer’s Oddessy may have been a drug mixture that included opium.
The apparent magic of the poppy’s ability to induce a drowsy state comes from morphine that is the principal active ingredient in opium. Raw opium contains a concentration of three to twenty percent morphine depending on its cultivation and processing.
The most common means of taking opium was called a liquid elixir. The raw opium milk found in the seed pod was mixed with wine or water. This liquid did not cure the patient but the dreamy euphoric state helped lessen the patient’s pain. The early Greeks believed that the physical world around them was tightly connected to the quality of life provided by the gods. The abundance of poppy seeds in the dried poppy pod was seen as a sign of fertility by the Greeks.
The poppy spread east to India and China along trading routes during the seventh century. The Chinese welcomed the wonder of the poppy seed mixed with bamboo juice. The Chinese felt this mixture offered a tremendous healing power.
Present day findings have classified opium as a drug that dulls the senses and has listed opium as a narcotic. As narcotics opium, morphine and heroin are drugs tat relieve pain, relax spasms, reduce fevers and induce sleep.
Up to this point, the spread of the poppy seed had been very slow over land-based trading routes. The European development of ocean-going sailing ships rapidly expanded the introduction of opium into England and the United States. The wealthy class in Britain regularly consumed opium to relieve pain. Members of the British Royalty took opium to relieve a variety of aliments.
As use of opium spread, it was used to “treat” piles, chitis, cholera, dysentery, bronchitis, earaches and measles. The opium products calmed the patients and the temporary relief from pain caused an appearance of regaining good health. At this time, opium was called a ‘stimulant” because opium was considered to be a jump-start to well-being.
The search for medicines that could at least temporarily relieve pain in the 1700 and 1800s was sought by every developing nation. Opium was commonly consumed to get some relief from dropsy, consumption (tuberculosis) and rheumatism (rheumatoid arthritis). Britain and the United States imported hundreds of thousands of pounds of opium to meet the demand.
In these two countries the people preferred taking opium as a liquid known a s “Laudanum” or “black drop”. Laudanum was usually an opium-alcohol mixture. Another variation of Laudanum, Laudanum Cydoniatum, was made from a mixture of opium and vinegar. In Britain, Laudanum was very inexpensive and could be bought as easily as acetaminophen today. It was even sold in grocery stores as a medically-acknowledged temporary relief from coughing and pain. Records of bills from San Francisco to Vancouver show opium to be considered a grocery staple along with sugar, rice and tea.
Another form of use was a pill composed of opium, sweetened with saffron, castor, ambergris, musk and nutmeg to disguise the bitter opium taste. The opium pill was considered so safe that pregnant women could use it to control morning sickness.
In the 19th century opium was commonly listed as one of the ingredients in a wide range of patent medicines. A product called Ayers Cherry Pectoral contained opium as one of its key ingredients. This product was readily available to thousands of British and American parents to sooth babies who were crying due to teething, hunger or pains of childhood. Cough syrups in the mid-nineteenth century usually contained opium. Opium is still considered to be unsurpassed as a cough suppressant.
In 1931 Louis Lewin recorded opiates as a drug that sedated mental activity. He classified this sedation as “Euphorica”. Today the chemical properties of Papaver Somniferum are well documented, including images of changes to the brain activity
Now, the raw product has been time-proven for thousands of years as a VERY effective medicine to treat:
Severe coughing, severe nausea, pain of all types, insomnia, muscle spasms, severe diarrhea and other ills. Raw opium latex, packed into a wound can stop sepsis and other infections in their tracks!
Opiates are addictive and the unrefined raw form can become addictive as well, though usually not at the rate such refined products as heroin and morphine are. The side effects, when raw opium is used for occasional medicinal purposes, are by far less than the side effects one would or could experience from the use of common OTC (over-the-counter) medications. (Read the back of that bottle of Tylenol or Robitussion sometime)
Will I grow opium poppies when I get my land?
Absolutely.
The benefits far outweigh the risks in my book. I have grown them before and used them for medicinal purposes.
Cultivation and harvesting is simple and the seeds are easily available. A few opium poppies growing even in a suburban neighborhood are unlikely to attract any undue attention from local law enforcement.
A huge field of them on a farm would be another matter indeed!
I don't intend to sell, refine or distribute any of the products derived from growing them, they would be for medicinal use only for myself and for farm animals that needed it.
Now...onto Marijuana...Cannabis Sativa, Herb, Weed, Pot, MaryJane....so many names, so many rumors....
C'mon...most of us tried it...or still use it. I don't, but that is mainly because I don not have a need to and I am not a great proponent of *recreational* use of any intoxicant. When I used it in high school, my grades didn't drop, I had an active social and extra-curricular life and I never went out and committed a crime because of it. So much for the current commercials screaming out of our t.v.s!
And there's this small article (NOT publicized by the DEA or the US gov't....)
Lets look at one section of it again :
Marijuana has been used for recreational and medicinal purposes for centuries, evoking public interest and controversy along the way. As a medicine, the plant is used to ease pain in multiple sclerosis patients, combat nausea in cancer patients, and stimulate appetite in people afflicted with AIDS. It has also been used to treat epilepsy and stroke.
The history of cannabis products and their use has been long, colorful and varied. To the agriculturist, cannabis is a fiber crop; to the physician, it is an enigma; to the user, a euphoriant; to the police, a menace; to the trafficker, a source of profitable danger; to the convict or parolee and his family, a source of sorrow (Mikuriya, 1969: 34). The fact is that cannabis has been held simultaneously in high and low esteem at various times throughout recorded history, particularly in our own times.
The volume of information available on the medical application of cannabis is considerable. Occasionally certain references have been condensed or deleted, but this should not detract from the completeness of the report.
This historical survey of the medical uses of marijuana is introduced by abroad overview of its use, including brief notes on current and projected research, and then considers specific historical settings and circumstances in ancient China, moving on to Egypt, India, Greece, Africa, and the Western World.
Cannabis sativa has been used therapeutically from the earliest records, nearly 5,000 years ago, to the present day (Mikuriya, 1969: 34) and its products have been widely noted for their effects, both physiological and psychological, throughout the world. Although the Chinese and Indian cultures knew about the properties of this drug from very early times, this information did not become general in the Near and Middle East until after the fifth century A.D., when travelers, traders and adventurers began to carry knowledge of the drug westward to Persia and Arabia.
Historians claim that cannabis was first employed in these countries as an antiseptic and analgesic. Other medical uses were later developed and spread throughout the Middle East, Africa, and Eastern Europe.
Several years after the return of Napoleon's army from Egypt, cannabis became widely accepted by Western medical practitioners. Previously, it had had limited use for such purposes as the treatment of burns. The scientific members of Napoleon's forces were interested in the drug's pain relieving and sedative effects. It was used during, and to a greater extent, following his rule in France, especially after 1840 when the work of such physicians as O'Shaughnessy, Aubert-Roche, and Moreau de Tours drew wide attention to this drug.
With the rise of the literary movement of the 1840-1860 period in France (Gautier, Baudelaire, Dumas, etc.), cannabis became somewhat popular as an intoxicant of the intellectual classes.
In the United States, medical interest in cannabis use was evidenced in 1860 by the convening of a Committee on Cannabis Indica of the Ohio State Medical Society, which reported on its therapeutic applications (McMeens, 1860: 1). Between the period 1840-1890, Walton states that more than 100 articles were published recommending cannabis for one disorder or another.
Concern about cannabis as an intoxicant led the government of India to establish the India Hemp Commission of 1893-94 to examine the entire question of cannabis use in India.
Paralleling the question over cannabis use in the latter half of the 19th century was the growing medical use of other medications superior to cannabis in their effects and more easily controlled as to dose. Consequently, medical use of cannabis declined and cannabis began to lose support of the medical profession.
During the years between 1856-1937, cannabis lost its image as a medicine and was left with a disreputable image as an intoxicant. Strong public reaction coupled with a campaign in the public press led to a federal anti-marihuana law in 1937. (The drug was illegal in many states before 1937.) The issue of medical use remained active, however, and Dr. William C. Woodward, Legislative Counsel to the AMA, an opponent of cannabis use and the only physician to be a witness at the Taxation of Marihuana hearings, stated:
There are exceptions in treatment in which cannabis cannot apparently be successfully subsituted for. The work of Pascal seems to show that Indian Hemp has remarkable properties in revealing the subconscious; hence, it can be used for psychological, psychoanalytic and psychotherapeutic research (Hearings, House of Representatives, 1937: 91).
Although cannabis drugs are generally regarded as obsolete and rarely used in western medicine today, cannabis is ;still used extensively in the Ayruvedic, Unani and Tibbi systems of medicine of the Indian-Pakastani subcontinent (The Cannabis Problem, 1962: 27). The Pharmacopoeias of India mention cannabis use in the recent past. Two preparations of cannabis, a liquid extract and a tincture, are listed in the 1954 and 1966 Pharmacopoeias of India which contain descriptions of cannabis and its extract and how it is made (Chopra & Chopra, 1957: 9).
A more recent source makes reference to the fact that "in contemporary India and Pakistan, there continues to be widespread indigenous medical, 'quasi-medical,' and illicit use of both opium and cannabis" (Chopra & Chopra, 1957: 12-13). Bouquet notes that hemp resin is occasionally used in the native medicines of the countries where it is collected. He points especially to India where,
According to the Canadian Commission of Inquiry into the Non-Medical Use of Drugs:
Similar statements regarding cannabis are to be found in Marijuana, edited by Erich Goode, and in the textbook Pharmacological Basis of Therapeutics by Goodman and Gilman (1970: 300). Concerning therapeutic uses, the latter states:
The oldest known therapeutic description Of cannabis was by the Emperor Shen-Nung in the 28th century B.C. in China, where the plant had long been grown for fiber. He prescribed cannabis for beri-beri, constipation, "female weakness", gout, malaria, rheumatism and absentmindedness (Bloomquist, 1968: 19).
Egypt
In Egypt, in the 20th century B.C., cannabis was used to treat sore eyes. Additional medical usage was not reported until much later.
India
Prior to the 10th century B.C., bhang, a cannabis preparation, was used as an anesthetic and antiphlegmatic in India. In the second century A.D., a Chinese physician, Hoa-Tho, prescribed it as an analgesic in surgical procedures (Mikuriya, 1969: 34).
From the 10th century B.C. up to 1945 (and even to the present time), cannabis has been used in India to treat a wide variety of human maladies. The drug is highly regarded by some medical practitioners in that country.
The religious use of cannabis in India is thought to have preceded its medical use (Blum and Associates, II, 1969: 73; Snyder, 1970: 125). The religious use of cannabis is to help "the user to free his mind from worldly distractions and to concentrate on the Supreme Being" (Barber, 1970: 80).
Cannabis is used in Hindu and Sikh temples and at Mohammedan shrines. Besides using the drug as an aid to meditation, it is also used to overcome hunger and thirst by the religious mendicants. In Nepal, it is distributed on certain feast days at the temples of all Shiva followers (Blum & Associates, 1969, 11: 63).
The Hindus spoke of the drug as the "heavenly guide", "the soother of grief". Considered holy, it was described as a sacred grass during the Vedic period (Fort, 1969: 15). A reference to cannabis in Hindu scriptures is the following:
Greece
In ancient Greece, cannabis was used as a remedy for earache, edema, and inflammation (Robinson, 1946: 382-383).
Africa
Cannabis was used in Africa to restore appetite and to relieve pain of hemorrhoids, its antiseptic uses were also known to certain African native tribes (O'Shaughnessy, 1842: 431). Various other uses, in a number of countries, included the treatment of tetanus, hydrophobia, delirium tremens, infantile convulsions, neuralgia and other nervous disorders, cholera, menorrhagia, rheumatism, hay fever, asthma, skin diseases, and protracted labor during childbirth.
The 19th Century
Documents of the 19th century report on the use of cannabis to control diarrhea in cholera and to stimulate appetite. In his reports of the late 1830's and early 1840's, O'Shaughnessy (1842: 431) stated that tetanus could be arrested and cured when treated with extra large doses of cannabis.
John Bell, M.D., Boston, reported enthusiastically in 1857, about the effects of cannabis in the control of mental and emotional disorders as opposed to the use of moral discipline to restrain the mentally ill. Similarly, in 1858, Moureau. de Tours reported several case histories of manic and depressive disorders treated with hashish (Walton, 1938: 3).
The Ohio State Medical Society's Committee on Cannabis Indica, convened in 1860, reported that their respondents claimed cannabis successfully treated neuralgic pain, dysmenorhea, uterine hemorrhage, hysteria, delirium tremens, mania, palsy, whooping cough, infantile convulsions, asthma, gonorrhea, nervous rheumatism, chronic bronchitis, muscular spasms, tetanus, epilepsy and appetite stimulation (McMeens, 1860: 1).
The India Hemp Commission (1894: 174) likewise was informed of similar medicinal uses for cannabis. Specific reports included the use of cannabis as an analgesic, a restorer of energy, a hemostat, an ecbolic, and an antidiaretic. Cannabis was also mentioned as an aid in treating hay fever, cholera, dysentery, gonorrhea, diabetes, impotence, urinary incontinence, swelling of the testicles, granulation of open sores, and chronic ulcers. Other beneficial effects attributed to cannabis were prevention of insomnia, relief of anxiety, protection against cholera, alleviation of hunger and as an aid to concentration of attention.
MEDICAL USES IN THE 20TH CENTURY
Despite the fact that marijuana was made illegal in the United States in 1937, research has continued on the medical uses of marijuana. The findings include various possible medical applications of cannabis and its chemical derivatives.
One of the most recent and interesting findings (Frank, 1972) concerns the effect of cannabis in reducing interocular pressure. It was found that as the dose of marijuana increased, the pressure within the eye decreased by up to 30%. This occurred in normal persons as well as in those with glaucoma, a disease of the eye in which increased interocular pressure may cause blindness. Much more research is necessary in connection with this experimental clinical finding before final judgment can be passed on such a possible therapeutic value.
During the past 20 years in western medicine, marijuana has been assigned antibiotic activity; as a result, several studies relating to this possibility have been undertaken. H. B. M. Murphy (1963: 20) reported investigations in Eastern Europe. He stated that it is alleged to be active against gram positive organisms at 1/100,000 dilution, but to be largely inactivated by plasma, so that prospects for its use appear to be, confined to E. N. T. (ear, nose and throat) and skin infections.
Dr. J. Kabelikovi (1952: 500-503) and his coworkers carried out tests on rats, which were similar to tests carried out with penicillin in vitro. The alcohol extract of cannabis was bacterially effective against many gram-positive and one gram-negative microorganisms. It was also found that a paste form of external application was successful. According to Kabelikovi, from a study of 2,000 herbs by Czechoslovakian scientists it was found that cannabis indica (the Indian Hemp) was the most promising in the realm of antibiotics.
In a 1959 publication of Pharmacie, Krejci stated: ;From the flowering tips and leaves of hemp, cannabis sativa var indica bred in Middle Europe, were extracted a phenol and an acid fraction. From the acid fraction, two acids were obtained, of which one preserved its antibiotic properties (p. 349). In another Czechoslovakian publication, Krejci (1961: 1351-1353) referred to two additional samples with antibiotic activity.
Kabelik, Krejci, and Santavy (1960: 13) include in Cannabis as a Medicant, the various microorganisms against which cannabis is effective.
