Does Swedish-style socialism end poverty?

I admit it. I'm a geek. I will look up information just to look it up, for my own knowledge and benefit.

This morning, I was pondering socialism. Is it truly better? Conservatives point to the largest models of socialism as we know it...China, Russia, and Cuba. Liberals point to successful models, such as in Sweden.

Since I already knew about the socialist models of China, Russia, and Cuba, and the decrepid situation their poor live in, I decided to study up on the Swedish model.

I came across two things...first, I came across people who insisted that everyone in Sweden was middle class due its socialist model, and how wonderful it was because there were also wealthy people in Sweden.

Then I came across the actual statistics. Poverty STILL PERSISTS in Sweden. In fact, so much so that they keep decrying it and keep trying to do something about it. And the percentage of those in poverty hasn't changed since before they went socialist. While the poor might get better health care and education, there is also a lot less upward mobility than in the United States. In another set of statistics, the Swedish poor live about the same as the American poor in terms of "stuff". I think the most disparaging number was those who owned a clothes dryer...very few people of poverty status in Sweden own a dryer as compared to American poor (although a near equal number own a clothes washer...I guess more people in Sweden line dry).

Of course, it also helps to know someone who lives in Sweden. A friend of mine, born here in the United States, followed his lady love over there. Today, they have two children, and we keep in touch via SKYPE.

The truth is...he doesn't live any better over there than he did over here, except now he has a wife who works and is a good cook. They don't eat out very often because its too expensive, even during economic upswings. His kids had never been to Pizza Hut until the DH took them when all the guys went to visit. Their home is heated by wood because the other alternatives are just too expensive. And recently, some friends moved in with them. Times there are just too tough, as it is here.

Socialism does not make everyone equally poor except in the poorest of countries...so conservatives are wrong on that theory. And in the richest of countries, it doesn't make everyone middle class, so liberals are wrong on that theory, too.

Its a sweet sentiment that Swedish style socialists in the United States want everyone to be middle class. But the truth is, poverty still exists there as it does here. Their lives aren't any better than ours. And the American government has a worse track record of handling our money than the Swedish government.

Sorry, but that's the truth.

So...what model worked the best at reducing poverty? Oddly enough, it was the British-owned Hong Kong style of capitalism. There was the occasional poverty-stricken person, but taxes were low, incomes were high, and it was easy to either find a job or start up your own business. Of course, Hong Kong is now owned by China....and every since China re-took possession of it, the entire country has turned to a limited form of capitalism...and now more people in China can afford to purchase a car, a home, Western-style fashions....odd, isn't it? Capitalism works...if you let it.

Survival Cooking 102: Yeast Bread tips

Survival Cooking 102 will be an article series for those who have some experience in home cooking, but perhaps need a few pointers.

In tough times such as these, a wee bit of luxury is helpful in keeping one's sanity. One of the least expensive ways to trick yourself that you are getting luxury is with making your own bread at home.

At one point in time, I worked in a bakery...however, it is completely different than making bread at home. At the bakery, we got cases of pre-made dough, nice and frozen. We let it thaw, placed it on the trays, let it rise, then cooked it. Sad, isn't it? That the fresh-baked stuff you purchase at the grocery store isn't really fresh baked? And in some cases, it isn't even baked in the store anymore.

I don't remember my original reason for baking bread at home for the first time. But I can say, over the years I've learned a few things. The primary thing I've learned is that I can get artisan breads for 1/4 the cost.

If you can afford it, a bread machine (or a food processor that will make bread) is one of the best investments you can make. (I got mine for Christmas). Even just kneading the bread can be long and laborious. We don't use ours for baking, however, as I never liked the shape, nor did I like digging the mixing paddle out of the center of my bread. However, mine does a great job of mixing and kneading the dough for me, leaving my hands clean and free to keep the two-year-old out of things. After the first rising, I still take the dough out, punch it down by hand, and shape it by hand. Even if you have never kneaded by hand, you should learn how your bread is suppose to feel by touch....just in case your bread machine breaks down, the power goes out, or something else that could interfere with your home cooking process.

However, even with a bread machine, you don't want to just throw the ingredients in and walk away. Lately, the flour we've been getting has been far too dry, meaning I have needed to add water. Each bag of flour will be different in terms of moisture content, which can affect how much water your bread needs. You will want your dough to feel mildly sticky to the touch, but not to where it actually sticks to your hands.

Bread flour, or regular flour? You will probably notice the difference in price between bread flour and regular flour. Bread flour contains a protein, called gluten, that helps in building the structure of your yeast breads. You can dispense with purchasing the bread flour. Simply purchase all-purpose flour in bulk (saving as much money as you can), and then purchase a package of wheat gluten. A tablespoon or two in the mix is all you need to help create a better structure for lighter, fluffier bread.

Rising...bread needs a warm place to rise. One of my favorite tricks is my oven itself. I turn the oven onto "warm" while I am shaping the bread. Then, I turn the oven off, and place the shaped bread inside. If you keep the oven turned on, the outside of the bread will start to cook, even at such a low level. Just pre-heat the oven to warm, then turn it off...it will stay warm enough to allow your bread to rise, but not cook.

Keep an eye on the time, all the time. If you let it sit for too long while rising, it will rise too high, and then fall flat like the dot com or housing bubble. Also, keep an eye on the time for baking. My bread recipes tell me to cook for x amount of time, but as we've discovered....its far too long. Yes, the bread looks nice and brown on the outside, like manufactured breads, but that outside tends to be far too crusty. Sometimes you want that (as with French Bread), other times you don't. Manufactured bread has all kinds of chemicals in it to allow it to turn brown, but stay nice and soft.

Another trick for softening the crust of your bread is a trick we used at the bakery. The baker took the breads out of the oven, and sprayed them with cooking spray...yup, that same stuff you use to keep stuff from sticking to your pans. Sounds appetizing, doesn't it? If that doesn't float your boat, you can rub butter or olive oil on the darkened crust and achieve the same result.

Odd flours...want more nutrition, but don't like the taste? Substituting as little as 1/2 a cup per loaf will help retain the flavor of white bread, while giving you the nutrition of other breads. Two of my favorite flours to "add in" to our white bread family is duram (a wheat normally used for pasta) and oats.

Herbal breads. Let me tell you, I love herbal breads...a wonderful Italian seasoning bread (see the previous blog entry for my Italian seasoning mix), or a luxurious rosemary. Take your herbs and spice (whether dry or fresh) and pour boiling water over them. Let them steep like a tea until the water is just warm, and use the water for making your bread.

Survival Cooking 101: Making it taste better

We all know the problem with cheap food...it tastes like crap. And today, many high-end companies use the cheapest (and most dangerous) of flavor enhancers to cover up the generally foul taste of the cheap ingredients they use. Yes, I am speaking of the use of MSG by companies such as Campbells, Doritos, and others.

When we first start cooking from scratch, many of us note that our own food tastes bland, or odd. The solution is simple. Culinary herbs.

