A Taste of History

     I was sure I had mentioned this PBS program sooner, but, I have been told....nope...only in passing.  So, tonight for the prepper who has food and a fire and still misses the microwave, or you have no real food preparing food over an open fire, you have got to watch episodes of A Taste of History with Chef Walter Staib.

http://atasteofhistory.org

     This man knows his way around a fire!  Whether an open fire out of doors or a fire on the hearth, this man has cooked over flame for so long, I have seen him handle pans from the fire with his bare hands.  I do not recommend it, but that is another reason to watch.  Chef Staib, his restaurant (City Tavern Restaurant in Philadelphia PA, an 18th century historic culinary restaurant and all of his awards and accolades can be found at http://www.staib.com.
Staib is a published cookbook author and offers several period cookbooks through this site as well.

http://atasteofhistory.org

     Chef Staib has offered four seasons of programming for your education through the Public Broadcast System.  The episodes are filmed on location in the kitchens, cookhouses, gardens and smokehouses of historic colonial American homes.  This program is more than a walk through the park or a sermon on the how-to....It is a reenactment.  
     If you plan to eat after TSHTF, you should know how to cook without a microwave, a grocery store on every corner and a refrigerator in every kitchen.  

     Our Forefathers did more than fight off the bonds of economic slavery and draft a constitution.  They ate well.  They ate what they grew or bred or hunted and they ate it.  It was not a beans and rice diet!  They ate very well.  They planted and planned.  They preserved and stored food for good times to come and against hard time should they come, and all while building a nation.  This program, A Taste Of History honours that sentiment.
     

     You will also learn a good deal about the fire and the science of fire as you watch it being built, and maintained and used a tool to cook.  The other tools and cookware used in the time are showcased and explained for it's use or worth.  Chef states his opinions as if what he is saying makes sense (after more than 40 years in the kitchen, it does!) and you know it does.  He speaks with the confidence of an expert but with the ease of a friend and confident.  There is no air of superiority spoken here.  Everything is explained.  Either the Chef repeats himself in casual conversation or the producers overlay a reminding definition at the bottom of the screen.    He sharpens his knives as he speaks, cuts the camera in close for detail work, then he visits the location and the park Rangers or reenactors who live the Colonial life everyday.  

     Whether you live a simple life or want to, or you follow a historic/ renaissance/rendezvous/powwow/campout/viking way of life full or part-time, there are things you can learn from PBS' A Taste of History with Chef Walter Staib.  

Wise Food Supply

     I watch the Wendy Williams Show on my afternoon off.  Don't judge.  How u doin?  Today, I caught part of the episode with Marie Osmond.  Unknown to Wendy, Marie was one of the founders of the Children's Miracle Network charity.  Not news to me.  I was homebound in my youth, we watched Donny and Marie's variety show, I knew she was being raised to be charitable and I like the way she endorsed and founded yet didn't overshadow the charity or it's recipients with a lot of 'look at me, being nice" photo ops.  You know this charity, it's the one where you mostly give a dollar and they put your name on a hot air balloon and try to cover their store inside with balloons.  

http://www.wisefoodsupply.com

     When Wendy brought up her charity, she told how her father cautioned her to be careful when lending her name to products or charities, then she spilled out the following:  We were raised on food storage.  (of course, she's Mormon) and I endorse this company that has been in business for four years.  It is a food supply company that charges about $1 per meal for 'just add water' meals.  Each of her children have one or two of these packets in their backpack, for emergencies.  Because, you never know.   She plugged the Wise Food Supply company!

Essential Survival Kit

2 week Essential Survival

 product and food kit for 

1 person or 1 week

for 2 people. This item can 

take up to 4 weeks for delivery. 

Regular Price:$179.00

Special Price:$169.99

     Welllllll, who knew Marie was a prepper?  We knew she was a Mormon, but it appears she is a practicing Mormon.  As preppers go, that's a good thing.  They do not, however, plan to protect themselves beyond their front door and they also bear the burden of the 'modern' Mormon who goes to church but doesn't take it home with them.  The dreaded family members who know they should have two years' supply of food, but have none and will knock on the door in a SHTF situation looking to be taken in without judgement.  Lucky them, I would judge, loudly. 