Proof could be furnished that the cannabis extracts produce a very satisfactory antibacterial effect upon the following microbes: staphylococcus pyogenes aureus, steptococcus alpha haemolyticus, streptococcus beta haemolyticus, enterococcus, diplococcus pneumonia, B. anthracis, and corynebacterium diptheriae i.e., all of them gram-positive microorganisms. Noteworthy is the effect upon staphylococcus aureaus strains, which are resistant to penicillin and to other antibiotics.
Currently, several states have become more *enlightened* as to the medicinal uses of marijuana...California being prominent among them and Cannabis Sativa is prescribed for the many ills for which it is effective, from glaucoma to pain management and many more.
From Time Magazine:
So...without boring you to tears by posting more accounts of doctors and scientists that praise the medical efficacy of cannabis...let us continue...
It is easy to cultivate. Effects vary wildly of the end product due to cultivation.
However, this is one plant that will NOT pass as a decorative accent to your flower bed! A single plant growing in mid-cornfield can be spotted by searching LEOs due to it's unique heat signature on infra-red cameras.
Growing this for your medicine chest usually requires a little indoor horticulture. And a great deal of discretion.
I have always preferred to prepare this herbal treatment as a tea, rather than smoking it. As a tea, it focuses the effects on the body and doesn't give one the *head high* experienced by smoking.
As seen in the previous medical accounts, the uses are widespread...from glaucoma to arthritis to migraines to epilepsy...all legitimate conditions that could be treated by marijuana, if not for the gov't. crusade against it.
Will I grow it?
Again, absolutely.
I have seen first hand how effective a treatment it can be for several conditions, and since arthritis runs strong in my family, I plan on being able to sip a cup of tea to help out with the aches and pains of that condition should it ever strike me. As with opium poppies, the side effects are far less than those of medically prescribed treatments or even OTC medications.
People...if the crap hits the fan, you better realize that all those alphabet soup agencies such as the DEA, FBI, etc. will go kaput. So will your local pharmacy.
Get your knowledge NOW...you may need it later.
Maybe you don't want to go out and be *Johnny Poppyseed*...but don't you think it more advisable to have the knowledge but not need it than to need the knowledge and not have it?
Opium poppies and Marijuana...will you or would you grow them on your homestead for medicinal use?
Lets tackle opium poppies first...
Today, people search the ‘Net for naturally-occurring medicines. A patchwork quilt of information suggests this quest is as old as time. Records indicate a variety of plant drugs were used by early civilizations. These peoples sought out the psychological boost of alcohol, tobacco or opium.
There were several variations of the benefits from a plant-derivative intoxication. The drug-induced state was sometimes used to see visions of the future. As medical knowledge expanded by discovery and conjecture, it was believed that one could remove the mental or physical symptoms that were caused by an imbalance of the Ancient Greek humors of blood, bile and phlegm by cleansing superfluous humors from the brain. One natural medicine in particular can be dated back to the earliest human settlements: the opium poppy Papaver Somniferum.
The earliest relationship between people and the opium poppy dates back to the Sumerians of approximately 3300 B.C. The Sumerians were one of the world’s first organized faming communities. They harvested the opium poppy as one of their many main crops. The Sumerians are credited with the invention of writing in the Middle East. They recorded using the opium poppy Papaver Somniferum for medicine and pleasure. The Sumerians called Papaver Somniferum the “plant of joy”. They used opium from the poppy to induce the same intoxicated and relaxed conditions as the manufacture of beer from barley crops. The poppy plant was also commonly used and traded at this time for its value as a supply of food, animal fodder oil and fuel.
The value of opium from the Papaver Somniferum poppy spread along trading routes from the Persian Gulf all the way to Greece. The records of the Greek physician Hippocrates contain prescriptions for the healing power of opium to cure insomnia. Other physicians would later agree with Hippocrates’ views on opium. Galen advocated eating opium as well as vegetable therapies. Dioscorides described how opium mixed with a liquid was a valuable medicine for added strength. Dioscorides described how the pod of the poppy could be crushed and mixed with the liquid. He is credited with proposing that the word “nepenthes” in a passage from Homer’s Oddessy may have been a drug mixture that included opium.
The apparent magic of the poppy’s ability to induce a drowsy state comes from morphine that is the principal active ingredient in opium. Raw opium contains a concentration of three to twenty percent morphine depending on its cultivation and processing.
The most common means of taking opium was called a liquid elixir. The raw opium milk found in the seed pod was mixed with wine or water. This liquid did not cure the patient but the dreamy euphoric state helped lessen the patient’s pain. The early Greeks believed that the physical world around them was tightly connected to the quality of life provided by the gods. The abundance of poppy seeds in the dried poppy pod was seen as a sign of fertility by the Greeks.
The poppy spread east to India and China along trading routes during the seventh century. The Chinese welcomed the wonder of the poppy seed mixed with bamboo juice. The Chinese felt this mixture offered a tremendous healing power.
Present day findings have classified opium as a drug that dulls the senses and has listed opium as a narcotic. As narcotics opium, morphine and heroin are drugs tat relieve pain, relax spasms, reduce fevers and induce sleep.
Up to this point, the spread of the poppy seed had been very slow over land-based trading routes. The European development of ocean-going sailing ships rapidly expanded the introduction of opium into England and the United States. The wealthy class in Britain regularly consumed opium to relieve pain. Members of the British Royalty took opium to relieve a variety of aliments.
As use of opium spread, it was used to “treat” piles, chitis, cholera, dysentery, bronchitis, earaches and measles. The opium products calmed the patients and the temporary relief from pain caused an appearance of regaining good health. At this time, opium was called a ‘stimulant” because opium was considered to be a jump-start to well-being.
The search for medicines that could at least temporarily relieve pain in the 1700 and 1800s was sought by every developing nation. Opium was commonly consumed to get some relief from dropsy, consumption (tuberculosis) and rheumatism (rheumatoid arthritis). Britain and the United States imported hundreds of thousands of pounds of opium to meet the demand.
In these two countries the people preferred taking opium as a liquid known a s “Laudanum” or “black drop”. Laudanum was usually an opium-alcohol mixture. Another variation of Laudanum, Laudanum Cydoniatum, was made from a mixture of opium and vinegar. In Britain, Laudanum was very inexpensive and could be bought as easily as acetaminophen today. It was even sold in grocery stores as a medically-acknowledged temporary relief from coughing and pain. Records of bills from San Francisco to Vancouver show opium to be considered a grocery staple along with sugar, rice and tea.
Another form of use was a pill composed of opium, sweetened with saffron, castor, ambergris, musk and nutmeg to disguise the bitter opium taste. The opium pill was considered so safe that pregnant women could use it to control morning sickness.
In the 19th century opium was commonly listed as one of the ingredients in a wide range of patent medicines. A product called Ayers Cherry Pectoral contained opium as one of its key ingredients. This product was readily available to thousands of British and American parents to sooth babies who were crying due to teething, hunger or pains of childhood. Cough syrups in the mid-nineteenth century usually contained opium. Opium is still considered to be unsurpassed as a cough suppressant.
In 1931 Louis Lewin recorded opiates as a drug that sedated mental activity. He classified this sedation as “Euphorica”. Today the chemical properties of Papaver Somniferum are well documented, including images of changes to the brain activity
Now, the raw product has been time-proven for thousands of years as a VERY effective medicine to treat:
Severe coughing, severe nausea, pain of all types, insomnia, muscle spasms, severe diarrhea and other ills. Raw opium latex, packed into a wound can stop sepsis and other infections in their tracks!
Opiates are addictive and the unrefined raw form can become addictive as well, though usually not at the rate such refined products as heroin and morphine are. The side effects, when raw opium is used for occasional medicinal purposes, are by far less than the side effects one would or could experience from the use of common OTC (over-the-counter) medications. (Read the back of that bottle of Tylenol or Robitussion sometime)
Will I grow opium poppies when I get my land?
Absolutely.
The benefits far outweigh the risks in my book. I have grown them before and used them for medicinal purposes.
Cultivation and harvesting is simple and the seeds are easily available. A few opium poppies growing even in a suburban neighborhood are unlikely to attract any undue attention from local law enforcement.
A huge field of them on a farm would be another matter indeed!
I don't intend to sell, refine or distribute any of the products derived from growing them, they would be for medicinal use only for myself and for farm animals that needed it.
Now...onto Marijuana...Cannabis Sativa, Herb, Weed, Pot, MaryJane....so many names, so many rumors....
C'mon...most of us tried it...or still use it. I don't, but that is mainly because I don not have a need to and I am not a great proponent of *recreational* use of any intoxicant. When I used it in high school, my grades didn't drop, I had an active social and extra-curricular life and I never went out and committed a crime because of it. So much for the current commercials screaming out of our t.v.s!
And there's this small article (NOT publicized by the DEA or the US gov't....)
Quote:
A synthetic substance similar to ones found in marijuana stimulates cell growth in regions of the brain associated with anxiety and depression, pointing the way for new treatments for these diseases, according to University of Saskatchewan medical research published today in The Journal of Clinical Investigation.
Xia Zhang, an associate professor in the U of S neuropsychiatry research unit, led the team that tested the effects of HU-210, a potent synthetic cannabinoid similar to a group of compounds found in marijuana. The synthetic version is about 100 times as powerful as THC, the compound responsible for the high experienced by recreational users.
The team found that rats treated with HU-210 on a regular basis showed neurogenesis - the growth of new brain cells in the hippocampus. This region of the brain is associated with learning and memory, as well as anxiety and depression.
The effect is the opposite of most legal and illicit drugs such as alcohol, nicotine, heroin, and cocaine.
Most 'drugs of abuse' suppress neurogenesis, Zhang says.Only marijuana promotes neurogenesis.
Current theory states that depression may be sparked when too few new brain cells are grown in the hippocampus. It is unclear whether anxiety is part of this process, but if true, HU-210 could offer a treatment for both mood disorders by stimulating the growth of new brain cells.
But Zhang cautions that HU-210 is only one of many cannabinoids. His previous work with marijuana shows that while the plant may contain medicinal compounds, they come in the same package as those that cause symptoms such as acute memory impairment, addiction, and withdrawal. Also, the HU-210 used in the study is highly purified.
This is a very potent cannabinoid oil, Zhang says. &It's not something that would be available on the street.
Marijuana has been used for recreational and medicinal purposes for centuries, evoking public interest and controversy along the way. As a medicine, the plant is used to ease pain in multiple sclerosis patients, combat nausea in cancer patients, and stimulate appetite in people afflicted with AIDS. It has also been used to treat epilepsy and stroke.
Zhang's work is the latest product of the U of S Neural Systems and Plasticity Research Group, a multidisciplinary effort by researchers from the Colleges of Arts and Science, Engineering, Kinesiology, Medicine, Pharmacy and Nutrition, and Veterinary Medicine. The group collaborates to study the function of neural systems, from nerves to brain, in living organisms. In particular, they look at how these systems change over time with experience.
Zhang's research is supported by a grant from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), as well as a CIHR New Investigator Award. The Saskatchewan Health Research Foundation provided funding support to establish the Neural Systems and Plasticity Research Group, as well as post-doctoral fellowship awards to research team members Wen Jiang and Shao-Ping Ji. -- ©University of Saskatchewan
Lets look at one section of it again :
Marijuana has been used for recreational and medicinal purposes for centuries, evoking public interest and controversy along the way. As a medicine, the plant is used to ease pain in multiple sclerosis patients, combat nausea in cancer patients, and stimulate appetite in people afflicted with AIDS. It has also been used to treat epilepsy and stroke.
The history of cannabis products and their use has been long, colorful and varied. To the agriculturist, cannabis is a fiber crop; to the physician, it is an enigma; to the user, a euphoriant; to the police, a menace; to the trafficker, a source of profitable danger; to the convict or parolee and his family, a source of sorrow (Mikuriya, 1969: 34). The fact is that cannabis has been held simultaneously in high and low esteem at various times throughout recorded history, particularly in our own times.
The volume of information available on the medical application of cannabis is considerable. Occasionally certain references have been condensed or deleted, but this should not detract from the completeness of the report.
This historical survey of the medical uses of marijuana is introduced by abroad overview of its use, including brief notes on current and projected research, and then considers specific historical settings and circumstances in ancient China, moving on to Egypt, India, Greece, Africa, and the Western World.
Cannabis sativa has been used therapeutically from the earliest records, nearly 5,000 years ago, to the present day (Mikuriya, 1969: 34) and its products have been widely noted for their effects, both physiological and psychological, throughout the world. Although the Chinese and Indian cultures knew about the properties of this drug from very early times, this information did not become general in the Near and Middle East until after the fifth century A.D., when travelers, traders and adventurers began to carry knowledge of the drug westward to Persia and Arabia.
Historians claim that cannabis was first employed in these countries as an antiseptic and analgesic. Other medical uses were later developed and spread throughout the Middle East, Africa, and Eastern Europe.
Several years after the return of Napoleon's army from Egypt, cannabis became widely accepted by Western medical practitioners. Previously, it had had limited use for such purposes as the treatment of burns. The scientific members of Napoleon's forces were interested in the drug's pain relieving and sedative effects. It was used during, and to a greater extent, following his rule in France, especially after 1840 when the work of such physicians as O'Shaughnessy, Aubert-Roche, and Moreau de Tours drew wide attention to this drug.
With the rise of the literary movement of the 1840-1860 period in France (Gautier, Baudelaire, Dumas, etc.), cannabis became somewhat popular as an intoxicant of the intellectual classes.
In the United States, medical interest in cannabis use was evidenced in 1860 by the convening of a Committee on Cannabis Indica of the Ohio State Medical Society, which reported on its therapeutic applications (McMeens, 1860: 1). Between the period 1840-1890, Walton states that more than 100 articles were published recommending cannabis for one disorder or another.
Concern about cannabis as an intoxicant led the government of India to establish the India Hemp Commission of 1893-94 to examine the entire question of cannabis use in India.
Paralleling the question over cannabis use in the latter half of the 19th century was the growing medical use of other medications superior to cannabis in their effects and more easily controlled as to dose. Consequently, medical use of cannabis declined and cannabis began to lose support of the medical profession.
During the years between 1856-1937, cannabis lost its image as a medicine and was left with a disreputable image as an intoxicant. Strong public reaction coupled with a campaign in the public press led to a federal anti-marihuana law in 1937. (The drug was illegal in many states before 1937.) The issue of medical use remained active, however, and Dr. William C. Woodward, Legislative Counsel to the AMA, an opponent of cannabis use and the only physician to be a witness at the Taxation of Marihuana hearings, stated:
There are exceptions in treatment in which cannabis cannot apparently be successfully subsituted for. The work of Pascal seems to show that Indian Hemp has remarkable properties in revealing the subconscious; hence, it can be used for psychological, psychoanalytic and psychotherapeutic research (Hearings, House of Representatives, 1937: 91).
Although cannabis drugs are generally regarded as obsolete and rarely used in western medicine today, cannabis is ;still used extensively in the Ayruvedic, Unani and Tibbi systems of medicine of the Indian-Pakastani subcontinent (The Cannabis Problem, 1962: 27). The Pharmacopoeias of India mention cannabis use in the recent past. Two preparations of cannabis, a liquid extract and a tincture, are listed in the 1954 and 1966 Pharmacopoeias of India which contain descriptions of cannabis and its extract and how it is made (Chopra & Chopra, 1957: 9).
A more recent source makes reference to the fact that "in contemporary India and Pakistan, there continues to be widespread indigenous medical, 'quasi-medical,' and illicit use of both opium and cannabis" (Chopra & Chopra, 1957: 12-13). Bouquet notes that hemp resin is occasionally used in the native medicines of the countries where it is collected. He points especially to India where,
the medical systems . . . make much use of cannabis as a sedative, hypnotic, analgesic, anti-spasmodic and anti-hemorrhoidal(Bulletin on Narcotics, 1962:27).