Several weeks ago, I had made a huge batch of ham and bean soup. Hubby had turned his nose up at it as tasting okay, but not his cup of tea. Two nights ago, I had opened up two canning jars I had previously made up of the same batch....remembering his face, I promptly added my favorite blend of Itallian spices. Hubby ate two bowls of it, and teenager ate four bowls, and both remarked how good it was.

The seasoning mix is easy...one or two tablespoons of garlic powder, a tablespoon of onion powder, a teaspoon of basil, a teaspoon of oregano, and half a teaspoon of black pepper. Trust me, if you have ever tried to make garlic bread with just plain garlic, you will note that there is "something wrong" with it. This mix tastes 100 times better.

Here's a hint...take this same Italian mix, and add 1/2 teaspoon of salt and 1/2 teaspoon of hot pepper flakes. Put in in a small dish (like the saucer your coffee cup sits on top), and add a nice flavored olive oil. This is the exact same bread dip from "The Olive Garden". You can use this Itallian mix (with or without the salt and hot pepper flakes) to make garlic bread, or to make a garlic butter sauce (half butter, half garlic) to toss with pasta, veggies, and bits of meat.

Herbs are easier to grow than one thinks. On our own property, herbs such as basil, cilantro, rosemary, and parsley have come back on their own. Onion bulbs can be planted in the ground and left on their own until you need the green tops. Garlic is another one of those that can planted in the ground, and simply forgotten until you need to dig it up. However, if your ground freezes in winter, you may wish to pull some of us before the cold sets in...its the one thing I can have sitting on my counter top that the fruit flies don't bother, and two months after I have dug them up, they haven't gone bad. Like the green onion tops, garlic greens can also be used in cooking (they taste a bit like garlic and chives).

In terms of cost per how long a bottle lasts, spices and culinary herbs are surprisingly inexpensive....which is why I can't figure out why companies don't simply just use herbs and spices rather than MSG. A small amount can go a long way. Still, there are some herbs that are just far superior when used fresh (such as cilantro).

Experiment with spices, and discover for yourself what herb and spice mixes you like. You may find your own cooking to be far superior to purchasing a can of crud at the store.

Urban Survival Gardening-part II

A couple of points with this...commenter John pointed out with the first video that SurvivalistBoards forgot to mention (and I vegged it off, too) to drill holes in the plastic tubs to allow excess water to seep out.

With this particular video, I'd like to point something out myself...you could replant green onions purchased from the store. Or, you could simply plant onion bulbs and cut the green tops... even in heavy clay soil, bad for the development of the bulb, the onion bulbs will green year after year, like a perenial. We have had the same bulbs for eight years, and onion greens every time the weather is cool.

Our only problem is that a sweet little chipmunk has discovered that onions are a great substitute when a late frost destroys any berries on the trees and bushes. He was nice enough to leave us some, but we're going to have to cover our onions with some chicken wire to keep him from stealing our bulbs in the future. I'm willing to share, but not that much.

Truth About the Oath Keepers

Chris Matthews is a putz. I'm sure he's paid to be a putz, but he's still a putz. He tried to make the "Oath Keepers" out to be a group of people out to commit a military coup against the government of the United States.

Our police officers, military, and even our politicians take a oath...to support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies foreign and domestic. Unfortunately, our politicians seem to have forgotten what the Constitution means.

Tyrants require the police and military to follow illegal, unethical, and immoral orders in order to oppress the people. The Oath Keepers is simply a group of police and military who have sworn, a second time, to NOT follow any order given to them by a politician that clearly goes against the Constitution of The United States. That's all. They aren't going to overthrow the government....they are going to ensure the continuity of our true government, our true law.

Its clear that with all of the propoganda, someone, somewhere, wants you, the average American, to believe that anyone who holds dear to the Constitution is an anarchist, anti-government, or a traitor. Let me remind you again....The Constitution of the United States IS the government. It is the high law of the land. Anyone who wants to overthrow it is the traitor, the anarchist, the anti-government person, and the tyrant. If you don't like the Constitution...well, you can always move to another country.

And I want to applaud the Oath Keepers for reminding our police and military what they swore to.

Eat Meat, and the Planet Will Die

I remember writing (in a previously owned blog) about this several years ago. However, I have seen this headline over and over the past several days, and I feel compelled to comment on it once again.

The idea is that there are just too many animals creating greenhouse gasses. Not only do cows breath out CO2 (do I have to remind you that trees breath IN CO2?), but they also fart. And poop. And lambs? Well, they burp. They also take up a ton of space, and need to be hauled thousands of miles in order to get to your table. And, according to the "experts", you need twice the amount of land to produce a pound of beef as you do a pound of vegetables.

Never mind that humans, without meat, will have to eat legumes. And those legumes will create an excess amount of methane in your system. And thus we'll have more human farts to replace the cow farts. Sweet, isn't it? Oh, don't worry. The eugenicists want you to die, too, in order to save the planet. I've got an idea...they can go first.

Okay, so lets take industrialized bovine agriculture out of the picture. Lets put our animals right back where they have traditionally been, for thousands of years, where God intended them to be. Out of the feed lot and into the field.

Cows use to be much smaller, for one. During our industrialized agriculture revolution, bigger was considered better. Children use to be in charge of caring for the beasts, now we're lucky if a grown man could do it. Today, these cattle are returning as "heirloom" breeds. Guess what? As goat owners have figured out, the smaller beasts produce more meat per pound of feed than the large ones.

But even then, lets look at agriculture in general. First, we'll look at the myth: "It takes twice as many acres to grow 1 pound of beef as it does to grow 1 pound of grain or vegetable". Hmm, maybe. But are you aware that 1/4 of beef contains all the nutrition of 1 lb of vegetable or grain? Its true! So, by simple calculation, it takes 1/2 acre to produce the nutrition of 1 acre of vegetable or grain.

But then, again, the information may be tainted by feed lots rather than free range. So, lets look at the additional benefits of free range.

In traditional farming, the farmer had several fields. He would rotate them....the grain would be in one field this year, the next field the next. His animals also factored in this equation. Allowing a cow to graze in a fallow field would improve that field. Yes, my stupid city children...cow dookie is a fertilizer. An ORGANIC fertilizer. So are their blood and bones. The organic GURUS over at Pathtofreedom.com are certified vegetarians, but they still raise rabbits for the dookie the rabbits provide.

A second benefit is that not all land is capable of supporting crops. Perhaps its too rocky. Perhaps the soil is heavy clay, which would require tons and tons of plant matter to be trucked in to improve the soil. Perhaps the land is too dry, requiring energy to pump precious water out of the ground to feed the crops. Perhaps its too cold, requiring hothouses to be built and power to go to those hot houses.