Details

2 week essential survival kit and food kit for 1 person or 1 week for 2 people.

Each kit includes the following:

• Packages of Pocket Tissue (6)4-in-1 Dynamo Flashlight (6)
• Deck of Playing Cards (1)Water Proof Matches (50)Waste Bags (2)
• Note Pad (1)Golf Pencil (1)
• Mylar Sleeping Bags (2)Leather Palm Work Gloves (1)
• 36 Piece Bandage Kit (1)Water Filtration Bottle (1)
• Portable Stove (1)Stove Fuel Tablets (16)Metal Fork (1)Knife and Spoon (1)Sierra Cup (1)
• Wise Emergency Food Supply (44 Servings) including:
• Savory Stroganoff
• Chili Macaroni
• Creamy a la King and Rice
• Pasta Alfredo
• Creamy Pasta and Veg Rotini
• Teriyaki and Rice
• Creamy Tomato Basil Soup
• Hearty Tortilla Soup
• Apple Cinnamon Cereal
• Brown Sugar and Maple Cereal
• Crunchy Granola

So, this is the two week kit for one that includes first aid kit, and portable stove and, more.  This is a good starter kit or a place to start looking.  If you are thinking beginning prep, this list of supplies is not a bad one.  Add WATER!  and water filtration and you could be in a good place to start.  The food packs are sold separately and in buckets.  

Now, if you have read this blog, you know I like buckets.  They pack their bulk foods in rectangular stackable bins with handles on them.. I love this.

They pack their foods in mylar bags to save space and weight in storage.  They have eliminated the #10 cans.    

Regular Price:$34.95

Special Price:$29.95

If you look into nothing else at this site, look at this closely.  Click on the learn more button. to see the details of the stove and what it can cook for you.

The holidays are coming and this might meet your price and gift needs, I like it.

Stove Fuel Disk 6 Pack

Additional solid fuel discs for the our Stove in a can.

Qty: 

Availability: In stock

Regular Price:$29.99

Special Price:$22.99

Frontier House

      Early days in this blog, I suggested watching some of the Public Broadcasting Systems' social experiments like, Frontier House.  I first saw this done by the BBC in an experiment called Manor House.  

http://www.amazon.com

     I enjoyed the series as people from everyday London and such volunteered to live as people lived in Manor England.  Knowing that they volunteered and knowing they were to live as they had in Edwardian England, it surprised me a little that they complained when life was not fun and easy.  The cook tried to organize labor!  She complained bitterly about the separation of servant and manor residents.  After she left and things settled down, even the 'manor born' learned lessons that surprised them about their recent ancestors.  I was hooked on these series.

     I highly recommend watching them or owning them to watch again and again when the kids complain about how hard life is or the grandparents lie about how much easier life was in decades past.  Life is hard, Easy memories are usually the memories of a child.  Life is harder in the so called kinder simpler days gone by.  

     It's all fun and games when we are watching Downton Abbey because no is complaining about human rights and labor equality and the heat in the kitchen and the hours in the day.   They all stand on their marks, wait for the cue and read their lines.  There's more to living than the show!

     Lessons you can learn from watching these programs goes beyond how to cook over an open fire and gives a glimpse of human behavior.  All the bullying and backstabbing, political struggle and class strife is present.  Every person who signed up for these shows knew life was going to be different.  Few of them are prepared for how different.  The prepper could benefit from watching how others cope and imagining if it were you.

     Other experiments in this series were,1900 House (England, shampoo not yet invented) 1940s House (England the War years with the man of the house away and ration books).   Colonial House ( Northeast settlement of the United States),Texas Ranch House (cattle ranch, large family, ranch hands operating a business in cattle),  and Pioneer House (the settlers of the Mid-West.). 

http://www.amazon.com

     I was flipping channels and noticed even though you can own these titles from Amazon, now, The Do It Yourself Network bought Pioneer House and aired it today in it's entirety.  If they have done this before, it shows I don't watch often.  You can blame that on the fact that the DIY channel is not producing anything that teaches me how to do it myself.  I don't need a half dozen shows promoting people that buy and flip houses or people who stage a house for sale or people who want to buy a vacation home.  I want to see people trying to fix a dishwasher or a sewing machine or learning to build something they have never tried before.  Maybe I even want to see people making handcrafts as the network once showed.  But, today I saw they bought a series I could own for under $30, if I wanted to buy it new.  I already own 1900 House for a dollar at a yard sale and Manor House for three dollars from a thrift store.   If you want to go totally inexpensive, the tapes are usually available at your public library! 