According to the Canadian Commission of Inquiry into the Non-Medical Use of Drugs:
There is no currently accepted medical use of cannabis in North America outside of an experimental context. Although cannabis has been reported to produce an array of possibly useful medical effects, these have either not been adequately investigated, or can be replaced by using other more readily available and convenient drugs. The natural product's variability in potency and instability over time are among the factors which have led to its disfavor in Western 20th century medicine.... cannabis has often been employed in the past, and is currently used illicitly in North America, to reduce the secondary symptoms and suffering caused by the flue and the common cold. These . . . alleged therapeutic properties of cannabis have not been adequately studied in a scientific context, and their general medical potential remains a matter of conjecture(1970: 74).
Similar statements regarding cannabis are to be found in Marijuana, edited by Erich Goode, and in the textbook Pharmacological Basis of Therapeutics by Goodman and Gilman (1970: 300). Concerning therapeutic uses, the latter states:
Although cannabis was once used for a wide variety of clinical disorders and has even been demonstrated to have antibacterial activity, there are at present no well substantiated indications for its use. It is no longer an official drug. Preparations are rarely available (cannabis preparation and synthetic THC are obtainable only for research purposes), and prescriptions are regulated by special tax laws.
The Department of Health, Education, and Welfare report to Congress in 1971, Marijuana and Health, repeats the statement of the Canadian Interim Report of Inquiry into the Non-Medical Use of Drugs, and states: There is no currently accepted medical use of cannabis in the United States outside of an experimental context (DHEW: 1971: 27). Allen Geller and Maxwell Boas (1969: 4) think that cannabis' unsavory reputation has largely stymied further research.
Despite the many statements discounting cannabis' therapeutic usefulness, some authorities maintain that its medical value might be reborn through further research and/or use. David Solomon, in his foreword to The Marihuana Papers (1968: xxi) argues that:
In a 1970 article,Pot Facing Stringent Scientific Examination , reference is made to Dr. Par who states that there are three areas in which chemical and animal experiments are under way:
(1) Analgesia-mood elevation plus analgesic power may make useful drug.
(2) Blood pressure reduction-hypertension may be helped by new drugs which lower the blood pressure by what seems to be action on the central nervous system.
(3) Psychotherapeutic-new compounds are antidepressants and antianxiety drugs (Culliton: 1970).
Mikuriya cites it studies concerning cannabis funded by the National Institute of Mental Health in 1961. The studies were either specialized animal experiments, part of an observational sociologic study of a number of drugs, or explorations of chemical detection methods(Mikuriya, 1969: 38).
Feinglass has pointed to four general categories into which the clinical studies of marijuana could be divided (1968: 206-208). They are:
1. Anticonvulsant effects-treatment of tetanus, convulsions of rabies, epilepsy, and infant convulsions.
2. Psychotherapeutic actions - appetite-stimulation, treatment of depression, and as a sedative and hypnotic in reducing anxiety; treatment of addiction.
3. Antibiotic properties.
4. Pain-affecting power.
Grinspoon suggests:
Mikuriya lists many possible therapeutic uses of THC and similar products in his paper Marihuana in Medicine: Past, Present and Future.
He includes:
Analgesic-hypnotic, appetite stimulant, antiepileptic, antispasmodic, prophylactic and treatment of the neuralgias, including migraine and tic douloureaux, antidepressant-tranquillizer, anti-asthmatic, oxytocic, anti-tussive, topical anesthetic, withdrawal agent for opiate and alcohol addiction, child birth analgesic, and antibiotic (1968: 39).
ChinaDespite the many statements discounting cannabis' therapeutic usefulness, some authorities maintain that its medical value might be reborn through further research and/or use. David Solomon, in his foreword to The Marihuana Papers (1968: xxi) argues that:
Marihuana should be accorded the medical status it once had in this country as a legitimate prescription item. After 1937, with the passage of the Marihuana Tax Act and subsequent federal and state legislation, it became virtually impossible for physicians to obtain or prescribe marihuana preparations for their patients. Thus, the medical profession was denied access to a versatile pharmaceutical tool with a history of therapeutic utility going back thousands of years.
In a 1970 article,Pot Facing Stringent Scientific Examination , reference is made to Dr. Par who states that there are three areas in which chemical and animal experiments are under way:
(1) Analgesia-mood elevation plus analgesic power may make useful drug.
(2) Blood pressure reduction-hypertension may be helped by new drugs which lower the blood pressure by what seems to be action on the central nervous system.
(3) Psychotherapeutic-new compounds are antidepressants and antianxiety drugs (Culliton: 1970).
Mikuriya cites it studies concerning cannabis funded by the National Institute of Mental Health in 1961. The studies were either specialized animal experiments, part of an observational sociologic study of a number of drugs, or explorations of chemical detection methods(Mikuriya, 1969: 38).
Feinglass has pointed to four general categories into which the clinical studies of marijuana could be divided (1968: 206-208). They are:
1. Anticonvulsant effects-treatment of tetanus, convulsions of rabies, epilepsy, and infant convulsions.
2. Psychotherapeutic actions - appetite-stimulation, treatment of depression, and as a sedative and hypnotic in reducing anxiety; treatment of addiction.
3. Antibiotic properties.
4. Pain-affecting power.
Grinspoon suggests:
(1969: 24).
Very little research attention has been given to the possibility that marihuana might protect some people from psychosis. Among users of the drug, the proportion of people with neuroses or personality disorders is usually higher than in the general population; one might therefore expect the incidence of psychoses also to be higher in this group. The fact that it is not suggests that for some mentally disturbed people, the escape provided by the drug may serve to prevent a psychotic breakdown
Mikuriya lists many possible therapeutic uses of THC and similar products in his paper Marihuana in Medicine: Past, Present and Future.
He includes:
Analgesic-hypnotic, appetite stimulant, antiepileptic, antispasmodic, prophylactic and treatment of the neuralgias, including migraine and tic douloureaux, antidepressant-tranquillizer, anti-asthmatic, oxytocic, anti-tussive, topical anesthetic, withdrawal agent for opiate and alcohol addiction, child birth analgesic, and antibiotic (1968: 39).
The oldest known therapeutic description Of cannabis was by the Emperor Shen-Nung in the 28th century B.C. in China, where the plant had long been grown for fiber. He prescribed cannabis for beri-beri, constipation, "female weakness", gout, malaria, rheumatism and absentmindedness (Bloomquist, 1968: 19).
Egypt
In Egypt, in the 20th century B.C., cannabis was used to treat sore eyes. Additional medical usage was not reported until much later.
India
Prior to the 10th century B.C., bhang, a cannabis preparation, was used as an anesthetic and antiphlegmatic in India. In the second century A.D., a Chinese physician, Hoa-Tho, prescribed it as an analgesic in surgical procedures (Mikuriya, 1969: 34).
From the 10th century B.C. up to 1945 (and even to the present time), cannabis has been used in India to treat a wide variety of human maladies. The drug is highly regarded by some medical practitioners in that country.
The religious use of cannabis in India is thought to have preceded its medical use (Blum and Associates, II, 1969: 73; Snyder, 1970: 125). The religious use of cannabis is to help "the user to free his mind from worldly distractions and to concentrate on the Supreme Being" (Barber, 1970: 80).
Cannabis is used in Hindu and Sikh temples and at Mohammedan shrines. Besides using the drug as an aid to meditation, it is also used to overcome hunger and thirst by the religious mendicants. In Nepal, it is distributed on certain feast days at the temples of all Shiva followers (Blum & Associates, 1969, 11: 63).
The Hindus spoke of the drug as the "heavenly guide", "the soother of grief". Considered holy, it was described as a sacred grass during the Vedic period (Fort, 1969: 15). A reference to cannabis in Hindu scriptures is the following:
(Snyder, 1970: 125).
To the Hindu the hemp plant is holy. A guardian lives in bhang ... Bhang is the joy giver, the sky filer, the heavenly guide, the poor man's heaven, the soother of grief ... No god or man is as good as the religious drinker of Mang. The students of the scriptures of Benares are given bhang before they sit to study. At Benares, Ujjain and other holy places, yogis take deep draughts of Mang that they may center their thoughts on the Eternal . . . By the help of Mang ascetics pass days without food or drink. The supporting power of Mang has brought many a Hindu family safe through the miseries of famine
Greece
In ancient Greece, cannabis was used as a remedy for earache, edema, and inflammation (Robinson, 1946: 382-383).
Africa
Cannabis was used in Africa to restore appetite and to relieve pain of hemorrhoids, its antiseptic uses were also known to certain African native tribes (O'Shaughnessy, 1842: 431). Various other uses, in a number of countries, included the treatment of tetanus, hydrophobia, delirium tremens, infantile convulsions, neuralgia and other nervous disorders, cholera, menorrhagia, rheumatism, hay fever, asthma, skin diseases, and protracted labor during childbirth.
The 19th Century
Documents of the 19th century report on the use of cannabis to control diarrhea in cholera and to stimulate appetite. In his reports of the late 1830's and early 1840's, O'Shaughnessy (1842: 431) stated that tetanus could be arrested and cured when treated with extra large doses of cannabis.
John Bell, M.D., Boston, reported enthusiastically in 1857, about the effects of cannabis in the control of mental and emotional disorders as opposed to the use of moral discipline to restrain the mentally ill. Similarly, in 1858, Moureau. de Tours reported several case histories of manic and depressive disorders treated with hashish (Walton, 1938: 3).
The Ohio State Medical Society's Committee on Cannabis Indica, convened in 1860, reported that their respondents claimed cannabis successfully treated neuralgic pain, dysmenorhea, uterine hemorrhage, hysteria, delirium tremens, mania, palsy, whooping cough, infantile convulsions, asthma, gonorrhea, nervous rheumatism, chronic bronchitis, muscular spasms, tetanus, epilepsy and appetite stimulation (McMeens, 1860: 1).
The India Hemp Commission (1894: 174) likewise was informed of similar medicinal uses for cannabis. Specific reports included the use of cannabis as an analgesic, a restorer of energy, a hemostat, an ecbolic, and an antidiaretic. Cannabis was also mentioned as an aid in treating hay fever, cholera, dysentery, gonorrhea, diabetes, impotence, urinary incontinence, swelling of the testicles, granulation of open sores, and chronic ulcers. Other beneficial effects attributed to cannabis were prevention of insomnia, relief of anxiety, protection against cholera, alleviation of hunger and as an aid to concentration of attention.
MEDICAL USES IN THE 20TH CENTURY
Despite the fact that marijuana was made illegal in the United States in 1937, research has continued on the medical uses of marijuana. The findings include various possible medical applications of cannabis and its chemical derivatives.
One of the most recent and interesting findings (Frank, 1972) concerns the effect of cannabis in reducing interocular pressure. It was found that as the dose of marijuana increased, the pressure within the eye decreased by up to 30%. This occurred in normal persons as well as in those with glaucoma, a disease of the eye in which increased interocular pressure may cause blindness. Much more research is necessary in connection with this experimental clinical finding before final judgment can be passed on such a possible therapeutic value.
During the past 20 years in western medicine, marijuana has been assigned antibiotic activity; as a result, several studies relating to this possibility have been undertaken. H. B. M. Murphy (1963: 20) reported investigations in Eastern Europe. He stated that it is alleged to be active against gram positive organisms at 1/100,000 dilution, but to be largely inactivated by plasma, so that prospects for its use appear to be, confined to E. N. T. (ear, nose and throat) and skin infections.
Dr. J. Kabelikovi (1952: 500-503) and his coworkers carried out tests on rats, which were similar to tests carried out with penicillin in vitro. The alcohol extract of cannabis was bacterially effective against many gram-positive and one gram-negative microorganisms. It was also found that a paste form of external application was successful. According to Kabelikovi, from a study of 2,000 herbs by Czechoslovakian scientists it was found that cannabis indica (the Indian Hemp) was the most promising in the realm of antibiotics.
In a 1959 publication of Pharmacie, Krejci stated: ;From the flowering tips and leaves of hemp, cannabis sativa var indica bred in Middle Europe, were extracted a phenol and an acid fraction. From the acid fraction, two acids were obtained, of which one preserved its antibiotic properties (p. 349). In another Czechoslovakian publication, Krejci (1961: 1351-1353) referred to two additional samples with antibiotic activity.
Sample I in Fig. 1 has been sufficiently identified as cannabidiolic acid and sample 9 as cannabidiol. Both fractions show antibiotic activity. The results of tests lead us to conclude that the antibacterial action of cannabis sativa is not identical to the hashish effect found, for example, in tetrahydrocannabinol. However, it was established that cannabis sativa is effective as an antibiotic for local infections.
Kabelik, Krejci, and Santavy (1960: 13) include in Cannabis as a Medicant, the various microorganisms against which cannabis is effective.
Proof could be furnished that the cannabis extracts produce a very satisfactory antibacterial effect upon the following microbes: staphylococcus pyogenes aureus, steptococcus alpha haemolyticus, streptococcus beta haemolyticus, enterococcus, diplococcus pneumonia, B. anthracis, and corynebacterium diptheriae i.e., all of them gram-positive microorganisms. Noteworthy is the effect upon staphylococcus aureaus strains, which are resistant to penicillin and to other antibiotics.
Currently, several states have become more *enlightened* as to the medicinal uses of marijuana...California being prominent among them and Cannabis Sativa is prescribed for the many ills for which it is effective, from glaucoma to pain management and many more.
From Time Magazine:
While 13 states permit the limited sale of marijuana for medical use, and polls show a steady increase in the number of Americans who favor legalization, federal law still bans the cultivation, sale, or possession of marijuana. In fact, the feds still classify marijuana as a Schedule I drug, one that has no "currently accepted medical use" in the United States.
But supporters of legalization may have been handed their most convincing argument yet: the bummer economy. Advocates argue that if state or local governments could collect a tax on even a fraction of pot sales, it would help rescue cash-strapped communities. Not surprisingly, the idea is getting traction in California, home to both the nation"s largest supply of domestically grown marijuana (worth a estimated $14 billion a year) and to the country"s biggest state budget deficit (more than $26 billion).
So...without boring you to tears by posting more accounts of doctors and scientists that praise the medical efficacy of cannabis...let us continue...
It is easy to cultivate. Effects vary wildly of the end product due to cultivation.
However, this is one plant that will NOT pass as a decorative accent to your flower bed! A single plant growing in mid-cornfield can be spotted by searching LEOs due to it's unique heat signature on infra-red cameras.
Growing this for your medicine chest usually requires a little indoor horticulture. And a great deal of discretion.
I have always preferred to prepare this herbal treatment as a tea, rather than smoking it. As a tea, it focuses the effects on the body and doesn't give one the *head high* experienced by smoking.
As seen in the previous medical accounts, the uses are widespread...from glaucoma to arthritis to migraines to epilepsy...all legitimate conditions that could be treated by marijuana, if not for the gov't. crusade against it.
Will I grow it?
Again, absolutely.
I have seen first hand how effective a treatment it can be for several conditions, and since arthritis runs strong in my family, I plan on being able to sip a cup of tea to help out with the aches and pains of that condition should it ever strike me. As with opium poppies, the side effects are far less than those of medically prescribed treatments or even OTC medications.
People...if the crap hits the fan, you better realize that all those alphabet soup agencies such as the DEA, FBI, etc. will go kaput. So will your local pharmacy.
Get your knowledge NOW...you may need it later.