Enter, the animal. Traditional farming also held that if the land is incapable of supporting crops, it could support animals. Virginia mountain woodland held tons of half-wild hogs. The farmers would simply turn the animals out into the woods, where growing crops wasn't beneficial, and then go get them late fall. Sheep and goats are taken to the tops of mountains in summer...remember Brokeback mountain? Okay, forget Brokeback...remember Heidi? They were goat herders! Cattle and buffalo ate the long grass of the prarie, land too dry, rocky, and heavy clay to support many food crops, but just perfect for animal raising. Even the desert and semi-desert (scientificly, its called Arid and semi-arid) lands are capable of supporting herders...hardier goats, camels, and other animals....without the massive inputs of water pumped out from the ground. Saudi Arabia, having bullied its traditional herders into the cities, and using the vast waters under the ground for raising crops, has figured this one out.

How is it saving the earth when vast amounts of water needs to be pumped out of the ground with vast amounts of CO2-producing energy? But what happens when the cow gets thirsty? Well, it simply walks to the nearest pond or stream to drink. Fruit trees, wheat, and corn can't get up and walk. And cows aren't likely to kill the delta smelt the same way that the water pumps in Southern California will.

Now, lets look at the benefits on the scale of wildlife. What happens when bambi eats corn? Either human goes hungry, or bambi gets shot. What happens when bambi eats in a cow field? Anyone? That's right! Nothing. Bambi and the free-ranged cattle can eat the same food without competition! Free-range fields can support a large variety of wildlife in addition to the food crop animal. No nasty pesticides needed.

And what about those who live further north? You know, the ones who eat caribou and bear? It sounds horrible, doesn't it? Hunting? Well, hunting prevents those animals hunted from starving to death. It also allows those people to live in areas where food crops can't be grown, thus reducing the population strain in those areas where food crops can be grown.

So, what about us in the city? Us suburbanites? As I cited with Pathtofreedom, backyard gardens often include backyard animals. Goats, ducks, chickens, rabbits....even pigs can be raised in the back yard. These animals are efficient at turning what we would consider waste into compost, the natural fertilizer for your veggie garden...but what happens when that animal dies a natural death? Or if they get too overpopulated? The methane that comes off its rotting corpse....okay, I'm getting too grosse, here, but you get the picture.

Forget those idiots who tell you that eating meat is going to destroy the planet. These are the same people who want you to just roll over and die. Screw them. They probably put out more greenhouse gasses than you do.

Thank God for Liberal Wimpiness!

About a decade ago, during a time when I debated with so-called "fundamentalist Christians", I came up with a saying...."Thank God for Christian Fundamentalism". Essentially, I gotten a look inside the minds of some of these people. Unspeakable acts were always on the minds of some of these people. And when pressed, they would admitt..."If I found out there was no God tomarrow, I would probably..." And among those answers was rape, robbery, child molestation, murder, alcahol, drugs. It was only the unswerving belief that a stern paternal figure was watching their every move that kept them in check.

And now, 10 months after the inauguration of President Obama, I say, "Thank God for liberal wimpiness!" No, I don't debate with liberals...but I see what they say. And it seems they actually want racist conservatives to come out of the woodwork and plot against Mr. Obama, to whatever nefarious ends. Why do I say this? Because THEY keep saying it. It almost seems as if this is in the forefront of their minds. They want the President to be harmed. And if it weren't for the fact of their own non-violent beliefs (at least, non-violent against those who follow their doctrine), I would be afraid that someone might actually try it so they could blame the conservatives. If they prayed, they are probably fertively hoping that he becomes a martyr.

As a libertarian who thinks both sides of that left-right paradigm are cracked, I can step back and actually see this. But I am not the only one who sees it...so do conservatives. Yes, they can clearly see a "liberal" making a martyr out of Obama. Yes, it is in the leftist brain, stewing and spinning. And the only thing holding them back is their own wimpiness about blood and violence.

Thank God for liberal wimpiness!



Why is it that people only wake up when the opposition is in power, only to fall asleep when their football team wins the touchdown? Well, it seems now that Bush is out of power, they now see the police state that Bush helped to create...and its smacking them straight in the face. I tried to warn them...even long before I started listening to patriot radio, long before 9/11...but they didn't listen.

And now I read their comments. I can assure you, all my liberal friends out there, conservatives do NOT want Obama to be harmed. Nor are (most) of them racist. And they certainly aren't terrorists. The smack in the face has woken them up. They are simply trying to prevent the coming tyranny they see, just as the liberals were trying to prevent the growing tyranny under Bush. Do you guys see a pattern here? You called another contractor to tear down the wall, but instead he's building it higher. And in 2012, when a republican is voted into office, the conservatives will cheer...and the liberals will find their own laws and rhetoric being used against them.

Yes, those in office are working together to build that wall around you. And all of this rhetoric, where the opposite voice is held in contempt, called a terrorist, harassed by police, harassed by bloggers (who are the same people who harassed liberals under Bush, btw)...they are setting up a state where you NEVER disagree with WHOMEVER is in power. Okay, so why would the same people who were gung-ho be so gung-ho under Obama? Because they are one and the same, that's why. They are helping to create a state where the American sheeple never disagree with whomever is in power. The current left-right bologne is just a distraction.

I hold out hope that those who have woken up stay awake...and those who have fallen asleep are woken by their own snoring. But, in three years, when a republican is voted into office, the conservative Americans will fall asleep, and the liberal Americans will awaken with a smack to their face.

Well, at least I can hope.

50 year old cartoon predicts future

Thanks to Jack Blood (Deadline Live Radio Show) for this.

The Media is LYING TO YOU!

Okay, so you probably can't read what the highlighted portion at the left says. Here's the link to the larger picture:

http://www.standeyo.com/NEWS/09_Pics_of_Day/091021.pic.of.day.html

The media has been telling you that there is no thimerosal in the vaccines. This is a picture of the insert that is included in the multi-dose H1N1 vaccine's box, which admits it contains Thimerosal. It is more than likely that you, the sheeple, will be given your vaccine from the multi-dose vial. On top of that, states have been raising the allowable dosage of mercury within these shots.

Don't believe me? Don't believe the Deyo's? Don't believe Alex Jones, Joyce Riley, or any of the other miriad of alternative media outlets trying to warn you? Then go down to where they are passing out the flu and H1N1 flu shots and ask to see the insert (if they hand you a propoganda sheet, hand it back and ask to see the INSERT).

Urban Survival Gardening Part I

From the gurus over at Survivalist Boards: Apartment dweller's survival gardening.

Survival Cooking 101: Eggs and egg substitute

Pictured: Candled egg. You can see the yolk and the white, but you can also see the "bloodspot" and bacterial ring.

Eggs are considered by some to be nature's perfect protein.

Unless, of course, you are allergic to chicken eggs. 20% of the world's population is allergic to chicken eggs. A much higher percentage are actually born allergic to chicken eggs, but grow out of it by the age of 4. Our ancestors knew this...they always prefered to raise ducks for eggs. The reason why all grocery store eggs are from chickens is because chickens are easier to raise in tiny, confined spaces than ducks or geese. (Most people allergic to chicken eggs can tolerate the eggs of other animals.) Egg allergies can manifest as gas, stomach pains, back pain (from the swollen intestines pressing on the spine), heart burn, or even bronchitis and asthma. I have noticed, however, that FACTORY-RAISED eggs that cause more of a problem than those which come from free-range chickens. We don't know why...they just do.

