what are y'all saving from the wild to deal with coming crisis?

[perchie.girl]

I like that we've returned to the intent of this thread. That said, we all have an amazing array of skills and knowledge. Being prepared for an unknown "crisis" is tough when you don't know what exactly is coming. I would guess the majority of us on this website all have basic skills with raising and preserving food and livestock to sustain ourselves and families and friends for a while. My thoughts on this realistically: for those of us on regular medications for our health issues will have a bigger challenge of how long can we survive when we runout of insulin or high blood pressure medicine. For myself I would have maybe 6 months to a year if I'm real lucky. So I will my plan my own survival stash within those projections. A final thought on what I would take from nature? Tap Maple trees to make syrup and collect pine cones to harvest pine nuts.

Yep Id be gone pretty quick myself... pain meds blood pressure meds Type 2 diabetes meds.... Though some of that will be reduced as I loose weight.... and if the SHTF then I will loose more weight trying to be conservative...

Realistically those meds wether they are necessiscary or not are also the least of the worries... I am afraid.... Basic medical supplies and First aid are going to be on the top of the list for the generally healthy.

Thank goodness some have a wonderful shelf life....

Iodine
Alcahol
Polysporin or antibiotic salve (homemade works too...
Vaseline
Vics...

You get the picture...

Knowing how to clean and debride a wound works for All animals including people...
As well as knowing how to stitch closed a wound...

My original horse trainer made a yellow salve that only she could get the ingredients for. She used it on everything horse related and the occasional used it on herself. Main ingredient was either Vaseline or lard... The yellow powder she got from the Commissary and only because she knew someone there. Was Sulfa.... Its a controlled substance here but has incredible healing powers if you arent allergic to it. In the military they used it to treat deep wounds as well.... like gun shot wounds. At one point they considered it a miracle drug. The powder she got was sulfa milimide... Have no clue what the difference is.

But the Cool thing is.... After they locked down people being able to get it... she had to convert to something else... and that was antibiotic Foot powder... Worked almost the same took longer....

The basic idea is having the ingredients and mixing up small batches... Use a sterile spoon to scoop out what you will think you need and seal the container back up... then you can apply it as normal.

I have cared for horses for more than fifty years now... Lots of home remedies... Lots of special needs .... Great grandma was a midwife... Learned a few things from her stories.... Dads Father was a Share cropper Learned a bunch about animal husbandry through stories there... and Through my dad.

And learned even more at BYC.... I am a sponge but I do my research after I hear something new...

deb

 

[perchie.girl]

What I can gather from the land... my land is High desert California in a small nub of the Sonoran Desert.

Plants
Yerba Santa... Saints herb... Make a tea or chew a leaf ... Good for sore throats and chest colds... Even Asthma... can be smoked as well for similar effect.

Ribbon wood or Red Shank.... Bark peels off naturally in ribbons Outside of its weaving possibilities the bark can be steeped as tea and used for Aches and pains... Natural aspirin...

Mormon Tea... Has similar qualities as pseudophedrine... but does not contain Psudophed.... Good for allergies... and also has a similar effect as caffeine...

I also have a MOsquite tree specimine not native but definately suited for the area...

Its more than twenty feet tall and spreads equally... The Seed pods from mosquite can be used to make flour... Seed pod and all... Takes a special grinder one that can handle the of the pods... A couple of processes first to dry them out and i dont have my book. But when done you have a flour that can be used in any recipe... as well as the fact that it has a low Glycimic index good for people with diabetis.

Here is an article on Mesquite flour.
https://frugallysustainable.com/foraging-how-to-make-your-own-gluten-free-mesquite-pod-flour/

There are hundreds of sources for info on food gathering in each region of the US... It would be helpful to tap into those... but DO NOT take a single source... I typically head to the College resources for papers after finding something interesting and possibly useful.

deb

 

[perchie.girl]

ok Here are my sketches each sketch has notes I designed this to be wheel chair friendly... though that may have changed I will still need a stool or something to sit on while I work.

deb

 

[DellaMyDarling]

We are in slooowww progress building a pantry, with a similar design as your shelving pic above. I only have a 4x8 roughly room to work with so we won't have a canning or processing sink/table, but the idea is the same: to better store and prep my canning and pantry essentials. There's just enough end space for a small chest freezer.
The room has no windows and will be floored in stone, already stays cooler in there. Still deciding on our counter surface, something more handmade like concrete or decorative tiles.