Maybe you don't want to go out and be *Johnny Poppyseed*...but don't you think it more advisable to have the knowledge but not need it than to need the knowledge and not have it?
Friday, July 17, 2009
Guns and Ammo
Here we go...I am now going to give my opinion of firearms...owning them, using them, etc.
First and foremost, if you are legally able to own firearms, please get some!
The time is getting closer and closer to the point where a reliable firearm may be the difference between life and death for you and your loved ones...particularly if you live in an urban area.
Or a suburban area. Or even a rural area.
Check the news, home invasions are increasing and the perpetrators no longer just pistol whip the home-owners and grab what they can and run...they shoot to kill and take their time to ransack the home.
Also, hunting to put meat on the table is getting to be a necessity rather than a recreational pursuit.
Today, lets discuss the basics...
I own the three basic firearms that I believe everyone should have.
One handgun
One long rifle
One shotgun
If you can only afford one firearm, I would suggest a shotgun if you live in an urban or suburban area and a long rifle in a rural area. Your opinion may differ.
Which ever one you purchase, please have ample ammunition for it. I suggest no less than 300 rounds for which ever weapon you prefer. More is better.
A friend of mine that is a firearm aficionado is fond of saying "Two is one and one is none" when it comes to firearms. You have to be able to have a *back-up* in any situation...particularly in a combat situation.
Never think YOU will not be in a combat situation.
Home invasion, car jacking, mugging, rape...these all qualify as *combat* situations for the average person. Criminals are no longer satisfied with just taking your money and possessions...most know that leaving a live witness is a liability to their criminal endeavors. Police used to recommend just relinquishing your money or property to a criminal as it was thought that fighting back would escalate the situation. That recommendation has changed. Every Law Enforcement Officer I know now recommends you fight tooth and nail. Criminals are more violent, better armed and are more knowledgeable about police procedures than they used to be. They are MUCH more apt to kill you than they were 30, 20 or even 10 years ago.
FIGHT BACK!
HAVE THE TOOLS TO FIGHT BACK!
Even a .20 gauge shotgun can even the odds up or sway them in your favor if someone breaks into your home in the dead of night.
A shotgun can be obtained fairly cheaply and easily in most states.
Or, you can go for a more expensive *auto-loader* shotgun (what I have). No need to *rack* it to ready it for the next shot...just like a SLR camera, just point and shoot, repeat.
Shotguns are great in urban areas, because you don't have the concern of bullets penetrating walls and possibly harming an innocent bystander or family member.
Shotgun shells can be obtained that will cause less than lethal harm to a human...such as birdshot, all the way up to *slugs* than will definitely cause lethal harm.
Long rifles are great for hunting and home defense...and have a wide variety of calibers to choose from. A small .22 is great for target practice....*plinking* at cans in the back pasture, or shooting varmints such as groundhogs. It will probably not kill an intruder...unless you manage to get off a lucky shot, but it will definitely cause them some pain.
If you want a rifle suitable for hunting larger game, such as deer, elk, moose, etc, you will need a more powerful weapon than a .22.
Your best bet in picking out a rifle or semi-automatic assault firearm is to go to your local shooting range and try out a few. Find the one that is the right *fit* for you.
Many shooting ranges have a vast array of firearms on hand for a novice shooter to try out. Pay your fee to use the range, pay for your ammo and ask for pointers. Most shooters are more than happy to oblige with a little free instruction, or you can attend a "shooting clinic". The NRA and GOA both organize clinics that any qualified (i.e., not a convicted felon, etc) person can attend for instruction and education.
Handguns I recommend for those that wish to obtain a Concealed Weapons Permit. Or, you may find yourself frequently in activities where a long rifle or shotgun is too bulky, but a firearm is necessary. My father always wore a handgun in a holster while out cutting trees, burning brush, etc as my parents property was a great habitat for copperheads and rattlesnakes!
I know many hunters that carry a handgun in holster as a *back up* when out hunting.
And, of course, if you work in a profession that is inviting to thieves, a handgun may be necessary Night clerk in a retail store, security guard, etc.
I urge anyone that gets a handgun to get enrolled in a Concealed Weapons Class and obtain their permit.
Again, caliber is a personal decision. Attend clinics, go to ranges and *try on* a few before making your purchase.
With ALL firearms, research availability and cost of ammunition.
It will do you little good to buy that firearm if you cannot afford the ammo!
You will go through a great deal of ammunition. You HAVE to when you are practicing to become proficient....and proficient you must be! You must become familiar with your weapon, you must become accurate with your weapon. I do not expect everyone to become Marine Recon Sniper accurate (heaven knows, I'm not!), but you should become reasonably accurate.
For those with children:
I grew up with over two hundred firearms in my parents home. I never once picked up, handled or even touched a single one of my fathers firearms without his explicit knowledge and permission. Many of the firearms were stored with their ammunition nearby and a few were kept loaded. None had trigger locks.
Yet, somehow I managed to make to adulthood and beyond without shooting myself or any of my relatives, playmates or classmates!
Nowadays, my father would probably be hauled into court for such "irresponsible" behaviors! But I was properly taught to respect (not fear) firearms and the power they had.
I was going to the range at age 7. Yes, SEVEN.
Children now are interviewed by their pediatricians and teachers and school counselors about firearms in their household. A child telling a doctor or teacher can (in some localities) bring the state a-knocking at your door.
In some states, if your firearms are not protected by trigger locks and there are children under age 18 in your home, you can be charged with a crime!
Investigate the laws in your state and locality. Act accordingly.
Again...all of the above is my own opinion. If you choose not to own firearms, please find some other weapon to become proficient with.
Remember though, if you take a knife to a gun fight...it usually doesn't turn out well for you....
First and foremost, if you are legally able to own firearms, please get some!
The time is getting closer and closer to the point where a reliable firearm may be the difference between life and death for you and your loved ones...particularly if you live in an urban area.
Or a suburban area. Or even a rural area.
Check the news, home invasions are increasing and the perpetrators no longer just pistol whip the home-owners and grab what they can and run...they shoot to kill and take their time to ransack the home.
Also, hunting to put meat on the table is getting to be a necessity rather than a recreational pursuit.
Today, lets discuss the basics...
I own the three basic firearms that I believe everyone should have.
One handgun
One long rifle
One shotgun
If you can only afford one firearm, I would suggest a shotgun if you live in an urban or suburban area and a long rifle in a rural area. Your opinion may differ.
Which ever one you purchase, please have ample ammunition for it. I suggest no less than 300 rounds for which ever weapon you prefer. More is better.
A friend of mine that is a firearm aficionado is fond of saying "Two is one and one is none" when it comes to firearms. You have to be able to have a *back-up* in any situation...particularly in a combat situation.
Never think YOU will not be in a combat situation.
Home invasion, car jacking, mugging, rape...these all qualify as *combat* situations for the average person. Criminals are no longer satisfied with just taking your money and possessions...most know that leaving a live witness is a liability to their criminal endeavors. Police used to recommend just relinquishing your money or property to a criminal as it was thought that fighting back would escalate the situation. That recommendation has changed. Every Law Enforcement Officer I know now recommends you fight tooth and nail. Criminals are more violent, better armed and are more knowledgeable about police procedures than they used to be. They are MUCH more apt to kill you than they were 30, 20 or even 10 years ago.
FIGHT BACK!
HAVE THE TOOLS TO FIGHT BACK!
Even a .20 gauge shotgun can even the odds up or sway them in your favor if someone breaks into your home in the dead of night.
A shotgun can be obtained fairly cheaply and easily in most states.
Or, you can go for a more expensive *auto-loader* shotgun (what I have). No need to *rack* it to ready it for the next shot...just like a SLR camera, just point and shoot, repeat.
Shotguns are great in urban areas, because you don't have the concern of bullets penetrating walls and possibly harming an innocent bystander or family member.
Shotgun shells can be obtained that will cause less than lethal harm to a human...such as birdshot, all the way up to *slugs* than will definitely cause lethal harm.
Long rifles are great for hunting and home defense...and have a wide variety of calibers to choose from. A small .22 is great for target practice....*plinking* at cans in the back pasture, or shooting varmints such as groundhogs. It will probably not kill an intruder...unless you manage to get off a lucky shot, but it will definitely cause them some pain.
If you want a rifle suitable for hunting larger game, such as deer, elk, moose, etc, you will need a more powerful weapon than a .22.
Your best bet in picking out a rifle or semi-automatic assault firearm is to go to your local shooting range and try out a few. Find the one that is the right *fit* for you.
Many shooting ranges have a vast array of firearms on hand for a novice shooter to try out. Pay your fee to use the range, pay for your ammo and ask for pointers. Most shooters are more than happy to oblige with a little free instruction, or you can attend a "shooting clinic". The NRA and GOA both organize clinics that any qualified (i.e., not a convicted felon, etc) person can attend for instruction and education.
Handguns I recommend for those that wish to obtain a Concealed Weapons Permit. Or, you may find yourself frequently in activities where a long rifle or shotgun is too bulky, but a firearm is necessary. My father always wore a handgun in a holster while out cutting trees, burning brush, etc as my parents property was a great habitat for copperheads and rattlesnakes!
I know many hunters that carry a handgun in holster as a *back up* when out hunting.
And, of course, if you work in a profession that is inviting to thieves, a handgun may be necessary Night clerk in a retail store, security guard, etc.
I urge anyone that gets a handgun to get enrolled in a Concealed Weapons Class and obtain their permit.
Again, caliber is a personal decision. Attend clinics, go to ranges and *try on* a few before making your purchase.
With ALL firearms, research availability and cost of ammunition.
It will do you little good to buy that firearm if you cannot afford the ammo!
You will go through a great deal of ammunition. You HAVE to when you are practicing to become proficient....and proficient you must be! You must become familiar with your weapon, you must become accurate with your weapon. I do not expect everyone to become Marine Recon Sniper accurate (heaven knows, I'm not!), but you should become reasonably accurate.
For those with children:
I grew up with over two hundred firearms in my parents home. I never once picked up, handled or even touched a single one of my fathers firearms without his explicit knowledge and permission. Many of the firearms were stored with their ammunition nearby and a few were kept loaded. None had trigger locks.
Yet, somehow I managed to make to adulthood and beyond without shooting myself or any of my relatives, playmates or classmates!
Nowadays, my father would probably be hauled into court for such "irresponsible" behaviors! But I was properly taught to respect (not fear) firearms and the power they had.
I was going to the range at age 7. Yes, SEVEN.
Children now are interviewed by their pediatricians and teachers and school counselors about firearms in their household. A child telling a doctor or teacher can (in some localities) bring the state a-knocking at your door.
In some states, if your firearms are not protected by trigger locks and there are children under age 18 in your home, you can be charged with a crime!
Investigate the laws in your state and locality. Act accordingly.
Again...all of the above is my own opinion. If you choose not to own firearms, please find some other weapon to become proficient with.
Remember though, if you take a knife to a gun fight...it usually doesn't turn out well for you....
H1N1
I have been offline for various reasons.
So...lets pick a subject...like swine flu.
Yes, the nasty H1N1 virus continues and WHO declared it a pandemic back in late June.
Mandatory vaccinations loom on the horizon in the US and most of Europe--if the World Health Organization has it's way--despite the fact that there will not be enough vaccination to go around AND most reports surfacing say the vaccination that will be provided will not be effect.
Things to stock up on NOW:
Medical Face Masks
Latex Gloves
Vitamin C
Lysol Disinfectant (the full strength liquid type--it lasts longer and can be mixed to different strengths)
Echinacea (aka Purple Cone Flower. Tinctures, extracts and capsules are available)
ELDERBERRY TINCTURE
The last item is extremely important.
Elderberry Tincture, Elderberry Extract and Elderberry Juice have been shown to be effective as a flu preventative and treatment.
If you have a local source for elderberries, please harvest and store as much as you can. They can be dried or juice or made into jelly or jam.
If not, check online for sources...you can buy them dried from several places and some sites have the Tincture, Extract and/or Juice already prepared.
SIMPLE ELDERBERRY TINCTURE RECIPE
Clean Quart Jar add 1/4 pound dried elderberries (Must be Sambucus nigra)
Now fill to top with vodka. Put lid on tight.
Store in a dark cupboard and shake once every few days.
Label and date your jar.
Let it sit for at least 30 days before you strain it.
You can use it without straining it too and it will just continue to get stronger.
Preventative - Adult - 1 teaspoon in water once a day
Children scale back by weight.
Other Herbal/Natural antivirals:
Olive Leaf Extract
Oregano Oil
Colloidal Silver
Garlic
Grapefruit Seed Extract
Most of these can be found at your local health food outlets, vitamin shops and/or local drug stores.
I know many people out there are thinking that the worst of the flu pandemic is over.
No.
If we look back to the 1918 flu pandemic, the *first wave* killed very few, it was the 2nd and 3rd waves that caused the most fatalities. The basic deal was that the flu went around the globe , weakening the population more each circuit.
The current flu will do the same, if it follows the same biological circuit as the 1918 flu---and there is no reason to believe it won't. Although with modern travel, it will be much faster!
I believe the next wave will hit as colder weather hits most of North America and western Europe.
Flu mutates. That is a known fact. The flu that comes around next will be a new variant of H1N1.
Whatever flu vaccine is being prepared now will be useless against a new variant.
Also, the flu vaccine itself may prove to be a danger to many.
I do not plan on getting vaccinated myself, I put far more trust in herbal/natural remedies.
You do as your conscience and beliefs dictate.
If the H1N1 follows the pattern of previous flu's, the *2nd wave* will hit between late September and mid-November. The *3rd wave* can be expected around February 2010.
This is my opinion...an informed opinion after looking at all of the reports by WHO and other sources.
Currently, Argentina has ordered the bodies of all those that die of the flu to be cremated. The flu is currently hitting there hard and variants are already being reported by the medical community.
Be cautious, be careful, be aware.
Watch what is going on in your area. If you have any friends or relatives that work in the medical community, ask them to keep you updated on illnesses in your area.
So...lets pick a subject...like swine flu.
Yes, the nasty H1N1 virus continues and WHO declared it a pandemic back in late June.
Mandatory vaccinations loom on the horizon in the US and most of Europe--if the World Health Organization has it's way--despite the fact that there will not be enough vaccination to go around AND most reports surfacing say the vaccination that will be provided will not be effect.
Things to stock up on NOW:
Medical Face Masks
Latex Gloves
Vitamin C
Lysol Disinfectant (the full strength liquid type--it lasts longer and can be mixed to different strengths)
Echinacea (aka Purple Cone Flower. Tinctures, extracts and capsules are available)
ELDERBERRY TINCTURE
The last item is extremely important.
Elderberry Tincture, Elderberry Extract and Elderberry Juice have been shown to be effective as a flu preventative and treatment.
If you have a local source for elderberries, please harvest and store as much as you can. They can be dried or juice or made into jelly or jam.
If not, check online for sources...you can buy them dried from several places and some sites have the Tincture, Extract and/or Juice already prepared.
SIMPLE ELDERBERRY TINCTURE RECIPE
Clean Quart Jar add 1/4 pound dried elderberries (Must be Sambucus nigra)
Now fill to top with vodka. Put lid on tight.
Store in a dark cupboard and shake once every few days.
Label and date your jar.
Let it sit for at least 30 days before you strain it.
You can use it without straining it too and it will just continue to get stronger.
Preventative - Adult - 1 teaspoon in water once a day
Children scale back by weight.