Side Note: Most parents of autistic children notice their child's condition arises soon after the administration of the MMR (measels, mumps, ruebella) vaccine. The MMR is generally the first of the childhood vaccines administered that was cultured in albumin, a substance derived from chicken eggs. This allergic reaction may be one of the contributing factors to autism. The flu vaccine is also grown in albumin, and may be a contributing factor to that "worse flu I've had in my life" many people feel after recieving a flu shot. Imagine injecting an indidual allergic to peanuts with peanut oil, on top of mercury, live viruses, and everything else contained within. If you suspect an egg allergy (or even a feather allergy), and still believe in vaccination, then you should avoid any vaccine with eggs/albumin. (However, the alternatives...abortive fetal tissue and swine blood...aren't much of an improvement.)

Thanks for putting up with my side note.

All bird eggs can be used the same as chicken eggs...however, as I've been told with duck eggs, I would cook them at a more gentle temperature than chicken eggs. I took a quick look to see if lizard and snake eggs are edible, and found nothing...so I won't say whether they can be used or not.

raised eggs: Chickens and most domestic duck species will lay eggs without the benefit of a rooster or drake (I don't remember my grandfather ever having a rooster for his hens). This is an advantage, as you will know that the egg will not be fertile. Healthy birds can lay eggs for quite a few years, but will slow down during the winter months. If you plan on raising birds for both meat and eggs, I would keep the meat birds and their male seperate from the laying birds, or otherwise mark (such as with a permanent marker) any eggs that you are keeping for incubation. Eggs you plan on keeping for eating can be "addled"...pick it up and shake it. Even if it is fertile, the peep will not develop.

Preserved eggs: Most dried eggs that one finds in storable food is chicken eggs. Most often, it is scrambled, cooked, then dried and powdered. (If you are brave enough, you can preserve eggs from your own birds exactly this way). Powdered eggs that are reconstituted can be used in cooking the same as fresh eggs for your pancakes, quick breads, and other baking needs.

Duck eggs may be found in Asian markets, either soaked in a salt brine or preserved in lye. Those preserved in lye will have a green color than may make some people balk...but in my opinion, they are far superior to those soaked in brine. I have not attempted to use preserved ducks eggs in baking yet, but I have been thinking about it. Those soaked in brine would be far too salty to use in baking.

Wild Eggs: There is only one problem I can think about with eggs found in the wild...how long ago was it laid? To determine this, hold a light to the opposite side of the egg (known as candling). This is kind of like X-raying the egg. A six-day old egg will either have a "blood spot" (which is a bad egg that bacteria may have attacked...don't eat it), or you will see veins. After 8 days, the peep will begin to develop at the fat end of the egg. Later than this, the peep may be floating towards the side you are holding up.

Be sure, when candling, that you turn the egg around a bit...you might mistake a particularly thick part of the shell for a blood spot.

Technically, developed eggs are edible...but unappetizing. Some people might be squeemish upon seeing blood veins in their eggs, even if they don't see a peep. You want a nice egg that you can see nothing but clear white and yolk through with no blood spot.

Egg substitute: Yes, I have quite a bit of experience with egg replacers. Ener-G and Bob's Red Mill both make non-egg-derived egg replacer, good for those with allergies that cannot find duck eggs, or those who are vegans. (Be cautious in purchasing anything...there are items sold out there as egg replacer, but they are derived from eggs. Read the label carefully).

Egg substitutes cannot be used to make scrambled eggs, or anything where eggs are the main base. However, they can be used in most baking and bread recipes. The substitute will provide the leavening that the egg normally provides. My only caution is to NOT use for making brownies...it has failed every time! (In this instance, eggs are used as a binder, not a leavener.) You will need to find a binder substitute...we've tried apple sauce...it works okay, but...its still way below par.

With any recipe that you use egg substitute, I would increase the amount of fat in the recipe (unless, of course, you are on a low-fat diet). This is quite simple, really. The basic instructions on Ener-G Egg Replacer says to use 1 1/2 teaspoons of the powder mixed into 2 Tablespoons of water. I would use 1 tablespoon of water and 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil (or butter, or lard). This will help provide the fat that you will miss from the egg.

We're capitalist? Since when?

Sorry, folks, but I had to rant this morning.

One of the problems with this depression is that everyone is blaming capitalism for the mess we're in.

Oh, really....

This country hasn't been capitalist in decades. In fact, I wouldn't even say we have had a constitutional republic with democratic overtones in decades.

Confused? Let me explain, then.

Capitalism is simply this...you make a product, you sell a product. If people like the product, you make and sell more. If you are not successful...well, you try something else. (Product can also mean a service, such as teaching or taxi service.) The government doesn't punish you for doing well, and they don't bail you out when you fail. There is enough law to keep you honest, but the smart and self reliant are equally free to simply walk away from a product they don't want or need.

Once upon a time, this country was capitalist. A man could build his house with scrounged materials. A woman could cut hair or make clothing in her living room. Her husband could build things in his garage. If they were successful, they could sell whatever extra they had. Their teenager could go out hunting or fishing for that day's meal. Their younger children could go pick berries. They had a vegetable garden and chickens in their back yard. Even if a family were poor, they could survive on very little money. If they had moxy, they could survive quite well...and even be quite happy.

Today, its all topsy-turvey.

It is illegal to build anything on your own property without a permit from the government. It is illegal to run a business without a permit from the government. In many places, it is illegal to have a business in a residential district. If a teen walks down the street with a shot gun, on his way to go hunting, all those neighbors who notice him call the police...the gun is emmedietly confiscated whether or not the teen has a permit. (This happens to farmers carrying a rifle on their own property, too.) If the children go pick berries, CPS is called because the children are "doing something dangerous". Keeping chickens in the back yard is illegal in many areas. And now...now the government wants to either license you to grow veggies in your back yard (with frequent inspections), or they want to ban it outright. You can't even have a garage sale anymore without the government coming to inspect it and make sure you aren't selling something that they have decided could be a no-no.



Oh, there is always some "reasonable" reason for these laws that discourage self-reliance.


But who is behind these laws? Well, we always thought that it was for our own safety. But as the noose gets tighter and tighter, we now realize that it was the corporations.

Case in point...guess who was behind the "public health insurance" bill. Can't guess? It was the health insurance companies. They knew that most people did not want a public option. But, also tucked neatly into the bill, was an excessive fine for not getting health insurance...over double the cost of having health insurance.

You see, there are groups of people who, for one reason or another, refuse health insurance. The Amish. Those wealthy enough to pay for their own medical costs should something suddenly happen. Those who believe in prayer rather than medicine. Those who believe in using the medicine God gave us. People who have dropped their health insurance because what they pay into it far exceeds what they have ever gotten out of it, and they just can't afford it any more.

Either way, there are just people who refuse to get health insurance. So, faced with an excessive fine, a horrible public option, or the private insurance, these people would be forced to go with the best option...paying for private health insurance.