     
     Post TSHTF people who survive will still be people.  There will be the lazy, the crazy and the opportunist, the politicians, the bosses and the bullies.  These people may have signed a waiver for legalities, but they are not put in serious danger.  There are cameras nearby, production staff on hand and an exit clause.   I would say one of the most important lessons I took from these series was "no matter where you go, there you are!" Some of the volunteers said they were changed by their participation.  Nice!  I saw some of them trying to change their experience to suit their personalities.  I saw them go to a lot of trouble to go back in time only to find they had taken their bad moods, bad habits and work ethics with them.  

     I don't want to spoil any of it for you with details, but as a social experiment goes.....they are a good watch!

Critical Items to Prep

www.esecondincome.com 

     A couple nights ago, I posted a note on finding a second income.  It is still a good idea.  However, since then, several well meaning associates have posted some links on my Facebook page for survival tips.  

     I know they meant well, but, when I clicked on the links hoping to read about 37 critical items that disappear in a crisis, I watched about half of a tow minute Art Tablet animated video while a nice deep voice talked a lot of garbage about government, weather and human behavior.  I clicked off the page and was offered the written form of the sales pitch.  Curious, I clicked and scrolled down to find if you wanted the list of 37 items you need pay $99.  What a load of hooey!

www.amazon.com -

     First of all, if there are 37 things that are critical and I am missing any, I should have items to barter with to obtain them.  I will keep my $99!  I confess, this was a clever way to use panic, fear or ignorance to make a buck.  I do not approve, but I can see some people listening to the entire two minute diatribe and buying in to the idea that this faceless person knows better than you do, what you need in a crunch.  

     The beginner prepper may be drawn in thinking this person is some expert willing to share the secrets of building supplies by buying the most critical supplies first.  It's a pity.  Anyone selling fear is selling an empty, possibly harmful bill of goods.  Anyone buying out of fear is buying the same.  

     If you want to know what the 37 essential prep items are, keep your grocery shopping receipts for a month and make a list of the things you buy repeatedly.  Add water, water filtration and cleaning supplies to medical needs and there is your list!  You do know what you need better than anyone else.

    If you feel the need and have the legal right to store weapons, then that is on your list.  If you have special dietary requirements, then the items on that list are your on your list.  You do not need to spend $99 to get your list in order.

ruangchotvits - Disaster Recovery Plan

ruangchotvits.wikispaces.com 

    In the very first posts I made on this blog I stated and will restate, the first steps you take in prepping is getting to know what you have, and what you need.  Listing is a good way to get to know yourself and to get your thoughts and supplies in order. Pay $.99 for a notebook.  Write down all you have, all you purchase repeatedly, and what you need when the stores have nothing.  

     Cross off everything that requires refrigeration or freezing in the summer.  Replace those items on your list with substitutions in the dehydrated or canned form.  Your list of prep supplies is forming up nicely.  

     Reexamine your family history.  Will you develop a blood sugar problem?  Will you stress eat?  Will you have stress headaches?  Will you need magnifier reading glasses?  These are things that are critical to your future well being and their consideration should appear on your list.  

     Get online, look at other's lists.  Go to survivalblog.com and find 'list of lists'.

Nice To Know

neilorme.com 

      

     

Under the Dome, a review

     The season finale of the CBS network program Under The Dome was....a theatrical let down, in my opinion.  I didn't feel I was hanging on a cliff.  I figure, if the program doesn't come back on, I have gotten all I needed from it.

   The program started out like gangbusters with a fight, hand to hand,  a gun shot, a dead guy, a hidden body, a lot of nice people up to suspicious and sneaky behavior, and then the dome came down and cut a cow in half.  Cool!  