Other Herbal/Natural antivirals:
Olive Leaf Extract
Oregano Oil
Colloidal Silver
Garlic
Grapefruit Seed Extract
Most of these can be found at your local health food outlets, vitamin shops and/or local drug stores.
I know many people out there are thinking that the worst of the flu pandemic is over.
No.
If we look back to the 1918 flu pandemic, the *first wave* killed very few, it was the 2nd and 3rd waves that caused the most fatalities. The basic deal was that the flu went around the globe , weakening the population more each circuit.
The current flu will do the same, if it follows the same biological circuit as the 1918 flu---and there is no reason to believe it won't. Although with modern travel, it will be much faster!
I believe the next wave will hit as colder weather hits most of North America and western Europe.
Flu mutates. That is a known fact. The flu that comes around next will be a new variant of H1N1.
Whatever flu vaccine is being prepared now will be useless against a new variant.
Also, the flu vaccine itself may prove to be a danger to many.
I do not plan on getting vaccinated myself, I put far more trust in herbal/natural remedies.
You do as your conscience and beliefs dictate.
If the H1N1 follows the pattern of previous flu's, the *2nd wave* will hit between late September and mid-November. The *3rd wave* can be expected around February 2010.
This is my opinion...an informed opinion after looking at all of the reports by WHO and other sources.
Currently, Argentina has ordered the bodies of all those that die of the flu to be cremated. The flu is currently hitting there hard and variants are already being reported by the medical community.
Be cautious, be careful, be aware.
Watch what is going on in your area. If you have any friends or relatives that work in the medical community, ask them to keep you updated on illnesses in your area.
Friday, April 3, 2009
The map you see posted here is from Environmental Commons (www.environmentalcommons.org).
It shows which states are friendly to such things as family farms, farmers markets, etc and which states have onerous fees and regulations encouraged by Monsanto and other huge agri-business concerns.
If you are in a white, green or yellow state, watch the legislation in your state government to make sure that Monsanto and their evil minions are not attacking your rights to grow your own food.
If you live in a red state...fight back! Notify your representatives that the laws that benefit huge agri-business at the expense of smaller family run farms need to be repealed!
Do everyone a favor: DO NOT USE MONSANTO PRODUCTS. Don't buy their seeds, pesticides, herbicides or fertilizers. Do not buy soybeans, grow them yourselves. Do not buy corn at grocery stores, grow it yourselves. Or buy *shares* in a local small farm or buy from a trusted farmers market or *pick your own* farm. ASK what pesticides, herbicides and fertilizers they use.
Buy your seeds from heirloom seed savers, not large companies. Local is best! Join seed trading clubs, locally or online.
Same for your livestock. Stay away from huge companies and the bigger farms and ranches when you buy livestock. Most of the larger concerns use growth hormones and other artificial means to fatten up livestock. Try and buy *heirloom* livestock as well.
Buy local as often as you can!
For more on this....read here: http://survivingthemiddleclasscrash.wordpress.com/2009/02/05/the-multiple-ways-monsanto-is-putting-normal-seeds-out-of-reach/
and here:
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/04/26/eveningnews/main4048288.shtml
and here:
http://www.opednews.com/articles/MONSANTO-investigator-in-by-Linn-Cohen-Cole-090110-871.html
Good video here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ah-ZeN_ghro
Campaign against NAIS, campaign against Monsanto. If you have not seen the documentary "The World According to Monsanto" WATCH IT!
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6262083407501596844&ei=havWSeCIAZLwrALet-S0CQ&q=The+World+According+to+Monsanto+full&hl=en
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Show Me the Money!
The economy stinks right now. No two ways about it. Prices up, incomes down. Unemployment sweeping the country like a wildfire. Foreclosures of houses left and right.
Everyone I know is *just* scraping by.
Preps can be expensive. It would be nice if everyone could have gardens, fields and orchards to harvest and store food from, but it is just not so. I have stuff I HAVE to buy. You have stuff you HAVE to buy. No one can be entirely self-sufficient in this day and age, unfortunately.
I know a few folks that are pretty close to it, but even they have to buy certain necessities.
Here's the deal...we all could use a little more money. Most of us spend most of whatever monies we earn to pay for the basics...food, shelter, transportation, etc. Extra money to go to the *Prep* fund is hard to come by after the basics are paid for.
So, you may be able to earn a little extra per week or month to go towards your preps.
Here are some money making ideas...
If you live out in the country with some acreage:
Livestock/Animals
-rabbits as pets, for meat, for furs, for worm food, for fertilizer/compost.
-raise chickens for meat/eggs
-worms for composting, bait, fish farm food/catfish barrel
-goats for milk, soap, ethnic meat market
-pigs for pig roast
-butterflies for weddings, special events, crafts
-exotics, careful of ponzi schemes...
-bees for honey, wax, pollination service, alternative health, bee hive removal service
-get into ethnic meat sales by donating meat to churches and organizations as advertising.
Wood
-crafts
-firewood
-lumber (sawmill)
Organic Produce Stand/gardening
-sell only high end produce, unless you are marketing something unusual or hard to find you will be competing with corporate farmers who will outprice you and your return will be very small.
-pumpkins
-gourds/luffas for the crafters market
-fruits
-herbs, fresh or dried
-mushrooms
-grow nursery plants, bushes, shrubs, vines, trees, etc
-flowers for edible flower salads
-Xmas tree farm
-ornamental shrubs
-potted plants
-trees (fruit, nut, woodlot, etc)
-flowers
-aquatic/pond plants/flowers
Handy Man Services
-Trash hauling
-Computer Service/Support
-Yard work
-Rototilling/tractor work
-Painting
-Snow removal/plowing
-Window washing
-Gutter cleaning
-Dowsing/wells
-cleaning basements/garages/attics
-gunsmithing/salvage
-build picnic tables, benches, mailboxes, adirondak chairs, gazebos
-fix up old cars and resell them
House sitting/Care taking for vacationing farmers/homesteaders
Writing
-Write articles for newspapers/magazines
-Publish your own books
-Publish a quarterly newsletter with articles about what is going on on your homestead and use it to advertise your products.
Sell gift baskets filled with food and crafts all produced on your homestead.
*soapmaking
*jewelry and metalwork
*furniture finishing and re-finishing (new pieces, old pieces)
*quilting and sewing
*making stuffed baby toys - sock critters and such
*papercrafts - greeting cards and the like
*growing and selling pumpkins, ornamentals such as gourds and ornamental corn
*house/pet sitting
*other arts and crafts
* organizing yard sales for others
* planning children's birthday parties or other parties for the over worked
If you are talented at a specific thing...such as sewing or watercolors or baking or martial arts, consider giving private lessons.
A BIG thing starting to happen is a *Private Preparedness Consultant* for homes and businesses.
Basically, you go in, and show a family/individual/business the basics they can do in their home/business to prepare for disasters, SHTF, whatever. Show them how to start a home food storage for themselves, etc.
For businesses, you would be showing them how to prepare for extreme storms or urban unrest, storage of needed supplies for employees, basic security for supplies, etc.
Now, maybe you are in an apt, not much money for supplies, few tools and you don't have a *talent* that you think can be translated into cash on the side....
Reassess yourself!
I knew one lady who didn't think she could do anything. She ended up with a bunch of cast off rocks...flat ones, pretty ones, shiny ones, etc. One day she took some Gorilla glue and using a flat rock as a base, she glued rocks and some crystals she had to the flat base creating a *rock garden*. She added a small candle. Just making something cute for herself. A friend saw it and wanted one. Then another friend. A year later she was making 500 bucks at a craft fair in one weekend!
Every little bit counts right now!
If you find a part time money making effort that works for you, do it. Plow that money into paying off bills (such as mortgage/credit cards/car) and for getting preps!
Everyone I know is *just* scraping by.
Preps can be expensive. It would be nice if everyone could have gardens, fields and orchards to harvest and store food from, but it is just not so. I have stuff I HAVE to buy. You have stuff you HAVE to buy. No one can be entirely self-sufficient in this day and age, unfortunately.
I know a few folks that are pretty close to it, but even they have to buy certain necessities.
Here's the deal...we all could use a little more money. Most of us spend most of whatever monies we earn to pay for the basics...food, shelter, transportation, etc. Extra money to go to the *Prep* fund is hard to come by after the basics are paid for.
So, you may be able to earn a little extra per week or month to go towards your preps.
Here are some money making ideas...
If you live out in the country with some acreage:
Livestock/Animals
-rabbits as pets, for meat, for furs, for worm food, for fertilizer/compost.
-raise chickens for meat/eggs
-worms for composting, bait, fish farm food/catfish barrel
-goats for milk, soap, ethnic meat market
-pigs for pig roast
-butterflies for weddings, special events, crafts
-exotics, careful of ponzi schemes...
-bees for honey, wax, pollination service, alternative health, bee hive removal service
-get into ethnic meat sales by donating meat to churches and organizations as advertising.
Wood
-crafts
-firewood
-lumber (sawmill)
Organic Produce Stand/gardening
-sell only high end produce, unless you are marketing something unusual or hard to find you will be competing with corporate farmers who will outprice you and your return will be very small.
-pumpkins
-gourds/luffas for the crafters market
-fruits
-herbs, fresh or dried
-mushrooms
-grow nursery plants, bushes, shrubs, vines, trees, etc
-flowers for edible flower salads
-Xmas tree farm
-ornamental shrubs
-potted plants
-trees (fruit, nut, woodlot, etc)
-flowers
-aquatic/pond plants/flowers
Handy Man Services
-Trash hauling
-Computer Service/Support
-Yard work
-Rototilling/tractor work
-Painting
-Snow removal/plowing
-Window washing
-Gutter cleaning
-Dowsing/wells
-cleaning basements/garages/attics
-gunsmithing/salvage
-build picnic tables, benches, mailboxes, adirondak chairs, gazebos
-fix up old cars and resell them
House sitting/Care taking for vacationing farmers/homesteaders
Writing
-Write articles for newspapers/magazines
-Publish your own books
-Publish a quarterly newsletter with articles about what is going on on your homestead and use it to advertise your products.
Sell gift baskets filled with food and crafts all produced on your homestead.
*soapmaking
*jewelry and metalwork
*furniture finishing and re-finishing (new pieces, old pieces)
*quilting and sewing
*making stuffed baby toys - sock critters and such
*papercrafts - greeting cards and the like
*growing and selling pumpkins, ornamentals such as gourds and ornamental corn
*house/pet sitting
*other arts and crafts
* organizing yard sales for others
* planning children's birthday parties or other parties for the over worked
If you are talented at a specific thing...such as sewing or watercolors or baking or martial arts, consider giving private lessons.
A BIG thing starting to happen is a *Private Preparedness Consultant* for homes and businesses.
Basically, you go in, and show a family/individual/business the basics they can do in their home/business to prepare for disasters, SHTF, whatever. Show them how to start a home food storage for themselves, etc.
For businesses, you would be showing them how to prepare for extreme storms or urban unrest, storage of needed supplies for employees, basic security for supplies, etc.
Now, maybe you are in an apt, not much money for supplies, few tools and you don't have a *talent* that you think can be translated into cash on the side....
Reassess yourself!
I knew one lady who didn't think she could do anything. She ended up with a bunch of cast off rocks...flat ones, pretty ones, shiny ones, etc. One day she took some Gorilla glue and using a flat rock as a base, she glued rocks and some crystals she had to the flat base creating a *rock garden*. She added a small candle. Just making something cute for herself. A friend saw it and wanted one. Then another friend. A year later she was making 500 bucks at a craft fair in one weekend!
Every little bit counts right now!
If you find a part time money making effort that works for you, do it. Plow that money into paying off bills (such as mortgage/credit cards/car) and for getting preps!
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Just a Pause to Reflect
I have read some disturbing things in the past few months---as we all have.
Conflict in the Middle East.
Saber rattling in Korea.
Shootings in Germany.
Shootings in the US.
Near war conditions in Mexico.
The economy crashing.
Violence around the corner.
Everything and everyone everywhere seemingly having a meltdown of epic proportions.
It IS discouraging.
Some days reading the news or watching a newscast is too depressing to contemplate.
It seems no matter where you live, you are or soon will be affected by such events.
People USED to ask me, "What are you preparing FOR?"
They don't ask anymore.
I find that rather sad. And disturbing.
More people are asking "HOW?" than "WHY?".
They want to know how to start a food storage, how to garden, how to sew, how to stock up on needed supplies.
I know a little about such things and I share what I have learned.
But it is the look in their eyes that so disturbs me.
Most have a look of mild desperation, or worse, barely repressed panic.
I can give advice, I cannot give comfort.
All I can advise is to prepare the best you can for the worst case scenario, but hope for the best.
That's what I am doing.
Along the way, I eat well, enjoy my preparing *hobby* and share with others.
I am lucky in that my children are grown, I have no major physical problems and I am able to keep a positive attitude.
I think a positive attitude is extremely important.
If you mope and wail and moan and assume the worst will happen, you will be miserable.
Who wants to survive whatever is to come if you are miserable every minute?
So, take a little time for yourself.
Do something that makes you happy, if only for 10 minutes.
A positive attitude will go a long way.
If it means spending a bit of money to go to a movie or buying yourself some little thing that delights you, go ahead.
Just take a bit of time to shake off the *doom and gloom* mindset you may have fallen into.
Cheer up, ignore the world for a bit.
Conflict in the Middle East.
Saber rattling in Korea.
Shootings in Germany.
Shootings in the US.
Near war conditions in Mexico.
The economy crashing.
Violence around the corner.
Everything and everyone everywhere seemingly having a meltdown of epic proportions.
It IS discouraging.
Some days reading the news or watching a newscast is too depressing to contemplate.
It seems no matter where you live, you are or soon will be affected by such events.
People USED to ask me, "What are you preparing FOR?"
They don't ask anymore.
I find that rather sad. And disturbing.
More people are asking "HOW?" than "WHY?".
They want to know how to start a food storage, how to garden, how to sew, how to stock up on needed supplies.
I know a little about such things and I share what I have learned.
But it is the look in their eyes that so disturbs me.
Most have a look of mild desperation, or worse, barely repressed panic.
I can give advice, I cannot give comfort.
All I can advise is to prepare the best you can for the worst case scenario, but hope for the best.
That's what I am doing.
Along the way, I eat well, enjoy my preparing *hobby* and share with others.
I am lucky in that my children are grown, I have no major physical problems and I am able to keep a positive attitude.
I think a positive attitude is extremely important.
If you mope and wail and moan and assume the worst will happen, you will be miserable.
Who wants to survive whatever is to come if you are miserable every minute?
So, take a little time for yourself.
Do something that makes you happy, if only for 10 minutes.
A positive attitude will go a long way.
If it means spending a bit of money to go to a movie or buying yourself some little thing that delights you, go ahead.
Just take a bit of time to shake off the *doom and gloom* mindset you may have fallen into.
Cheer up, ignore the world for a bit.
Saturday, March 14, 2009
Skillz...you gotta have them!
I am not Superwoman.
As far as I know, no such person exists.
I DO have a lot of primitive and basic skills.
These skills were acquired through three different reasons.
1) Necessity.
With a houseful of kids, I HAD to learn to cook and house-keep frugally. With little money for new clothes, I had to learn to sew. When I lived in the country when my children were small, I had to learn to slaughter and butcher out livestock and wild game for the table. (and yes, you would be totally justified in feeling sorry for those first few animals that made it to the table)
2) Curiosity. I may have not NEEDED a particular skill, but I was curious as to whether I could become proficient at it. Could I start a fire without matches or a lighter? Could I make a snare to catch a rabbit?