Then someone dropped the cost of the fine to being just about the same, if not less, than actually purchasing private insurance. And now, suddenly, the insurance companies "cannot back the bill anymore". They actually stated this (yesterday, I think it was).




So, now...think about who is behind every "reasonable" law and bill out there. Who is behind it? Could it be someone selling that product? Could it be someone attempting to silence the opposition?

Now think of the way life is today, and the way it was just 60 years ago. How did you or your parents ever survive your child hood without all of the safety devices, trips to the doctor every two months (with about five shots every visit), and all of the psychologists telling our parents, and their parents before them, how their children should be raised!



No, today we are probably closer to Plutocratic Corporatism. Corporatism is a system of economic, political, and social organization where corporate groups, such as business, ethnic, farmer, labour, military, patronage, or religious groups, are joined together into a single governing body in which the different groups are mandated to negotiate with each other to establish policies in the interest of the multiple groups within the body. Plutocracy is simply rule by the rich. They are the ones who are writing the bills, lobbying the government...heck, they even control the voting machines! They control what you eat, down to the variety of tomato at the grocery store. They raise your children because both parents must work to buy those things in order that your children aren't "deprived". Some high fashion goonie-goohoo determines the color and cut and style of your clothes, your makeup, your hair, your scent...and all companies below them follow suit. They even tell you what you must put into your body. Don't worry about MSG...don't worry about mercury...we'll just tell you that these poisons are good for you!

And frankly, we're even touching upon Kleptocracy. Kleptocracy is where the plutarchs attempt to grab as much as they can for themselves...such as when a corporation convinces a local government that it is in the public interest to kick people out of their homes, at the compensation the corporation dictates, in order to build their business there....oh, and buy the way, tax dollars will go to build the business, and the business will not have to pay taxes for the next 15 years. But hey! They will provide jobs! That isn't capitalism....that's theft.

Socialist mentality seems to think that all forms of capitalism are Kleptocracies. While we have devolved into this, its only because we were too blind to see what was happening. Of course, there was always a public interest for this. Jobs. Public health. Saving lives. We lived for centuries on this land without the corporation controlling every aspect of our lives. Well, now they own everything...including you. "Buy n Large", as seen in WALL*E, may seem to be a farce...is it really?

They don't like us being self-reliant, either. When people find a legal way to skirt around government regulations, they'll send an under-cover agent to your door to bully you into selling him a gallon of unpasturized milk, a dozen eggs, or a pelt that is illegal within the state. And when you finally GIVE (not sell) something to the agent just to make him go away, that's when they'll send in the jack booted thugs to hold you and your ten children at gunpoint for hours and steal every scrap of food you have in your house, or destroy every aspect of your business.




But believe me...throwing off just one of the shackels is liberating. I was thinking this while I was working yesterday....I had just finished a batch of home-made pretzels, was working on preserving goodies from our garden, all while my pretty princess played with the water in the sink nearby, chatting away with me. Grow at least some of my own food. Bake my own food from scratch. Raise my own children.

They haven't made everything self-reliant illegal...yet. They can't, because then we would know what they were up to. But some day, they might convince the sheeple that there is a reasonable purpose for those laws.

Perhaps, with this depression, people will wake up and see that the corporate state is stomping on them. Maybe they'll start taking back some aspects of their lives...and feeling that freedom, maybe they'll take some more back.

I can dream.

Survival Cooking 101: Boiling water

Okay, this may sound dumb...but I know a lot of you young men (and women) out there have no idea what boiling water looks like. So those who know what boiling water is...just bear with me. Or read the funny story below.

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My grandfather knew how to cook. He had been a bachelor for some years before he found and married my grandmother. Plus, great-grandma was a no-nonsense woman, child of pioneers and a wee bit of a pioneer herself. Her boys knew how to cook as well as her girls. (In fact, grandpa's little brother ended up doing all of the cooking after his own wife took permanently ill...and he was a darn good cook, too.)

But when my grandmother took over the homestead's house, she went with the rule that her mother had. Her men weren't going to cook. (Never mind that her father and brother lived in a house with a gaggle of women...there were always female hands about to do "women's" work.) Grandpa always teased her, pretending he was going to come in and do some cooking. The effect was still the same, though...by the time my dad went off to college, he had no idea how to cook. Or even how to boil water.

Its true! It was my mother's favorite "dating" story. She had gone to dad's apartment for a study date, and he asked her if she wanted some tea. She said "yes." Then my dad asked, "Um...how do you know when the water is boiling?"

Don't worry...dad did finally learn how to grill. Or order pizza. Needless to say, my mother made sure that not only did I know how to cook, but so did my brother. In fact, I'd say my brother was a better cook than his first wife.

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Boiling is a necessity, and not just in an emergency situation (such as a water-main break). It is also necessary for reconstituting dried foods, making tea, cooking pasta and rice, and heating canned foods.

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So, how does one boil water?

Its simple. Put the needed amount of water in the pan (or tea pot). If you are getting your water from the tap, use HOT water. There is some axiom that cold water heats up faster and boiling water cools down faster...in theory, perhaps, but in practice...its got further to go, so don't believe that silliness.

Put the pot or pan over high heat, and cover it with its lid. (With all but rice, I suggest not putting the lid on tight...let a little bit of steam escape.) Now walk away from the pan. I'm serious. A watched pot never boils. Just come back every couple of minutes to check on the status of the pan. It may seem like an old wive's tale, but it seems to take forever to get the pot to a boil if you stand there and watch it.

You will begin to see tiny bubbles form on the bottom of the pan. No, this isn't boiling! I believe this is called "simmering". It is just beginning to boil. The bubbles will get bigger and bigger. What you want is a good, rolling boil. This means that there are so many bubbles that the surface of the water is in complete turmoil.

With most foods, once the liquid is boiling, you will move the pan to a lower heat (or turn the heat down) and let it "simmer". If you are boiling water for pasta or for drinking, you will want to remove the lid after it has come to a boil, and let it continue to boil on high heat. Otherwise, it will boil over. What this means is that the water gets so hot that it gets so many air bubbles in it that the water climbs to the top of the pan and starts pouring over the sides...not too different than if you open a soda or beer that was shaken up. However, even with the pan lid completely off, the water could still boil over when cooking pasta...adding a little bit of vegetable oil to the water can help prevent this without hurting the pasta.

Now...do we know how to boil water? I hope so. Try it. You might like making your own tea for once.

Survival Cooking 101: Game Meat

My mother tended to cook three types of flesh...pork, beef, and chicken. Occasionally, fish was thrown in. When asked why we couldn't try a different type of food animal, her answer was always the same. "Its gamey."

I even tried pressing her...what does gamey mean exactly? Her answer was always as confusing as the term "Gamey." My grandparents, living on the edge of civilization their entire lives, were probably more adventurous...but grandpa was a stock man, and a successful one at that. Beef, chicken, and pork (yes, he raised all three at the same time) were always available, so why eat rabbit if you don't have to?