   The program followed a Stephen King kind of story line for the most part, as it is based on a Stephen King story.  But, I watched it to see how Hollywood would handle the disaster aspect of the story.  Cut off from all outside interaction, no cell phones, radio, or internet, how would Hollywood portray the people of the MidWest?   

   Hollywood ignored preppers.  The story mentions little change in the mindset of the prepared American since 9/11, Katrina or the Boston Marathon bombing.  It's like 1970 something in their minds.  

   I wanted to see the issues of dwindling food, water and medical supplies and how the people would behave.  They used the issues to excuse the killing,  to further the dialogue with the main characters, and the faux rioting.  I say faux rioting as it was neatly done.  The food hoarders, the food stealers, the killers, hardly broke a sweat.  The town cleaned up nice before the next episode.  

   Still there were some very uncomfortable weeks getting to know the main characters and I cannot swallow the girl chained to the basement for a week while her psychofrenic boyfriend becomes a deputy sheriff.  I can understand keeping the secret for a short time, but, personally he would be dead three episodes ago, in my book.  I"m just saying!

   I suppose for network entertainment it was as hardcore as it could be, but I take issue with the issues.  If the issue of water rights comes up, how can you get away with shooting the farmer because he says something you don't like, then his neighbors just let you live?  There was a lot of knocking off the famous cast members, as I suppose they had somewhere better to be in a few weeks.  Still, new characters show up in the main circle, then they die, quickly.  The issues of food has yet to be explained.  Rarely, when a disaster occurs can the shelves be restocked or the home larders filled upon request.  Harvests happen seasonally, till then, you go hungry.  


   If Hollywood can address the issues of potential looters, why not food preppers?  There is no hot story in the people who are bugging in.  There is no entertainment value in people surviving well under extremely trying circumstances.  The people of Chester's Mills go to church after several weeks without their murdered pastor to pray at what they think is now the end.  And Americans won't pray together until then?  Okay, Hollywood, you think you know us.

   You think we will submit quietly to weapons surrender, house to house searches, suspension of all constitutional rights because one guy talks a good story.  Keep thinking that.  The story line of Under the Dome will play out according to Stephen King's' vision somewhere, I am sure.  But, not at my house.  The show may come back next year.  If you like the story, watch it.  There is nothing there for me.  I can read the book.  

  





UNDER THE DOME is produced by CBS Television Studios in association with Steven Spielberg’s Amblin Television. Neal Baer, Stephen King, Justin Falvey, Darryl Frank, Stacey Snider, Jack Bender and Brian K. Vaughan, who wrote the television adaptation, will serve as executive producers.

Into the Wild Season Finale (review)

     I watched Bear Grylls' Into the Wild Season Finale Monday night and waited until Wednesday to post this.  If you didn't watch it, but mean to, SPOILER alert!  

     Lucky and Louie walked out of the wild with half a million dollars as their prize.  They also walked out of the wild knowing Bear Grylls said he wanted someone like them if his children were ever stranded to be there for them.  That was a huge compliment.  I have trouble trusting people in my grandchildren's  lives to get them across the street, let alone keep them alive after a disaster!  Needless to say, I have trust issues.

      I have glanced at some of the boards and other blogs and a lot of people didn't think Bear chose well.  I disagree.  He said on the first show, he wasn't looking for the strongest, the most manipulative, the fastest or the thrill seekers.  He was looking for team players, people who would watch out for others, add to the conversation but not pull rank or attitude.  He was looking for the team who tried the most to master their fear and stay positive.  Disagree or not, it was his decision and his show.  I was watching to learn tips and techniques.  

     I don't think I will ever need to cross a gorge since we only have the one here in Florida, but I now see how it is done.  I learned a few things I did not know and those things sparked conversations that lead to other info I did not have.  In my opinion, a good program does not hand over a pat fixed ending.  It provokes thought and conversation and teaches you some things you did not already know.

It isn't always the strength but strength of spirit that wins the day.

The cryer at the back of the line, the one who holds up the team till they are 'settled', these are not the survivors of wilderness crossings.  I have never been that girly girl who screams when someone shows them a worm or cries when people are watching, so I can see why these people left the challenge when they did. 

The team player who sees the bottom of the cliff and repels into it anyway, against the noises in their head is the hero, not the one who says look at me look how brave I am, I got down first, I am ahead of all of you!  