3) The knowledge that I would (or will) need the skills in the future.
Making my own vinegar mother. Making a *starter* for breads. Carding and hand-spinning wool and weaving. First aid.
All of this took time. Years. Decades (Hey, I'm old!)
There are skills I still want to learn.
Some I know a wee bit about already (small engine repair, harness making, using draft animals, knitting and crocheting)
Some I know NOTHING about (turning flax into linen thread, block and tackle lifting of heavy items, grey water (waste-water) systems and water purification and several other things.
I have found the best way to learn a new skill is to work on ONE at a time.
I start by looking online for information. (I used to hang out at the library to do this before computers entered the scene!)
Then I read up on it as much as possible. I will read online, then get a couple of library books and finally, buy a good book on the subject.
For me, there is something so *tangible* about a book in hand. It makes the subject more accessible to me. If I wake up at 2 am and am unable to fall back asleep, I will frequently get out the book and read and re-read various details on the subject.
Youtube is an excellent resource for seeing skill tutorials. Just put in the search bar the particular skill (how to milk a goat, for example) and watch it over and over.
Then I pick a technique or a small detail from what I have mentally learned and try it physically.
I never tackle a whole project first try! That can be so discouraging!
For example, if you want to learn quilting, don't try to make a whole quilt--not even a baby quilt--first time you try. Make a mug coaster. Make several. Then try a tote bag or a purse.
Work your way up to a large project.
Now, a pause here to talk about "physical memory" or "body memory". Not just our brain, but our body remembers.
When you practice a skill, over and over, you are *embedding* that memory and knowledge into your body's memory. You are programming yourself to do a task automatically.
If you engage in any sport or massively physical skill, you already know this.
It's the reason coaches make players practice so many repetitions of the same action over and over.
It's the reason the military is the champion at repetitions! Visit a military firing range some day.
You want certain skills to be automatic.
Even with a creative skill, such as quilting, you want your hands to have the *memory* of doing stitch after stitch. It becomes automatic.
That may sound a bit robotic, but it will actually free you to be MORE creative. Once you don't have to worry about getting every stitch right, your body knows how!---you can introduce more variations and inject more of *you* .
Back to learning a new skill. As I said, pick a small project first and work your way up to a large project. Many of my friends got mug coasters and tote bags until I got confident at my quilting!
Make projects that will be useful to you or to give as gifts, if possible.
Some skills may come without the ability to do this.
Fire starting. Using draft animals. Small engine repair. Stuff like that.
Nevertheless, practice.
When you feel you have *got it*, move on to the next skill, but continue to get practice at the one you just learned. (Gotta nudge that *body memory* every once in a while to keep it fresh!)
I generally try to pick 4 skills per year. Of course, I may pick up something pretty quickly. In that case, I go down to the next one on my list and start on that one. If a skill is taking me an impossibly long time, I will put it aside temporarily and go to the next one on my list, but I WILL come back to it!
There are some skills I have intentionally not tried to gain, due to the expense, time or nature of the skill.
I used to work on cars. My own and others. I let this fall by the wayside years ago when they started putting computers and other high-tech features in. I am pretty confident I can work on a 1967 Ford pick-up, but I am also pretty confident that I cannot work on a 2008 Escalade.
Some skills you have to update at pretty regular intervals, due to technological changes.
If you were taught to sew on an electric sewing machine and move off-grid and then have a treadle sewing machine, you WILL need to learn sewing all over again!
I generally like to learn the most *primitive* technique of doing a skill first.
My first few sewing projects were completely hand done. Tedious, yes, but very instructive as I learned rapidly the *bones* of apparel construction.
So, pick a skill. ONE skill you wish to learn.
Start gradually, but keep plowing on through it.
Eventually, you WILL get it!
As far as I know, no such person exists.
I DO have a lot of primitive and basic skills.
These skills were acquired through three different reasons.
1) Necessity.
With a houseful of kids, I HAD to learn to cook and house-keep frugally. With little money for new clothes, I had to learn to sew. When I lived in the country when my children were small, I had to learn to slaughter and butcher out livestock and wild game for the table. (and yes, you would be totally justified in feeling sorry for those first few animals that made it to the table)
2) Curiosity. I may have not NEEDED a particular skill, but I was curious as to whether I could become proficient at it. Could I start a fire without matches or a lighter? Could I make a snare to catch a rabbit?
3) The knowledge that I would (or will) need the skills in the future.
Making my own vinegar mother. Making a *starter* for breads. Carding and hand-spinning wool and weaving. First aid.
All of this took time. Years. Decades (Hey, I'm old!)
There are skills I still want to learn.
Some I know a wee bit about already (small engine repair, harness making, using draft animals, knitting and crocheting)
Some I know NOTHING about (turning flax into linen thread, block and tackle lifting of heavy items, grey water (waste-water) systems and water purification and several other things.
I have found the best way to learn a new skill is to work on ONE at a time.
I start by looking online for information. (I used to hang out at the library to do this before computers entered the scene!)
Then I read up on it as much as possible. I will read online, then get a couple of library books and finally, buy a good book on the subject.
For me, there is something so *tangible* about a book in hand. It makes the subject more accessible to me. If I wake up at 2 am and am unable to fall back asleep, I will frequently get out the book and read and re-read various details on the subject.
Youtube is an excellent resource for seeing skill tutorials. Just put in the search bar the particular skill (how to milk a goat, for example) and watch it over and over.
Then I pick a technique or a small detail from what I have mentally learned and try it physically.
I never tackle a whole project first try! That can be so discouraging!
For example, if you want to learn quilting, don't try to make a whole quilt--not even a baby quilt--first time you try. Make a mug coaster. Make several. Then try a tote bag or a purse.
Work your way up to a large project.
Now, a pause here to talk about "physical memory" or "body memory". Not just our brain, but our body remembers.
When you practice a skill, over and over, you are *embedding* that memory and knowledge into your body's memory. You are programming yourself to do a task automatically.
If you engage in any sport or massively physical skill, you already know this.
It's the reason coaches make players practice so many repetitions of the same action over and over.
It's the reason the military is the champion at repetitions! Visit a military firing range some day.
You want certain skills to be automatic.
Even with a creative skill, such as quilting, you want your hands to have the *memory* of doing stitch after stitch. It becomes automatic.
That may sound a bit robotic, but it will actually free you to be MORE creative. Once you don't have to worry about getting every stitch right, your body knows how!---you can introduce more variations and inject more of *you* .
Back to learning a new skill. As I said, pick a small project first and work your way up to a large project. Many of my friends got mug coasters and tote bags until I got confident at my quilting!
Make projects that will be useful to you or to give as gifts, if possible.
Some skills may come without the ability to do this.
Fire starting. Using draft animals. Small engine repair. Stuff like that.
Nevertheless, practice.
When you feel you have *got it*, move on to the next skill, but continue to get practice at the one you just learned. (Gotta nudge that *body memory* every once in a while to keep it fresh!)
I generally try to pick 4 skills per year. Of course, I may pick up something pretty quickly. In that case, I go down to the next one on my list and start on that one. If a skill is taking me an impossibly long time, I will put it aside temporarily and go to the next one on my list, but I WILL come back to it!
There are some skills I have intentionally not tried to gain, due to the expense, time or nature of the skill.
I used to work on cars. My own and others. I let this fall by the wayside years ago when they started putting computers and other high-tech features in. I am pretty confident I can work on a 1967 Ford pick-up, but I am also pretty confident that I cannot work on a 2008 Escalade.
Some skills you have to update at pretty regular intervals, due to technological changes.
If you were taught to sew on an electric sewing machine and move off-grid and then have a treadle sewing machine, you WILL need to learn sewing all over again!
I generally like to learn the most *primitive* technique of doing a skill first.
My first few sewing projects were completely hand done. Tedious, yes, but very instructive as I learned rapidly the *bones* of apparel construction.
So, pick a skill. ONE skill you wish to learn.
Start gradually, but keep plowing on through it.
Eventually, you WILL get it!
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
Tonight at the Improv...
And I am all happy with my gardening efforts (so far).
My watermelon patch is in the front yard. Spinach is planted on the side of the house in a shady area with the hopes it won't bolt to seed.
Cabbage is similarly in an area that gets plenty of shade and I am going to the nursery to grab some marigold plants this weekend to ward off cabbage moths.
All my plants are in their various beds, scattered about the yard, tucked into corners, a few in containers.
I found more seeds---non-hybrid at that!---at the local Family Dollar store. One dollar for five packs of seeds!
I couldn't afford to buy more chicken wire to put on a fence to support my snow peas (my original plan), but I did have a bunch of nails and some fishing line. So I planted my snow peas and put up a bunch of nails on the fence (in a pattern) and then strung my fishing line on the nails in a sort of lattice pattern. As my snow pea vines grow, they will have plenty of support!
Improvise, people, improvise!
Improv example...my neighbor had a yard sale. Mainly kids clothes and some dust collecting knick-knacks. But she had one big curtain. 100% cotton lined with muslin. Gorgeous print. She had never hung it, as she bought it on sale at J.C.Penny's and it didn't fit her window (always measure, write down the measurements and take said measurements with you when shopping!).
She wanted one dollar for it. I bought it, as I had an idea. That curtain, to me, was fabric. Pure and simple fabric.
I have a stash of patterns as I sew and enjoy sewing.
I took my find home and as I spoke to my darling man online, I ripped out the lining and all the seams and hems on the curtain. 5 minutes work.
Later, as I waited for my laundry to finish washing, I pinned the fabric to a pattern and cut it out. 10 minutes work.
I put my clothes in the dryer, came back in (laundry is in the garage) and while I waited for my laundry to dry, I sewed the dress together. 45 minutes work.
One dollar + One Hour = One Dress! (Sorry about the lousy pic, I use a very inexpensive web cam to take pictures)
I have already worn the dress several times and received many compliments on it. A couple of women wanted to know where I bought it!
My point is...look for other uses for things you may already have or that you can get cheaply.
Fishing line has dozens of uses besides fishing and beside holding plants up!
A curtain can be a curtain...or a dress. (Remember Scarlett O'Hara?)
A flower pot can be a baking dish, a utensil holder, a part of a wind chime...
As they are fond of saying in the corporate world...Think outside the box.
Here's some homework for you:
I know you are at your computer reading this (or perhaps outside on your laptop).
Look around you and pick one item.
A drinking glass, an old vitamin bottle, a pencil, a lap quilt...whatever.
Now, think of three things you can do with that item---besides the usage it is intended for.
Get creative, get silly...just let your imagination run free!
Improvise!
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Striking Oil!
We already covered flavored vinegars...now we are going to cover oils to put in your pantry.
These oils are good for many uses....vinegarettes, grilling, frying, etc. Anywhere you would use a non-flavored oil.
I normally only use three types of oil in cooking, baking, etc.
Olive Oil (usually extra-virgin olive oil)
Sunflower seed oil
Coconut Oil
Now, Coconut oil deserves it own entire post, so we'll ignore that wonderful product of nature right now and concentrate on the other two.
You can also use canola oil (aka rapeseed oil...they use the name *canola* to make it sound more consumer friendly!)
I usually use the Extra Virgin Olive Oil for those flavored oils intended for salad dressings and grilling. If I plan on frying food in the oil, I use the sunflower seed oil (or canola oil).
What you'll need:
Pint jars (or go whole hog and buy pretty bottles if you like)
Oils of choice.
Herbs, fruit, nuts, etc. for oil flavorings.
You can use a food processor to finely mince or dice your herbs, but I generally just chop my herbs and such rather coarsely.
Here are some great combos:
basil, oregano, onion, garlic
sage, dill, coriander
sun dried tomatoes, basil, onion, garlic
lemon rind, dill, fennel
rosemary, thyme, garlic
pine nut, basil, garlic
garlic, onion, hot peppers
I also like simple *one note* oils.
Sun-dried tomatoes are a great *one note* oil.
Basic recipe for that:
1/4 cup sun-dried tomatoes, coarsely chopped
1 cup olive oil
Heat the olive oil until hot, but not simmering or boiling.
Put tomatoes in bottom of pint canning jar. Pour warm oil over tomatoes. Tightly cap.
Let rest in back of pantry three days, gently shaking jar once a day.
Drain oil through fine cheesecloth or a fine sieve (you do NOT want any *particulate* matter in the finished oil). Can or bottle strained oil. I generally use the oily tomatoes for cooking or put them in the compost heap.
Tomato oil is excellent for making an oil and vinegar drizzle on a summer salad or for brushing on steaks on the grill. Also good on fish!
Hot Cha Cha Oil
2 Habanero Peppers
1 Jalapeno Pepper
1 and 1/2 cups Olive Oil
WEAR GLOVES! You WILL need a pair of latex /rubber gloves to make this oil!
Carefully remove stem and seeds from peppers. Slice all three peppers into thin strips. Heat olive oil to very warm (no simmering/boiling). Put pepper strips into pint canning jar, pour oil over and cap tightly. Let set in back of pantry for 2 days, strain, discard pepper strips.
This oil is to be used sparingly. (Unless you are into very hot foods!)
Brush onto shrimp on the grill. Or fish or steak and chops. Add a few drops to pan when you are frying chicken to give it a spicy POP!
Citrus and Spice Oil
1/2 a lemon peel, cut in strips
1/2 a lime peel, cut in strips
1/4 orange peel, cut in strips
With ALL citrus peels, try to have as little of the white inner peel as possible, you want the yellow, green or orange skin, so to speak.
1 One inch piece of cinnamon stick
2 cloves
2 cups sunflower (my preference) or olive oil
Put the peels and the cinnamon and cloves in a quart canning jar. Warm the oil and pour over the peels and spices. Tightly cap. Set in pantry for 3 to 4 days, mix by turning gently.
Strain.
This oil is lovely to use for salad dressings. Also good for frying bananas, apples and other fruit.
For cake recipes that use oil try substituting this oil (if you made it with sunflower oil) for the oil called for. Brush on chicken on the grill or that you bake/roast.
You make the other oils in the same manner.
Some folks also make their oils by putting the vegetable matter in the jar, filling the jar with oil, tightly capping the jar and them setting the jar outside in the sunshine for 3 days to a week, inverting the jar once a day.
Remember to label all oils with the type, date made and type of oil used.
These oils are good for many uses....vinegarettes, grilling, frying, etc. Anywhere you would use a non-flavored oil.
I normally only use three types of oil in cooking, baking, etc.
Olive Oil (usually extra-virgin olive oil)
Sunflower seed oil
Coconut Oil
Now, Coconut oil deserves it own entire post, so we'll ignore that wonderful product of nature right now and concentrate on the other two.
You can also use canola oil (aka rapeseed oil...they use the name *canola* to make it sound more consumer friendly!)
I usually use the Extra Virgin Olive Oil for those flavored oils intended for salad dressings and grilling. If I plan on frying food in the oil, I use the sunflower seed oil (or canola oil).
What you'll need:
Pint jars (or go whole hog and buy pretty bottles if you like)
Oils of choice.
Herbs, fruit, nuts, etc. for oil flavorings.
You can use a food processor to finely mince or dice your herbs, but I generally just chop my herbs and such rather coarsely.
Here are some great combos:
basil, oregano, onion, garlic
sage, dill, coriander
sun dried tomatoes, basil, onion, garlic
lemon rind, dill, fennel
rosemary, thyme, garlic
pine nut, basil, garlic
garlic, onion, hot peppers
I also like simple *one note* oils.
Sun-dried tomatoes are a great *one note* oil.