As a teen and young adult, I became more exploratory with meats. Yes, I'll try anything once. Its a good thing that hubby is as willing to explore the various types of meat as well. We've had a wide variety of meats, including the really odd ones like alligator.

As long as it was cooked right, we loved them all. Well, okay...the frogs legs left a little something to be desired, but...well, you get the point.

Precaution: Buffalo cannot be put in the catagory of "gamey". Buffalo should be treated the same as beef, except that you would probably want it a little more rare than you are use to with beef...if you prefer well done, try medium well.


Game meat can be used exactly like the meat that most resembles it. (Rabbit and other similar little guys tend to be fixed much like we do chicken.) The only problem is that game meat has no fat. I accidentally cooked some venison incorrectly...it was dry, tough, and tasteless. GAMEY! I knew immedietly what I had done...I tried to cook it like ground beef instead of ground venison. Still, I didn't throw out that pound of ground venison...instead, I kept it and threw it into a stew the next day. By that evening, the meat had become delicious.

Even restaurants sometimes make the mistake of mis-cooking something. Our first foray into alligator, it was sweet, tender, and delicious. Of course, that was in a swamp in the middle of Florida. These folks knew what they were doing, and had probably done it since the days the Spaniards were looking for the Fountain of Youth. Our next foray was a restaurant nearby. They had fried it the same as gizzards...and while it was tastey, it was tough as the devil. It was an insult to the alligator. They should have stuck with the local fare...buffalo and venison.

So, there is the trick...anything "gamey" needs to be cooked low and slow. Stewed and crock-pot-souped are the best ways to go, but that doesn't mean you can't roast it. Just take your time, and use a gentler heat. For ground meats, I highly suggest browning it, then throw in a cup of water and allow it to "stew" for a time before continuing with the recipe.



Of all the game meats, opossum is probably the one I recommend the least. It resembles a very greasy turkey. Still, if you are hungry...well, you are hungry, and a greasy turkey is better than no turkey.

Just remember, low and slow, stewing is the best. Until then...happy hunting!

(This post was inspired by another blog, which mentioned hunting dogs and cats wtshtf. I imagine that dogs and cats should be similar to game meat...I personally wouldn't know.)

Survival Cooking 101: Ramen Noodles!

In every culture, there is a cheap food that tends to catch the disdain of those who have better means. The United States, being a melting pot of many cultures, we have picked up on a number of these. And among these is Ramen Noodles.

For less than 30 cents (sometimes as low as 15 cents), you get a package containing noodles and a flavor packet that is enough to feed two small appetites, or one large appetite. Or you could purchase the fancier ones, sitting in a styrofoam cup, that contains a few bits of dried vegetables or meat. (These are smaller in the way of the noodle and water amount...we have to keep these around as a snack for the boys.) Either way, you simply add hot water, let it sit (or boil) for about 3 minutes, and its done!

In the common grocery store, we find shrimp, chicken, and beef flavor. If we go to an Asian market, we can find a wide variety of different noodle styles and flavors...two of my favorites are the lobster flavored thin noodles and the abalone chicken whole wheat noodles.

And the reason this food catches the ire of those above everyone else? Its far from being nutritionally complete.

During a trip to San Francisco to visit the hubbies relatives, we trapsed through China Town with his sister and came across a restaurant...honestly, I don't remember whether it was Korean or Vietnamese....and decided to try it. The menu was loaded with page after page of (you guessed it) Ramen Noodles. Each page had a different flavor. However, there was at least 10 different "styles" per page. The beef page had meatballs or steak, and a variety of different vegetables, all ranging from mild to spicey. Amazing!

You see, us stupid Americans simply saw the cheap food, and thought, "Hey, cheap food!" We didn't realize that the package of Ramen Noodles was simply the BASE of the soup.

So, to make a nutrtionally complete meal, here's what you do. Add something! Add vegetables. Fresh or frozen works best in the three minute cooking time, but if you have the time, you can reconstitute dried veggies and use them. Add bits of meat (fresh or dried). Get funky and add some fruits (quite Asian, in fact...adding a fruit to something normally savory). And you aren't limited to the flavor packet, either...try adding some spices of your own. Garlicy chicken, spicey beef. I have even seen Ramen noodle recipes that include tossing away the flavor packet and making an alfredo-style sauce.

Not interested in soup? Remove most of the water before adding the flavor packet (start with only about half of the packet) and have flavored noodles.

You could even go wild and add a salad, fruit, or "appetizer" to the side.

Don't knock Ramen noodles. Backpacking, camping, survival storage, or just a quick meal to make at home...the versitile Ramen noodle could be back in full force!

Survival cooking 101: Biscuits

The next stop after unleavened bread is quick breads. Quick breads are the easiest of the leavened breads, as it doesn't require tons of kneading, and it rises while its cooking. Add to this the fact that the leavening ingredients can last indefinately...so long as they are stored apart.

Biscuit dough is one of those that is extremely vesitile, and can be used for more than just biscuits.

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The first thing you need to learn is about baking powder. I said something about it in an earlier blog, but I will repeat it here. Baking powder does not store very well. In fact, in most cases, the baking powder you purchase from the grocery store is probably already mostly dead.

Fortunately, you can store the two ingredients that make up baking powder indefinately. Cream of tartar (a bi-product of wine making) and baking soda (natural mineral). It is 2 parts cream of tartar to 1 part of baking soda. When the two are put together, they react and make carbon dioxide gas which creates the lift and air bubbles in bread. They will even react dry, although more slowly...which is why baking powder is often mostly dead by the time it reaches your kitchen.

You are better off purchasing baking soda and cream of tartar seperately. Cream of tartar generally cannot be found at the grocery store in bulk, and purchasing hundreds of those tiny bottles is rediculous...you may have to purchase it from Amazon unless you have a baking supply store near by...the price will be well worth it.

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As an alternative to baking soda, Native Americans and the early European settlers used pearl ash. To create pearl ash, take some ashes from a hardwood fire, mix them with water, and let them settle overnight. In 12 hours, you should have a few peices of charcoal floating on top, a brownish water, and a sludge sitting on the bottom. The water (also known as lye) is put into a different vessel (to seperate it from the sludge at the bottom). The lye is either boiled down or evaporated, and then called "Potash". Potash is then baked to remove the impurities, and then called pearl ash.

In tests I have seen done, pearl ash/potash does provide some leavening...but not nearly as much as baking powder.

We have not yet tried pearl ash, but it was commonly used until baking powder was invented.

As an aside...potash is also common in both soap making and as a fertilizer for grain crops. Was there nothing our ancestors couldn't reuse?

*Common Biscuit Recipe

This is the biscuit recipe from "Better Homes and Garden Cookbook". Remember, there is a difference between a dry cup measure and wet cup measure, and a difference between a teaspoon and tablespoon. Do not mix these up!

