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

[perchie.girl]

We do keep a large pantry and I do rotate when new is purchased. My downfall is all the different foods that I seem to forget about and not use as often. I don’t know how to stop this from happening. Same thing in my cupboard. I will always have an old cake mix, etc. that has made its way to the back and I let it go past the date. And anything flour based I don’t play with when old. I can’t remember exactly, but mold spores or something like that wreaked havoc causing death. It’s been a while back.

Not to mention weevles.... You can take the new cake mix out without opening the bag and place it in an air tight container.... I use plastic cereal container for corn meal but the concept would be the same.... cut out the cardboard instructions and include it in the container....

deb

 

[perchie.girl]

Mannn Its 5:30 been up since four to take some pain meds.... I have to get back to sleep or I will be useless today...

I will dig up those sketches....

Gnite

deb

 

[ocap]

We do keep a large pantry and I do rotate when new is purchased. My downfall is all the different foods that I seem to forget about and not use as often. I don’t know how to stop this from happening. Same thing in my cupboard. I will always have an old cake mix, etc. that has made its way to the back and I let it go past the date. And anything flour based I don’t play with when old. I can’t remember exactly, but mold spores or something like that wreaked havoc causing death. It’s been a while back.

the old flour we have cooked with won't rise even if the yeast is good. shelf life of each product is different. Dried beans (if my memory is working) is the best and chickens will eat my leftovers

 

[Mimi13]

Its early am here but I will dig up my sketches if you want to see them.
deb

I would love to.

 

[Mimi13]

Not to mention weevles.... You can take the new cake mix out without opening the bag and place it in an air tight container.... I use plastic cereal container for corn meal but the concept would be the same.... cut out the cardboard instructions and include it in the container....

deb

I do keep my basic ingredients (flours, sugars, rice, baking powder/soda, cocoa, oatmeal, etc.) in Tupperware containers. Cereals are usually eaten fairly quickly around here, but for storage I do have some plastic cereal keepers.

Luckily I haven’t had problems with weevils. I do keep dried peppers in the cupboard. I guess only because my grandmother did. I have had the occasional bout with pantry moths or whatever the aggravating little cusses are called.

 

[igorsMistress]

Its early am here but I will dig up my sketches if you want to see them.
deb

Yes please!

 

[Wee Farmer Sarah]

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.

 

[Mosey2003]

Just read through this entire thread, very interesting.

Regarding using sawdust as filler, if I had access I would much prefer using shredded beet pulp as filler over sawdust. Used to feed it to horses a lot (soaked first).

What I would really like is a whole house generator, honestly. And enough fuel to run it until the power returns. I do a lot of freezing, need to keep the freezers going. I really ought to get Mom to teach me to pressure can and do more of that, maybe this year.

We have a small garden this year, I'll freeze excess. And I breed my chickens, so I always have chicken available. That's about it so far.

The weather here in Illinois is seriously hurting farmers this year, it's awful. Prepare for not only feed, but meat prices to rise since it's going to cost more to feed livestock. We don't only grow corn, we grow soybeans, oats, wheat, rye, etc here too.

 

[Maugwa]

I just had one of the tastiest cantaloupes I can remember ever eating last evening. I have some coming in the garden too, but they won't be ready for a month or so - this one came from the store. My chickens sure were happy when they got cantaloupe guts this morning.

My dad used to joke, that if he could ever get a Nickle for every zucchini he could grow, we'd be millionaires. I love those little yellow crookneck squash too, but they have to be just the right size to be perfect, like zucchini. One hill of each of these two squashes is a lot of squash, but you have to keep them picked off to keep the plants producing. When seeds begin developing in the larger fruits, less new fruit developes - same for cucumbers. All the squash seed packets come with plenty of seeds for several hills. What I started doing was digging a ditch near my garden and planting all the seeds anyway along each side of the ditch. I'll have squash coming out of my ears in a few more days. Zucchinis are even hard to give away in season, but chickens love them. They like them better cut a few times. Having so many makes it easier for me to find an abundance of those of the perfect size for the kitchen, and have two or three five gallon buckets left over daily for the rest of the season (along with other garden culls, pulled weeds, etc.). I just chop the chicken squash up a bit with my shovel, halved or quartered approximately is plenty. 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?

 

[perchie.girl]

I do keep my basic ingredients (flours, sugars, rice, baking powder/soda, cocoa, oatmeal, etc.) in Tupperware containers. Cereals are usually eaten fairly quickly around here, but for storage I do have some plastic cereal keepers.

Luckily I haven’t had problems with weevils. I do keep dried peppers in the cupboard. I guess only because my grandmother did. I have had the occasional bout with pantry moths or whatever the aggravating little cusses are called.

Pantry moths start out as little worms.... Weevels are teeny beetles that laye eggs that turn into weevel worms as well.

Little Bas22tards...

deb