Basic recipe for that:
1/4 cup sun-dried tomatoes, coarsely chopped
1 cup olive oil
Heat the olive oil until hot, but not simmering or boiling.
Put tomatoes in bottom of pint canning jar. Pour warm oil over tomatoes. Tightly cap.
Let rest in back of pantry three days, gently shaking jar once a day.
Drain oil through fine cheesecloth or a fine sieve (you do NOT want any *particulate* matter in the finished oil). Can or bottle strained oil. I generally use the oily tomatoes for cooking or put them in the compost heap.
Tomato oil is excellent for making an oil and vinegar drizzle on a summer salad or for brushing on steaks on the grill. Also good on fish!
Hot Cha Cha Oil
2 Habanero Peppers
1 Jalapeno Pepper
1 and 1/2 cups Olive Oil
WEAR GLOVES! You WILL need a pair of latex /rubber gloves to make this oil!
Carefully remove stem and seeds from peppers. Slice all three peppers into thin strips. Heat olive oil to very warm (no simmering/boiling). Put pepper strips into pint canning jar, pour oil over and cap tightly. Let set in back of pantry for 2 days, strain, discard pepper strips.
This oil is to be used sparingly. (Unless you are into very hot foods!)
Brush onto shrimp on the grill. Or fish or steak and chops. Add a few drops to pan when you are frying chicken to give it a spicy POP!
Citrus and Spice Oil
1/2 a lemon peel, cut in strips
1/2 a lime peel, cut in strips
1/4 orange peel, cut in strips
With ALL citrus peels, try to have as little of the white inner peel as possible, you want the yellow, green or orange skin, so to speak.
1 One inch piece of cinnamon stick
2 cloves
2 cups sunflower (my preference) or olive oil
Put the peels and the cinnamon and cloves in a quart canning jar. Warm the oil and pour over the peels and spices. Tightly cap. Set in pantry for 3 to 4 days, mix by turning gently.
Strain.
This oil is lovely to use for salad dressings. Also good for frying bananas, apples and other fruit.
For cake recipes that use oil try substituting this oil (if you made it with sunflower oil) for the oil called for. Brush on chicken on the grill or that you bake/roast.
You make the other oils in the same manner.
Some folks also make their oils by putting the vegetable matter in the jar, filling the jar with oil, tightly capping the jar and them setting the jar outside in the sunshine for 3 days to a week, inverting the jar once a day.
Remember to label all oils with the type, date made and type of oil used.
Thursday, February 12, 2009
SHTF
Alright, I have been non-political and non-controversial in this blog.
Today's offering may change that.
The acronym SHTF stands for
Shit
Hits
The
Fan
Basically, what that means is a crisis situation.
It can be personal, such as losing a job.
It can be regional, such as a hurricane like Katrina or Ike.
It can be national, such as the collapse of the government or a national financial meltdown as in Iceland.
It can be multi-national, as in the wars in the Middle-East.
Finally, it can be global, as in worse case scenario global warming or global freezing. (Scientists still up in the air about that!)
I think we, here in the United States, HAVE reached SHTF, it just hasn't been reported by the main stream media enough to register with the majority of the population.
There are a few more *trigger events* for a lot of people to realize SHTF is here and now, but those *triggers* are beginning to cascade.
We have had:
Massive Bank Failures
Real Estate Bubble Burst
States Beginning to fail financially (read up on California not being able to pay employees or vendors.)
Slow down of transportation system due to fuel prices and other factors.(Check with anyone in the trucking industry about this)
Retail Outlets failing in big numbers. Many stores declaring bankruptcy and/or closing doors.
Marked rise in unemployment.
Retailers keeping less merchandise in stock. (This ties into the trucking industry and the banks. Retailers are cutting their warehouse/inventory volume to keep costs down)
The shadow of gun banning in violation of our Constitution is now over us.
RFID issues.
NAIS issues.
States openly informing the US Congress and Executive Branch that they will retain their rights under the 9th and 10th Amendments.(This is bigger than most people imagine)
States (especially California) being forced to release up to one third of their prison populations due to overcrowding and lack of funds to continue incarceration.
Weather related crisis, droughts especially, in various regions of the country.
The Bailout and Stimulus packages that will impact the taxpayers for decades to come.
Continued conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan.
and much, much more....
So, how does this all add up?
It adds up to SHTF...all we need is one trigger event. A good sized riot in one city or an unusually hot summer over most of the country.
The fuse is already there.
One spark is all that it will take.
Please, get your family prepared.
Get your self prepared.
Help your community or neighborhood get prepared.
Here are some ways to be prepared and help others get prepared:
Plant a garden. Even if you live in an apartment. Put potted vegetable plants on your patio/terrace/fire escape. Encourage neighbors to garden. Get involved in community gardens. Suggest that edible plants and fruit trees be put in local parks rather than plain decorative ones.*Guerrilla Garden*, plant edibles in less frequented areas of your neighborhoods, in traffic medians, in the parks, anywhere you can think of.
Learn to cook *from scratch*. Expand your knowledge to include campfire cookery and grill skills in case of power interruptions. Man does not live by microwave alone!
Spend a little each week on food storage. Even if you stock up on ravioli and Spam, it's better than nothing at all.
Store 150 gallons of water. This is possible, even in a studio apartment if you plan it out carefully and use the 2 liter bottles as I previously wrote about.
Buy a firearm and ammunition for it.Even an inexpensive shotgun or .22 rifle, if that's all you can afford. But get one, get the ammo and PRACTICE!
Join your Neighborhood Watch or Neighborhood Association. KNOW YOUR NEIGHBORS!
Attend City Council meetings or the meetings of whatever political entity makes the ordinances for your town/village/county. Know what's going on and what measures your local community politicos are taking.
Keep your vehicle fueled up. Store some gas in cans if you are able.
Update your *Bug Out Bag* regularly.
Have a good First Aid Kit.
Know the escape routes out of your city if you intend to *Bug Out* in a crisis. Have a main route and at least 3 other alternatives in case your chosen route is blocked in some manner.
If you intend to *Bug In* (stay home) in a crisis situation, make sure you have fire extinguishers that are charged and up to date.
Have a rendezvous point for you and family/friends in case of crisis. Also, have a *Back Up* place to meet in case the routes to the first one are impassable or in case the first point is in a area where a situation is happening.
Designate an out of town friend/family member as your *contact* operator in case you are separated from family/friends. Call them asap if you have to *Bug Out* and let them know where you are going and what time you expect to get there. Call again when you get to where-ever you were going.If phone systems go down, this may not be possible, however. It is nice to have someone that will be able to ascertain where everyone is, where they are heading and whether they are okay or not.
My next blog will be about items you should already have and/or what you should immediately get for preparedness.
Today's offering may change that.
The acronym SHTF stands for
Shit
Hits
The
Fan
Basically, what that means is a crisis situation.
It can be personal, such as losing a job.
It can be regional, such as a hurricane like Katrina or Ike.
It can be national, such as the collapse of the government or a national financial meltdown as in Iceland.
It can be multi-national, as in the wars in the Middle-East.
Finally, it can be global, as in worse case scenario global warming or global freezing. (Scientists still up in the air about that!)
I think we, here in the United States, HAVE reached SHTF, it just hasn't been reported by the main stream media enough to register with the majority of the population.
There are a few more *trigger events* for a lot of people to realize SHTF is here and now, but those *triggers* are beginning to cascade.
We have had:
Massive Bank Failures
Real Estate Bubble Burst
States Beginning to fail financially (read up on California not being able to pay employees or vendors.)
Slow down of transportation system due to fuel prices and other factors.(Check with anyone in the trucking industry about this)
Retail Outlets failing in big numbers. Many stores declaring bankruptcy and/or closing doors.
Marked rise in unemployment.
Retailers keeping less merchandise in stock. (This ties into the trucking industry and the banks. Retailers are cutting their warehouse/inventory volume to keep costs down)
The shadow of gun banning in violation of our Constitution is now over us.
RFID issues.
NAIS issues.
States openly informing the US Congress and Executive Branch that they will retain their rights under the 9th and 10th Amendments.(This is bigger than most people imagine)
States (especially California) being forced to release up to one third of their prison populations due to overcrowding and lack of funds to continue incarceration.
Weather related crisis, droughts especially, in various regions of the country.
The Bailout and Stimulus packages that will impact the taxpayers for decades to come.
Continued conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan.
and much, much more....
So, how does this all add up?
It adds up to SHTF...all we need is one trigger event. A good sized riot in one city or an unusually hot summer over most of the country.
The fuse is already there.
One spark is all that it will take.
Please, get your family prepared.
Get your self prepared.
Help your community or neighborhood get prepared.
Here are some ways to be prepared and help others get prepared:
Plant a garden. Even if you live in an apartment. Put potted vegetable plants on your patio/terrace/fire escape. Encourage neighbors to garden. Get involved in community gardens. Suggest that edible plants and fruit trees be put in local parks rather than plain decorative ones.*Guerrilla Garden*, plant edibles in less frequented areas of your neighborhoods, in traffic medians, in the parks, anywhere you can think of.
Learn to cook *from scratch*. Expand your knowledge to include campfire cookery and grill skills in case of power interruptions. Man does not live by microwave alone!
Spend a little each week on food storage. Even if you stock up on ravioli and Spam, it's better than nothing at all.
Store 150 gallons of water. This is possible, even in a studio apartment if you plan it out carefully and use the 2 liter bottles as I previously wrote about.
Buy a firearm and ammunition for it.Even an inexpensive shotgun or .22 rifle, if that's all you can afford. But get one, get the ammo and PRACTICE!
Join your Neighborhood Watch or Neighborhood Association. KNOW YOUR NEIGHBORS!
Attend City Council meetings or the meetings of whatever political entity makes the ordinances for your town/village/county. Know what's going on and what measures your local community politicos are taking.
Keep your vehicle fueled up. Store some gas in cans if you are able.
Update your *Bug Out Bag* regularly.
Have a good First Aid Kit.
Know the escape routes out of your city if you intend to *Bug Out* in a crisis. Have a main route and at least 3 other alternatives in case your chosen route is blocked in some manner.
If you intend to *Bug In* (stay home) in a crisis situation, make sure you have fire extinguishers that are charged and up to date.
Have a rendezvous point for you and family/friends in case of crisis. Also, have a *Back Up* place to meet in case the routes to the first one are impassable or in case the first point is in a area where a situation is happening.
Designate an out of town friend/family member as your *contact* operator in case you are separated from family/friends. Call them asap if you have to *Bug Out* and let them know where you are going and what time you expect to get there. Call again when you get to where-ever you were going.If phone systems go down, this may not be possible, however. It is nice to have someone that will be able to ascertain where everyone is, where they are heading and whether they are okay or not.
My next blog will be about items you should already have and/or what you should immediately get for preparedness.
Friday, January 30, 2009
Water, Water, Everywhere...
Water.
You need it, I need it, we all need it.
But water storage can be a challenge for even the most prepared.
We all need to store water, regardless of our living circumstances.
If you live in a town, power disruptions can halt the flow of water.
Ditto for rural areas.
Pipes can freeze, water supplies can be contaminated
Prepare for this.
The average household should have a MINIMUM of 150 gallons of water stored for emergencies.
Currently, I live in town. My water comes from the municipal system.
During Hurricane Ike, the sea surge made our water unusable, even for washing dishes, bathing, etc.
I was not worried as I had ample water to last 3 weeks.
I don't have a lot of room, nor a lot of money, so I had to go for the simplest system possible.
I use 2 liter soda bottles.
Here's my method:
Wash out the bottle with scalding hot water. Remember to wash out the caps as well.
Fill the bottle with cool water and add 3 drops of chlorine bleach. Do NOT use a bleach that has scent or other additives! Cap tightly.
Store in a cool, dark place. I store mine in the bottom of my pantry closet.
The bottles can be stored upright or on their sides, whatever is most effective in the space you have for storage.
I strongly suggest you use a *Sharpie* or *Magic Marker* to date each bottle.
I re-do my water storage every three months, although I have been told my method would be effective for up to six months.
Once a year, I re-purpose my water storage bottles to store rice, lentils and other small grains in. I re-scald the bottles and dry out them out COMPLETELY. Not kidding. COMPLETELY. It is quite necessary to have them bone-dry for this!
Put an O2 absorber in the bottom. Pour in rice/whatever to within 1 inch of the top. Put in another O2 absorber. CAP TIGHTLY! I usually put plastic wrap on top, then screw the cap on as tightly as I can to get the best seal possible.
Store in dry, cool, dark place.
I have stored rice, small beans, lentils, flour, cornmeal and wheat in this manner. Tested FIVE YEARS later, it was still good and cooked up the same as freshly stored foods.
A friend of mine stored some in this manner and tested it last year. She had it stored this way for a little over FIFTEEN YEARS and it did just fine!
So, before you toss those 2 liter bottles in the trash (or any other food grade good sized bottle), stop yourself and think of another use for it!
Check your water supplies this week.
Look over on the Heathen Homemaker for some great organization tips for January!
http://heathenhomemaker.blogspot.com
You need it, I need it, we all need it.
But water storage can be a challenge for even the most prepared.
We all need to store water, regardless of our living circumstances.
If you live in a town, power disruptions can halt the flow of water.
Ditto for rural areas.
Pipes can freeze, water supplies can be contaminated
Prepare for this.
The average household should have a MINIMUM of 150 gallons of water stored for emergencies.
Currently, I live in town. My water comes from the municipal system.
During Hurricane Ike, the sea surge made our water unusable, even for washing dishes, bathing, etc.
I was not worried as I had ample water to last 3 weeks.
I don't have a lot of room, nor a lot of money, so I had to go for the simplest system possible.
I use 2 liter soda bottles.
Here's my method:
Wash out the bottle with scalding hot water. Remember to wash out the caps as well.
Fill the bottle with cool water and add 3 drops of chlorine bleach. Do NOT use a bleach that has scent or other additives! Cap tightly.
Store in a cool, dark place. I store mine in the bottom of my pantry closet.
The bottles can be stored upright or on their sides, whatever is most effective in the space you have for storage.
I strongly suggest you use a *Sharpie* or *Magic Marker* to date each bottle.
I re-do my water storage every three months, although I have been told my method would be effective for up to six months.
Once a year, I re-purpose my water storage bottles to store rice, lentils and other small grains in. I re-scald the bottles and dry out them out COMPLETELY. Not kidding. COMPLETELY. It is quite necessary to have them bone-dry for this!
Put an O2 absorber in the bottom. Pour in rice/whatever to within 1 inch of the top. Put in another O2 absorber. CAP TIGHTLY! I usually put plastic wrap on top, then screw the cap on as tightly as I can to get the best seal possible.
Store in dry, cool, dark place.
I have stored rice, small beans, lentils, flour, cornmeal and wheat in this manner. Tested FIVE YEARS later, it was still good and cooked up the same as freshly stored foods.
A friend of mine stored some in this manner and tested it last year. She had it stored this way for a little over FIFTEEN YEARS and it did just fine!
So, before you toss those 2 liter bottles in the trash (or any other food grade good sized bottle), stop yourself and think of another use for it!
Check your water supplies this week.
Look over on the Heathen Homemaker for some great organization tips for January!
http://heathenhomemaker.blogspot.com
Sunday, January 18, 2009
Cooking With Preps, Part Two
In a post last fall, I posted some simple recipes for cooking with preps out of your food storage...
Now we will get a bit more complicated recipes, but they are really good!
Wheatberry Blender Pancake Mix:
1 cup milk (3 tablespoons powdered milk + 1 cup water)
1 cup Wheat kernels, whole and uncooked
2 eggs (2 tablespoons powdered eggs + 1/4 cup water)
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons Oil
2 teaspoons honey or sugar
Put milk and wheat kernels in blender.