The lumber is all here, been waiting... just keep finding more pressing projects first.

 

[trumpeting_angel]

My dad used to joke, that if he could ever get a Nickle for every zucchini he grew, we would be millionaires. Zucchinis are even hard to give away in season, but chickens love them. They like them better cut a few times. ... I don't know the nutrient value so they always have feed too, but they eat a lot less of it in the Summer. Now this thread has me wondering if squash could be chopped and dried in the sun, and used as feed in the winter?

I read that you can dehydrate cucumbers in the dehydrator, so surely you could do zukes. But I wonder how we will pull off
dehydrating in our humid summers when there’s no power. Will have to rig up something solar.

I always wondered how much nutritional value they could have, though. Rather than keep guessing, I looked it up. Values are for one medium zucchini.

 

[Maugwa]

View attachment 1827040


I read that you can dehydrate cucumbers in the dehydrator, so surely you could do zukes. But I wonder how we will pull off
dehydrating in our humid summers when there’s no power. Will have to rig up something solar.

I always wondered how much nutritional value they could have, though. Rather than keep guessing, I looked it up. Values are for one medium zucchini.

Fortunately, where I live is hot and dry, before a bitter Winter comes, we can dehydrate nearly anything by laying it out on newspaper or cardboard on concrete slabs (paper wouldn't be necessary for chicken feed, just a good sweeping first) dehydrators use energy, concrete slabs don't, and huge batches could be done easily. I've harvested many apple slices like this before, but not as chicken feed - there's another idea. I've not had it, but I hear even crabapples are good when prepared right, they would be easy to find. A friend brings me buckets of apples every fall for chickens and my horse(I quarter them and take the seeds out before I feed them) These are wormy, or fell early, or are some kind of cull, and the animals love them. He gives me plenty of others for human consumption as well - usually more than I want, so I feed some of those too. Two big trees make a lot of apples.

 

[Willowspirit]

View attachment 1827040


I read that you can dehydrate cucumbers in the dehydrator, so surely you could do zukes. But I wonder how we will pull off
dehydrating in our humid summers when there’s no power. Will have to rig up something solar.

I always wondered how much nutritional value they could have, though. Rather than keep guessing, I looked it up. Values are for one medium zucchini.

You can definitely dehydrate zucchini. My sister-in-law used to do it with other veggies then store them as a mixture with seasoning for an instant soup mix.

 

[room onthebroom]

My to do list:

get to know my neighbors (knowing can help with trust)

plan on a crisis that lasts longer than I want

Plan on the crisis lasting through at least one bad season(mine is winter)

plan on no help from any government entity, they will be overwhelmed and the government employee will be home taking care of those he/she loves

incubation of eggs for more hens is likely not going to happen because of either electrical power or winter season, so add a leghorn hen to my flock

locate a source of water, prefer source to be clean enough that I won't be requiring a filter

xxxxxxxxxxxx

what should I add to my list?

It might be a good idea to start adding food grade buckets with gamma-seal-lids to your house. They are great to keep bugs, rodents & water out of your food. They can still develop condensation inside that can mold food if they are in the sun, so keep them out of direct sunlight.

The gamma lids are a little pricey if you buy them all at once. I pick them up one at a time whenever I'm in home depot & is much easier on the budget that way.

 

[StaffordshireLady]

My land is in the High desert. Beautiful country and plentiful if you know what to look for...

I just read through the whole thread.... very interesting discussion on all points. I am not a "scientist" But I am a Futurist... good or bad.

Climate Change I agree.... global warming I am on the fence.