The survivor is the one able to learn from mistakes and adapt as they face whatever comes their way.  

Sometimes the race is won by the one who doesn't finish first, but finishes well.  

Pepper Spray and Stunzilla

http://www.swat-police-equipment.com

  THIS POST is ALL MY PERSONAL OPINION! 

   I don't know where you live or the laws in your state.  I know it is currently legal to carry a stun gun in Florida.  I bought one called Stunzilla at a yard sale years ago for $2.  I had to come up with two nine volt batteries to make it spark!  It was a lifesaver.  

www.gandermountain.com 

     I drive with my windows down.  Mostly that is a habit from the olden days when air conditioning was not standard even in a new car!  I have a.c. in the car but, the window on my side is down.  Since I bought Stunzilla, I have been accosted more than a few times by beggars.  It has been four years and I have never been touched.  I have never had to stun someone, but I have put my hand on the trigger and made the zapping noise.  Apparently that zapping noise is the international noise that says, “Get your dirty hand out of my car, I just put my car in park, I am not reaching for your drug money in my purse!”  I have been at a traffic light when some guy waltzed up to me while I was talking to my grandson in the passenger seat.  I didn’t have to say a word, and he didn’t take but a second to turn and run.  

www.gijoesmilitarysurplus.com 

      I was looking at a flyer from Gander Mountain sporting goods store a couple years back, when I saw a stun gun in pink cammo pattern.  I thought, how cute!  But, that is not my style.  Then one day later the subject of safety came up while I was in a client’s home.  Her nanny had had a close call with a dark figure in a dark parking lot.  Fortunately, she slammed her car door shut, locked the door and called her boyfriend in the apartment, who called the police.  I suggested she get the pink stun gun.  She is all girlie girl and a pink case in her purse would look like it belonged there.  The stun gun in her hand looks like she is carrying a fashion print eyeglass case.  They now come in solid colors and small shapes but still pack a big punch.

http://www.trueswords.com

      I am not liking the defense pen, for myself.  I have a lot of pens in the deep dark recesses of my bag and I couldn't tell which one is an unbreakable defense weapon in an emergency.  This is a personal preference and the reason I do not mention the maker’s name.  It may be a very good solution to the person who keeps a pen clipped in an inner jacket pocket; it just doesn't work for me. 

lipstickmace.com 

      I am liking the lipstick pepper spray case.  I don't carry lipstick in my daily handbag so a lipstick case would look as if it belonged to eyes of someone who doesn't know me.  I like the idea that this is a defensive weapon that doesn't scream,"I have a defensive weapon in my handbag."  I do not like the pistol grip pepper spray devices.  They look like a gun.  They are not a gun.  If you are going to carry something that looks like a handgun  it should shoot bullets.   If you need a conceal carry permit for a handgun and you are carrying something that looks like a handgun, you are asking for trouble.  Criminals want your gun as much as they want your money.  Police feel threatened by the appearance of a gun shaped item and have every right to shoot you when you threaten them.     

      Whatever you decide is right for you is right for you.  Always check state and local laws.  There is an age restriction on carrying pepper spray locally, so be sure you inquire not just to legality to carry but age as well.  It is not a good idea to take the item in hand and walk up to local law enforcement.  It is too late to find out a defense weapon is legal when you are being handcuffed!  That is my favorite episode on the TV show COPS.  Someone buys crack and offers it as evidence to a policeman to prove there is a crack dealer nearby.  What idiots! Yeah, please do your research first! 

www.episodedata.com 

      I know we have all seen these movies where the victim turns on their assailant and turns a can of hairspray into a flamethrower.  I am sure it can be done.  I loved McGyver and my sons all went through a phase with alcohol cannons.  Yet, in a pinch and under pressure, I want a tool that works when you pull the trigger.  

     I like pepper spray on a calm day but I personally prefer the stun gun.  It works in close quarters.  If you are twenty feet away from me, I don't want to anger you by spraying you.  I want to walk away and if you touch me, I want you to hurt, writhe in pain and wallow on the ground while I leave you quickly.  No touching the prepper!

     On a personal note, what I really want is my own zat'nik'tal  !

www.rdanderson.com