2 (dry) cups flour

1 TBPS (tablespoon) baking powder

2 tsp (teaspoon) sugar (or other sweetener)

1/2 tsp cream of tartar

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 (dry) cup fat (lard, butter, shortening, etc)

2/3 (wet) cup milk

I imagine, in an emergency situation, that the sugar and salt can be omitted, and that water can be used instead of milk. It will taste differently, but it when you are hungry, you are hungry.

Stir together all of the dry ingredients. Cut the fat into the dry ingredients until you get coarse crumbs. (To "cut in", take a fork or similar instrument and push the fat into dry ingredients over and over again until it makes little coarse crumbs). Add the milk all at once and stir until dough clings together. On a lightly floured surface, knead ten or twelve times.

(At home, I just go ahead and dump all of the ingredients into a bread machine and let it knead for half the time...I don't know why, but it works just fine. It comes out a lot more like the biscuit dough we purchase in tubes at the grocery store.)

Roll or pat the dough into about 1/2 inch thickness and cut out the biscuits. (You can use a biscuit cutter, but anything will really do...a knife, a can, the dry measuring cup).

Now bake in a 450 degree oven for 10-12 minutes until they are lightly browned.

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While camping, you can use a dutch oven; a collapsable camp oven; a tin-foil pack tucked into the ashes.

Another alternative, something which the Roman armies did, would be to make the dough into a coil (snake shape), wind it around a stick, and gently roast it over a fire.

We probably don't need a lecture on what to do with your biscuits when they are finished. You can eat them plain, or use them to sop up your gravy or soup. You can top them with butter. You can top them with jelly. You can top them with a country or sausage gravy. You can use them to make a sandwich.

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Biscuit dough has other uses as well.

According to TV chef Rachel Ray, you can use biscuit dough as a pizza dough. If its as good as her stuffed green pepper stoup, then I'm all for it.

According to Pilsbury, you can top your caseroles, cobblers, or stews with biscuit dough before putting them in the oven. Just flatten the dough out with your hand. If you have freeze-dried storable stews, adding freshly-made biscuit dough might improve it some.

Also according to Pilsbury, you can shape your biscuit dough into a cup shape (using a muffin pan).

Take a portion of the dough and pat or use a roller pin to make it flat. Place a slice of cheese on it. Put a hot dog on one end, then roll the whole thing up, with the ends of the hot dog sticking out. Cook until the biscuit dough is done. Pigs in a blanket!

Take a portion of dough and flatten it out. Put whatever you wish in the center...pizza ingredients, ham and cheese...whatever you want! Fold it up so that the ingredients stay locked inside while it cooks. Place it on the baking pan with the fold underneath. Cook until the biscuit outside is lightly browned. Can you guess what you just made? A hot pocket!

Try and think of what you could make with biscuit dough.

Survival Cooking 101: Beans

Beans, beans, the magical fruit. The more you eat 'em, the more you--

Well hey there!

Today's Survival cooking 101 is about everyone's favorite food...beans. So famous, it even makes up part of the motto of survivalists: beans, band-aids, and bullets.

As much as we love meat, we do eat beans. Sometimes, just for fun. Unfortunately, beans aren't always the easiest thing to fix, though. They take much longer than most foods to get prepared (up to 2 hours), and often they...well, they taste rather bland unless you know what you're doing. Still, there is a reason why legumes are eaten the world over. Adding a legume together with a grain (pinto beans and corn bread, lentils and rice) makes a complete protein. Gardening-wise, beans actually add nitrogen to the soil, which aids in feeding other plants. They provide necessary fiber to keep you from getting colon cancer and lower both blood sugar and cholesterol. They also store better than meat does. Look down on beans if you want, but they were a staple of the explorers, woodsmen, pioneers, and cowboys that made our three countries great from the equator up to the arctic circle.


The traditional American (and yes, when I say "America", I mean Mexico and Canada as well) way of fixing beans is to cook them with small amounts of meat. In the U.S., this was usually pork, as pigs were one of the cheapest and easiest of the fat-bearing animals to raise. The most common excuse for this is that it "adds flavor". Well, yes, it does do that, but truthfully even the smallest amount of pork adds the fat that beans lack. We've all heard that fat is the enemy, but fat is necessary for living, and even for the developement of small children's brains. (Our problem is the amount and types of fat we are consuming). This combination of a small amount of fat combined with the protein of the combined bread and beans provides the same nutrition that steak and potatoes would provide, but at a much lower cost (not to mention, the beans are healthier for the heart and colon). A ham bone with even the tiniest amount of meat on it adds tons of flavor to bean soups.

If you have religious reasons for not eating pork, then I suggest a bit of fatty beef. The fat off of briscuit is most often used, but you could also just as easily add part of an ox tail. You could look into suet as well, but some suet is not Kosher, so take care when purchasing shelf-stable suet.

Vegetarians can purchase vegetable suet or use vegetable oils, but frankly...I can't vouch for the taste. Sorry, but I couldn't hack a vegetarian diet for more than a couple of weeks.

Onions, peppers (either sweet or hot) and garlic are other things generally added to beans...definately for flavor, but they add some of the veggies we also need...and they also provide those health benefits the ancient Greeks knew long ago. We grow these, along with tomatoes, in our own garden.

Tomatoes are another common item to cook beans with. The high acid of tomatoes allows beans to get soft enough to eat, but not mushy. Growing tomatoes, a food native to the American continent, was a lot easier for the pioneer or for the ranch house than importing and storing vinegar made from grapes (and in my experience, tomatoes are among the easiest garden plant to grow). I can imagine cookie being given green tomatoes as part of the food store, and letting them ripen in his wagon for the month or so as they follow the herd. Brown sugar (made from maple syrup) would have cut down on that acidic flavor. Hmmm...are you begining to see how barbecue developed?

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There are a great variety of beans and other legumes out there which can provide you not only with nutrition, but also interest. Pinto beans are common in Hispanic-style food, while black beans are gaining in interest. White beans are the most oft used in barbecue. Mom always made black-eyed peas for "luck" on New Year's eve. There are also lentils, chick peas, great northern beans, kidney beans, lima beans, navy beans...phew! A magical food.

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To cook beans, soak overnight in cold water, or boil for about five minutes and let it sit for an hour. Then you'll need to cook them. It takes about 1/2 an hour for split peas, lentils, or black-eyed peas; 1 hour for lima beans; 2 hours for most other beans. You will need to use three times the amount of water as you do beans, and use a large pot, because they will plump up!

Refried beans are not "re-fried"...they are simply pinto beans cooked up (often with onions, peppers, and other spices) and then mashed. Sounds kinda grosse, but its easier than pie, and its a staple of Tex-Mex cooking.

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The scariest thing is that as I am writing this article, I'm getting a mental picture of refried beans, spanish rice, and corn bread in my mind. I had to immedietly run upstairs and put a pot of pintos on the stove. Thanks a lot, blog spot. (Grins broadly).

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As I was giving this the final proof-reading, I starting thinking...what about soy beans?

Well, I do like soy sauce. And I do like tofu...as long as the tofu isn't pretending to be something else, like a hot dog. But frankly, I don't know how to make either of these (yet), and I've tried plain uncooked soy beans. I'll stick with pinto beans. Thanks, anyway.