Biggest oxygen producer is Algae and the ocean has an abundance. The ocean is in danger from all fronts. All forests should be protected in some manner.... Look at the Myans... Huge civilizations But they cleared their forests.... And the land died because there were no trees to help create Rain.

Politics... Sorry I just glaze over and move on... a subject I have little experience with.

Everyone should carry or keep a larder stocking enough food as backup for any disaster... By disaster I mean, Loss of employment, fire, flood, Earthquake, EMP... know how to preserve and or gather foods from the wild. Protein comes from many sources and not necessarily from animals. Though our Jack rabbits are about the size of a medium dog.... Very lean and best stewed. Rattle snakes provide enough meat for two or three people.

My well is 450 feet deep and considered a low producer.... Our water table has dropped 100 feet in the past ten years. Drought is something tangible and insidious.
I do not water my plants.... I don't have a lawn or nice landscaping... My annual rain fall is about nine to twelve inches.

Yet there is enough forage on the land to feed chickens. Filaree can feed both humans and livestock. Insects are abundant. I do Feed year round Alfalfa, Bermuda, and various feeds for the chickens.

My land is covered in medicinals which should be protected and therefore I dont plant even native species.... I would love to plant in my own sphere my little three acres within my nineteen acres. Fruit trees... Cold hearty because in the winter it gets cold in the desert. lemon, mandarin oranges, Lime, as well as Apples and Pomegranate...

Yep they will require water but I have plans for Grey water use.... Along with Aquaponics .... Raise a few fish, circulate the water through hydroponics beds and trickle it on to add to the grey water.

Well pump.... There are pumps that can run off solar.... Even just a few hours a day off a whole house battery.... Pump the water up to a holding tank and feed it continuously at a trickle rate. I have a three thousand gallon reservoir.

I am a single woman sixty four years old. I have health issues and mobility issues I plan for ease of construction and maintenance. My vegetables and fish will all be grown within my Greenhouse room.

Really.... Survival is for the young... Yet many of us old timers have so much practical knowledge it will make us valuable. I know how to train a horse for work. and make my own harness ....

I can weld in a pinch if need be ....

deb

I am soooooo impressed by this lady. Puts me to shame.

 

[Maugwa]

Having a larder of food is always a good idea. I grew up like that, not so much because we were worried about the sky falling, but more so because winter weather could and often did snow us in for a few weeks here and there. It was seven miles to our nearest neighbor and seven more to the next, 45 miles of mostly dirt roads to the nearest store. We didn't have cell phones then, the only way we could of had a home phone back then was to buy 20 some miles of poles and wires and pay the phone company to install them - several thousands of dollars. We had a room in the basement that had shelves like a grocery store, all full of not only what we canned at home, but what we picked up to restock it too, when we were by a store. I think you could have baked a loaf a bread from scratch faster than you could run to the store for one lol. There were also three big chest freezers there too. We put a few elk, a few deer, trout, walleye, turkey, cottontails, harvested chickens, and a beef or two a year in them, but also kept enough space that if a cow broke a leg or something, there was room for that too. There was also a big diesel generator because we lost power often. It takes some room too to can all you can from a garden. This was all years before I ever heard the word "Prepper," I think we used to call it common sense back then.

Also there is more to prepping than storing food. Another big part of it is your own preservation and the ability to protect what you stored. You can be as good natured as you like, and it's always a good idea to have friends for neighbors, but people who haven't eaten for a few weeks will not act the same. Well on a ranch like my family was, had we of had the ability to dial 911, (I guess we could of tried a CB radio, but never needed to), I can't imagine emergency responders being there in less than an hour or hour and a half. We also had coyotes, wolves, bears, and mountain lions to contend with our livestock. And we liked eating deer, elk, and etc too. So as you can imagine, on nearly every ranch, there are many firearms and people who know how to use them, as well as the lay of the land. I'm not even out there in the sticks anymore, just eight miles from a town, but none the less, I just reloaded 1000 .45 long Colt rounds a few days ago - no sense in storing the brass empty.