Blend on highest speed for 4 or 5 minutes or until mixture is smooth.
Add all other ingredients to mixture in blender and blend on low.
Pour out batter into pancakes from the actual blender jar (only one thing to wash!)
onto hot greased prepared griddle or large frying pan.
Cook, flipping pancakes when bubbles pop and create holes.
Serve hot with honey/syrup/jam.
Indian Fry Bread
Mix together:
2 cups white flour
2 cups whole wheat flour
1/2 cup non-instant powdered milk (read the labels!)
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons honey or sugar
When that is well mixed:
Add:
1 1/2 cups very hot water
Work fast working ingredients together and knead for 5 minutes.
Take golf-ball sized pieces from the dough , pull and stretch with hands into a circle of about 6 to 8 inches. (Oil your hands a bit first with salad oil or shortening so dough doesn't stick to hands)
You can also roll out the dough balls on a counter--oil the counter a touch first--put a piece of waxed paper over the dough ball and roll it out.
Fry in hot oil. I usually fry mine in a cast iron skillet in about an inch of oil.
Drain them on a plate or in a basket lined with paper towels or a clean dish towel.
I top mine with a lot of different things, these are so versatile!
Toppings:
Chili
Re-fried beans and grated cheese
Lettuce, diced tomatoes, onions, olives, some cilantro and salsa
Sugar and cinnamon
Chicken or tuna salad
Basic Granola
2 1/2 cups Sugar
1 1/2 cups Water
6 Tablespoons Oil
1 1/2 Teaspoons Salt
10 cups Rolled Oats (uncooked)
In a pan, combine the sugar, water, oil and salt. Heat until sugar is dissolved, but do not boil. Pour syrup over the oats and stir until well coated. Add a little more rolled oats if the texture seems too moist. Place in baking pans or on cookie sheets about 1/2 inch deep. Bake at 425 degrees F, 20-30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Bake 15 minutes longer if you want it crunchier. Store in an airtight container.
Add-ins (after cooking:)
Slivered almonds
Dried Cranberries
Raisins
Walnuts
Peanuts
Shredded Coconut
Dried (crystallized) Pineapple
Dried diced Apple
Dried Apricots
Just add in whatever appeals to you...Nuts, Dried Fruit, Chocolate Chips...mix together with your add-ins well. I usually let it *rest* after I add in goodies for 3 days in a tightly sealed container.
You can eat Granola *out of hand*, as a cold cereal or as a hot cereal when you add hot milk.
So there's a few good recipes for you!
Now we will get a bit more complicated recipes, but they are really good!
Wheatberry Blender Pancake Mix:
1 cup milk (3 tablespoons powdered milk + 1 cup water)
1 cup Wheat kernels, whole and uncooked
2 eggs (2 tablespoons powdered eggs + 1/4 cup water)
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons Oil
2 teaspoons honey or sugar
Put milk and wheat kernels in blender.
Blend on highest speed for 4 or 5 minutes or until mixture is smooth.
Add all other ingredients to mixture in blender and blend on low.
Pour out batter into pancakes from the actual blender jar (only one thing to wash!)
onto hot greased prepared griddle or large frying pan.
Cook, flipping pancakes when bubbles pop and create holes.
Serve hot with honey/syrup/jam.
Indian Fry Bread
Mix together:
2 cups white flour
2 cups whole wheat flour
1/2 cup non-instant powdered milk (read the labels!)
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons honey or sugar
When that is well mixed:
Add:
1 1/2 cups very hot water
Work fast working ingredients together and knead for 5 minutes.
Take golf-ball sized pieces from the dough , pull and stretch with hands into a circle of about 6 to 8 inches. (Oil your hands a bit first with salad oil or shortening so dough doesn't stick to hands)
You can also roll out the dough balls on a counter--oil the counter a touch first--put a piece of waxed paper over the dough ball and roll it out.
Fry in hot oil. I usually fry mine in a cast iron skillet in about an inch of oil.
Drain them on a plate or in a basket lined with paper towels or a clean dish towel.
I top mine with a lot of different things, these are so versatile!
Toppings:
Chili
Re-fried beans and grated cheese
Lettuce, diced tomatoes, onions, olives, some cilantro and salsa
Sugar and cinnamon
Chicken or tuna salad
Basic Granola
2 1/2 cups Sugar
1 1/2 cups Water
6 Tablespoons Oil
1 1/2 Teaspoons Salt
10 cups Rolled Oats (uncooked)
In a pan, combine the sugar, water, oil and salt. Heat until sugar is dissolved, but do not boil. Pour syrup over the oats and stir until well coated. Add a little more rolled oats if the texture seems too moist. Place in baking pans or on cookie sheets about 1/2 inch deep. Bake at 425 degrees F, 20-30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Bake 15 minutes longer if you want it crunchier. Store in an airtight container.
Add-ins (after cooking:)
Slivered almonds
Dried Cranberries
Raisins
Walnuts
Peanuts
Shredded Coconut
Dried (crystallized) Pineapple
Dried diced Apple
Dried Apricots
Just add in whatever appeals to you...Nuts, Dried Fruit, Chocolate Chips...mix together with your add-ins well. I usually let it *rest* after I add in goodies for 3 days in a tightly sealed container.
You can eat Granola *out of hand*, as a cold cereal or as a hot cereal when you add hot milk.
So there's a few good recipes for you!
Thursday, January 1, 2009
A New Year
The new year is here and I know everyone out there is making New Years Resolutions...that they will probably break to shards by February...
I have an easy resolution for you:
Spend $5.00 per week to prepare.
You can use that 5 bucks to buy extra food for your pantry, items for your B.O.B or F.A.K.
I know 5 dollars doesn't sound like a lot, but you can buy a substantial amount of preparation for that 5 bucks per week!
Here's an example of one month...all these items are easily obtainable, either locally or online.
BOB Items
Gym Bag (easily found for $5)
50 ft of clothesline (usually runs about 2.99)
8 x 8 tarp (4.99 at my local surplus store)
Magnesium firestarter (4.99 at local military surplus store)
P-38 (99 cents at local military surplus store)
Emergency blanket (2.00 at local surplus store)
First Aid Kit (I hit the dollar store for this stuff!)
Small bottle of aspirin ( a dollar)
Box of Bandaids (again, only a dollar)
Tweezers ($1)
Bottle of Rubbing Alcohol (a buck)
Bottle of Hydrogen Peroxide ($1)
Bar of Soap (got 5 for a buck!)
Baby-Wipes ($1)
Scissors ($1)
Package of Air Masks ($1)
Roll of Medical Tape ($1)
Box of Gauze Pads ($1)
You get the idea....
For your food storage the possibilities are endless...
Cans of tuna fish or chicken, Spam, dried pasta, box dinners of mac and cheese, oatmeal, rice, flour and on and on....
Think of how much money you waste each week. Five dollars is a small amount, in the grand scheme of things. Cut out a couple trips to Starbucks each week or rent one less movie and get a free one from the library. Curtail your smoking a bit. Carry your lunch instead of getting something at a fast food joint. You'll never miss that 5 bucks, but you will be able to look with satisfaction at your growing pantry or FAK or BOB.
So...HAPPY NEW YEAR!
And shoot for 5 bucks a week for preparation!
I have an easy resolution for you:
Spend $5.00 per week to prepare.
You can use that 5 bucks to buy extra food for your pantry, items for your B.O.B or F.A.K.
I know 5 dollars doesn't sound like a lot, but you can buy a substantial amount of preparation for that 5 bucks per week!
Here's an example of one month...all these items are easily obtainable, either locally or online.
BOB Items
Gym Bag (easily found for $5)
50 ft of clothesline (usually runs about 2.99)
8 x 8 tarp (4.99 at my local surplus store)
Magnesium firestarter (4.99 at local military surplus store)
P-38 (99 cents at local military surplus store)
Emergency blanket (2.00 at local surplus store)
First Aid Kit (I hit the dollar store for this stuff!)
Small bottle of aspirin ( a dollar)
Box of Bandaids (again, only a dollar)
Tweezers ($1)
Bottle of Rubbing Alcohol (a buck)
Bottle of Hydrogen Peroxide ($1)
Bar of Soap (got 5 for a buck!)
Baby-Wipes ($1)
Scissors ($1)
Package of Air Masks ($1)
Roll of Medical Tape ($1)
Box of Gauze Pads ($1)
You get the idea....
For your food storage the possibilities are endless...
Cans of tuna fish or chicken, Spam, dried pasta, box dinners of mac and cheese, oatmeal, rice, flour and on and on....
Think of how much money you waste each week. Five dollars is a small amount, in the grand scheme of things. Cut out a couple trips to Starbucks each week or rent one less movie and get a free one from the library. Curtail your smoking a bit. Carry your lunch instead of getting something at a fast food joint. You'll never miss that 5 bucks, but you will be able to look with satisfaction at your growing pantry or FAK or BOB.
So...HAPPY NEW YEAR!
And shoot for 5 bucks a week for preparation!
Saturday, July 12, 2008
Major Things To Take Care Of
I wonder, as I read blogs and forums, about those "survivalist" types that have tons of dried foods, thousands of rounds of ammo and water filters and tools stored away for any upcoming apocalyptic event, what have they forgotten?
Recent events in my own life brought this to the forefront...
I had a dental abscess two years ago that traveled to my heart and almost killed me.
Major antibiotics for an extended period of time finally brought me back from the edge, but the doctors told me I HAD to have my teeth removed to forestall a recurrence of the situation.
Being rather poverty stricken at that time, I could not get the dental surgery done. Last month, I had my last twenty teeth removed and got dentures. While recovering, I watched an account on an educational show about an ancient Egyptian tomb that was excavated. The mummy was of some female royal personage. They decided to examine the mummy to determine cause of death.
Turned out, it was an abscessed tooth.
This mummy was once a member of the ruling royal family. She had storehouses of grain and flocks and orchards at her disposal. Slaves fanned her brow, washed her clothing, cleaned her home and waited on her hand and foot. Soldiers protected her at the risk of their own lives and priests prayed and sacrificed for her.
All for naught, because of one infected tooth.
The doctors and archaeologists examining the mummy talked long about how painful her death must have been.
I felt for the long dead lady.
But I also felt a wondering about how many of the *preppers* out there have overlooked significant details in their preparations.
I no longer have to concern myself with an abscess tooth killing me. I knew I had bad teeth and was, thankfully, able to get something done about it.
But if TSHTF (The Shit Hits The Fan in survivalist acronym language), how many survivalists, huddled in their bunkers are prepared for such a thing?
Current antibiotics have limited shelf lives. Some may even turn deadly during extended storage.
Look, if you have bad teeth and you are hanging on to them due to vanity, lose the fantasy and take some of your money to a dentist and get them pulled out. Get an inexpensive set of dentures, wait until your mouth has healed well (about 6 months to one year) and get better dentures or even implant-type permanent dentures. Save your cheap dentures for spares.
In fact, two or three spare sets may be advisable. (TSHTF, I doubt you will be able to scoot down to a local dental lab for replacements)
Remember spare eyeglasses, too, if you wear them. You can buy spare pairs of eyeglasses very cheaply (20 bucks a pair!) online.
Let's address your appendix while we are at it. Still have yours? What would happen if you had appendicitis? No doctor, no hospital. Going to have a a fellow survivalist read instructions from a medical textbook so they can figure it out?
Yeah, scary thought.
I have recently read where some folks are having their appendix removed as an elective procedure. Smart folks.
As soon as you can afford it, go to a doctor and request a full physical. Pay close attention to what the doctor tells you to do, be it losing weight, gaining weight, lowering your cholesterol, lowering your blood sugar, whatever. Write it down and work on it.
And ASK your doctor about your appendix, your tonsils, bad teeth and any other conditions or situations that may imperil your life in a no doctor available situation.
You can tell him you are thinking of joining the Peace Corps and will probably far from a competent medical facility for two years and you just want to make sure there is nothing that may cause you distress in said situation.
Get everything done that you can as soon as you reasonably can.
Put off getting that new Mossberg SPX and pay for the dental work.
Forget the Unimog for right now and get your appendix out during your vacation.
Skimp on your next wheat order and get a few spare pairs of glasses.
A full larder and scads of ammo will do you little good if you die of a simple problem that could have been treated NOW.
Remember the mummy, entombed with her riches...
Recent events in my own life brought this to the forefront...
I had a dental abscess two years ago that traveled to my heart and almost killed me.
Major antibiotics for an extended period of time finally brought me back from the edge, but the doctors told me I HAD to have my teeth removed to forestall a recurrence of the situation.
Being rather poverty stricken at that time, I could not get the dental surgery done. Last month, I had my last twenty teeth removed and got dentures. While recovering, I watched an account on an educational show about an ancient Egyptian tomb that was excavated. The mummy was of some female royal personage. They decided to examine the mummy to determine cause of death.
Turned out, it was an abscessed tooth.
This mummy was once a member of the ruling royal family. She had storehouses of grain and flocks and orchards at her disposal. Slaves fanned her brow, washed her clothing, cleaned her home and waited on her hand and foot. Soldiers protected her at the risk of their own lives and priests prayed and sacrificed for her.
All for naught, because of one infected tooth.
The doctors and archaeologists examining the mummy talked long about how painful her death must have been.
I felt for the long dead lady.
But I also felt a wondering about how many of the *preppers* out there have overlooked significant details in their preparations.
I no longer have to concern myself with an abscess tooth killing me. I knew I had bad teeth and was, thankfully, able to get something done about it.
But if TSHTF (The Shit Hits The Fan in survivalist acronym language), how many survivalists, huddled in their bunkers are prepared for such a thing?
Current antibiotics have limited shelf lives. Some may even turn deadly during extended storage.
Look, if you have bad teeth and you are hanging on to them due to vanity, lose the fantasy and take some of your money to a dentist and get them pulled out. Get an inexpensive set of dentures, wait until your mouth has healed well (about 6 months to one year) and get better dentures or even implant-type permanent dentures. Save your cheap dentures for spares.
In fact, two or three spare sets may be advisable. (TSHTF, I doubt you will be able to scoot down to a local dental lab for replacements)
Remember spare eyeglasses, too, if you wear them. You can buy spare pairs of eyeglasses very cheaply (20 bucks a pair!) online.
Let's address your appendix while we are at it. Still have yours? What would happen if you had appendicitis? No doctor, no hospital. Going to have a a fellow survivalist read instructions from a medical textbook so they can figure it out?
Yeah, scary thought.
I have recently read where some folks are having their appendix removed as an elective procedure. Smart folks.
As soon as you can afford it, go to a doctor and request a full physical. Pay close attention to what the doctor tells you to do, be it losing weight, gaining weight, lowering your cholesterol, lowering your blood sugar, whatever. Write it down and work on it.
And ASK your doctor about your appendix, your tonsils, bad teeth and any other conditions or situations that may imperil your life in a no doctor available situation.
You can tell him you are thinking of joining the Peace Corps and will probably far from a competent medical facility for two years and you just want to make sure there is nothing that may cause you distress in said situation.
Get everything done that you can as soon as you reasonably can.
Put off getting that new Mossberg SPX and pay for the dental work.
Forget the Unimog for right now and get your appendix out during your vacation.
Skimp on your next wheat order and get a few spare pairs of glasses.
A full larder and scads of ammo will do you little good if you die of a simple problem that could have been treated NOW.
Remember the mummy, entombed with her riches...
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