On 2/17/2014 4:49 PM, songbird wrote:
> Dave Balderstone wrote:
>> songbird wrote:
>>
>>> yes, some of those, plenty of fermented foods too,
>>> just trying to see what people can think up that is
>>> out of the box and not reliant upon manufactured
>>> items from far away.
>>>
>>> also, having plenty of beans and grains on hand
>>> for sprouting is a good alternative to not having
>>> any fresh greens during the winter months. still
>>> i would like to have a full variety of things to work
>>> with and choose from. nutrition from a mix of
>>> sources.
>>
>> Back "in the day" (40-50 years ago) we used paraffin for jams, jellies
>> and such. Anything else went in the pressure cooker with rubber
>> sealers.
>
> yeah, it's not a very reliable method, but for
> jams/jellies it was often good enough.
>
>
>> Not sure what Great Granny used...
>>
>> Pickles and sauerkraut were left fermenting in crocks in the cold
>> cellar... Kimchee (in some recipes) is fermented in crocks that are
>> buried in the ground.
>
> *nods*
>
> hams, chunks of meat, often just left in the smoke
> house or cellar after they were cured and smoked.
>
> in my recent reading another method was to put the
> cured/smoked meats in layers of sifted ashes. somewhat
> similar to lye coatings.
>
> and then there are cheeses and yogurts.
>
> spring houses, lakes or ponds can be cool enough
> for some refrigeration.
>
>
>> Humans have been curing meat for centuries. Nitrates/nitrites have
>> been/are used (and can be harvested as crystals from manure piles, or
>> potash if you happen to live in an area like ours where it very
>> common), but as well as drying meat (aka jerky) there's salting (salt
>> beef, salt cod) pickling (herring for instance, and corned beef) and of
>> course smoking and combinations thereof (curing and smoking ham and
>> bacon comes to mind, as well as sausages).
>
> yep.
>
>
>> Root cellars (caves, if there are any accessible) are critical. Grampa
>> had a huge underground one, walled and roofed with timbers then covered
>> with soil.
>>
>> Drying fruits and veggies, of course.
>>
>> If you have access to grain, you can grind for flour, but best to
>> acquire mill stones before the zombie apocalypse.
>
> haha, this is funny, but i have a side thread for
> pondering that a bit further. it doesn't fit here
> at all. i'll mark it [OT] for those who wish to
> filter...
>
>
>> You may also want to investigate snares and deadfall traps for game.
>
> doing, done, but i am just like that even if i
> have absolutely no plans of ever having to do it.
> i figure if i cannot kill it, clean it then i'm
> not going to be doing any trapping either. i
> barely got by fishing, and most of the time i
> just did catch and release.
>
>
>> Stocking up on things like fish hooks, line and snare wire would seem
>> to me a good idea.
>
> one ahead of me!
>
>
>> Learning to weave vessels for storage could be a useful skill as well,
>> as is tanning hides. If you're in an area where you have a freeze in
>> the winter, an icehouse is a great thing to have for the warmer months.
>> You'll want an ice auger and saw.
>
> basic hand tools of all sorts will always come
> in useful. i've also got references on hand for
> about anything here, chemistry, physics, maths,
> biology, blacksmithing/metalworking/machining,
> wood working, canning. if i see anything that
> looks like it might be useful in the library
> book sales i'll add it to my own collection here.
>
> i used to work there, i'd quit in disgust over
> many things, i was not surprised by this sort of
> direction either. but it sucks when a place you
> used to love goes bad and i'd burned too many
> bridges with the library board that my comments
> would get blank stares. eek, just writing this
> small bit has my stomach in knots and i've been
> gone for years now. heh... ok, different topic,
> see you in the zombie apocolypse OT thread.
>
>
>> Also don't forget basic medical skills like setting breaks, dealing
>> with infection, and serious lacerations or puncture wounds.
>
> got those basics down too.
>
>
>> Interesting thread.
>
> it was getting a bit quiet, right now it's snowing
> again (talking about refrigeration it was close to
> 0F again last night, 33F is average) and i'm trying
> to be patient waiting for spring to come around so
> i can get back outside into the gardens and projects.
>
>
> songbird
>
My folks were born in 1905(Mother) and 1911 (Father), grandparents were
born from 1862 to 1880 and 1890. They used all the methods we have
talked about. My father's family were share croppers in Central
Louisiana, mother's family were Cherokee and were migrant farm workers,
stoop labor. Mostly in the area where Oklahoma, Missouri, Kansas, and
Arkansas meet. Dad's family would make pork sausage patties, pour a
layer of lard in a five or ten gallon crock, put down a layer of
sausage, another layer of lard, and continue on until the crock was
full. The crock was then stored in the spring house. Hams, bacon, link
sausages, etc. were moved to the "cool" area of the large smokehouse
once fully smoked and were kept in the light smoke until eaten. There
are many ways you can preserve food in the old styles but you have to
keep an eye on that food as it can spoil rapidly if the surroundings change.

I remember my aunts and mom going through last years canning jars and
tossing out those that went bad and then boiling the jars and rings to
"clean" them. With modern canning technology we are much better off with
both we and our food surviving longer. In addition, having a smoke house
going all the time in survival condition just means the bad guys can
follow their noses to your place. If the economy tanks, always a
possibility nowadays I will stand my ground and do my best to look after
family and friends but I don't think I will ever go into the
"survivalist" mode. Have friends who are and I think they're off about
half a bubble. They spend more time figuring out how to kill someone
than they do figuring out how to grow and save food.

George