Survival Cooking 101: A bit of advice on storable food

The other day, I was reading a certain blog. Okay, I love the guy. His snarky style of writing attracted me years ago. However, in this particular blog, he stated that all he was purchasing was wheat, beans, and rice.

(Tires screeching on pavement).

In one sense, this is okay. These are the very basic things you need to survive. Unfortunately, if this is ALL you are getting, there are three main problems I can think of where it concerns this type of diet. The first is scurvey. The second I've heard called "winter sickness". The third was called "pioneer starvation".

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Scurvy is a condition caused by not getting enough vitamin C. From wikipedia, "Scurvy leads to the formation of spots on the skin, spongy gums, and bleeding from the mucous membrains. The spots are most abundant on the thighs and legs, and a person with the ailment looks pale, feels depressed, and is partially immobilized."

Not good. If you are partially imobilized, you cannot survive.

If you cannot afford to stock up on vitamins, or on canned or dried fruits, then do this simple trick. Purchase oranges for your regular every day diet. Before you cut into an orange to eat it or squeeze it for juice, rub the skin of the orange on a cheese shreeder (the smallest holes work best). This is, in essence, orange rind, or "zest". Now take the rind, put it on a pan, and dry it in the oven...setting "warm" with the door open. You can do this with lemons and limes, too. Orange and lemon rind are both often used in baking recipes. But best of all, the contain that all-important vitamin C. You can add the powder to water and drink it (no, it won't taste like tang). You see, most often, we'll eat the orange, lemon, or lime and simply throw the rind out. This way, you can have a natural source of vitamin C without the extra cost.

Other suggestions, if you can, is to stock up on powder drinks that contain vitamin C, such as Tang or Kool-Aide (or their generic variants).

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Winter sickness is something I haven't heard about nearly as much, but I have still heard about it. Today, the term applies to those virus' you get in the winter time because of a lack of vitamin D. Traditional winter sickness is caused by a lack of eating vegetables....most people had to go out to cut or gather wood, or to hunt, so they still got sunlight (and thus vitamin D). In the past, vegetables didn't store very well, and of course, most don't grow during the winter...thus, it was called winter sickness. I'm not sure why, but dried veggies just don't work as well to keep it away.

While I had never heard of what Winter Sickness causes, I imagine it similar to a lack of vitamin C or vitamin D. But I did hear the remedy...sprouts. I don't know if beans you purchase from the grocery store will sprout or not...you might want to try it at home...but you might also want to stock up on beans or other seeds (like broccoli or alfalfa seeds) for sprouting. I've heard they can be purchased at certain organic health food stores, but it might be less expensive overall to purchase them in bulk from a feed and seed. I can't guarantee that they will be heirloom or organic, but there is nothing wrong with them otherwise. Your other choice is to purchase canned vegetables, or try some winter cold-frame gardening.

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If you are excellent at gathering, you may not need to worry about these first two nearly as much, unless your winter is a frozen one. But most people aren't. Just a couple of months ago, I heard about people in my own area getting malnutrition from eating the beans and rice type of diet...all while seeing wild carrot growing just about everywhere! (Wild carrot is a flower that is alledgedly the ancestor of the carrot...it doesn't look like a carrot, but it smells and tastes similar to one, and even the flower is edible.) Whether you can afford to stock up on fruits and veggies or not, I would still look into what wild "weeds" in your area are edible. Just remember, though...in colder areas, very little grows in winter. We have had cabbage, garlic, and onions survive the winter....but the cabbage leaves were kind of grosse, and the onions and garlic couldn't be pried out of the frozen ground.

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The final is pioneer starvation. When our pioneers moved out west, they brought seeds for their gardens, wheat, and beans. They figured that any meat they would need along the way, they would catch. And they did...the land was full of rabits, deer, ducks and geese. Fish were in the streams. Squirrels, rabbits, snakes, and even grubs can be eaten.

But there was a problem. This is "game food". Perhaps you've heard the term "gamey" applied to it. What does gamey mean? It means these animals have little or no fat. They are certainly full of protein, but they lack fat. This is why the buffalo was so essential to the native people of the plains.

The lack of fat caused what was known as pioneer starvation. Hunting a bear (bear grease is useful for more than just cooking) could alleviate that, but bears just aren't as plentiful or easy to find as deer and rabbits. Smarter pioneers of little means took as much salt pork as they could. A single slice of salt pork or bacon a day can stave off pioneer sickness for a whole family, and its why beans are traditionally cooked with a slice of bacon or salt pork "for flavor". Unfortunately, what we purchase in the grocery store today is not the durable bacon or salt pork that we used to be able to get our hands on those few decades ago...refrigeration kind of ruined that. Keep your bacon out on the counter top a few days and you'll see what I mean. I would learn the old-timer way of preserving these two, or purchase other types of oils, such as olive or corn oil. The nice thing about olive oil is that even when it goes bad, it can be used as lamp oil.

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All in all, in order to stave off serious malnutritional illnesses that would make survival impossible, it might be worth it to spend a couple of extra dollars a week on things other than beans, rice, and wheat.

Survival Cooking 101: Rice

I remember the commercials for minute rice I saw as a child. "Oh, rice is so difficult to cook, takes a long time, and comes out horrible! Buy minute rice!"

Well, I was never much of a rice eater. And the reason was...every one was cooking minute rice. Its bland, not unlike cardboard. Then I was introduced to REAL rice. Now, I am a rice officianado. Even my best friend had remarked that she couldn't stand eating at her boyfriend's mother's house, because they used minute rice, but eating at my house was actually a joy. On top of that...I like to use chop sticks. Minute rice doesn't stick together enough for chop sticks, and I don't like eating one grain of rice at a time.

Honestly, rice is not that difficult to cook. 16 years ago, my mother-in-law had purchased a rice cooker for us. It eventually broke down (like everything else made overseas these days), but by then, I had figured out the trick.

First, you need a sauce pan with a tight-fitting lid. Next, you need 1 dry cup of rice and 2 wet cups of water. You can add butter or another oil, or you can add salt, but it is not necessary. You can also rinse the rice if you feel the need.

Put the ingredients into the sauce pan, put the lid on, and put it over high heat. Let it boil...almost to the point of boiling over. If it boils, but doesn't get to the point where its boiling over, then letting it boil for 4 of 5 minutes should work just fine. Then move it immedietly to a low heat...on a range top, this can be as easy as turning the heat down to the lowest setting possible. Over a camp fire, this would be moving it to where it is just warm.

Now all you need to do is let it sit over the low heat for 20 to 40 minutes. Honestly, the average amount cooked (1 cup of rice with 2 cups of water) should only take about 20-25 minutes, while larger amounts may take up to 30 minutes to absorb all of the water. But I have left the rice on the stove for up to 40 minutes without it burning.

The end result is that you get a rice that is nice and fluffy, but just sticky enough to eat it with chop sticks.

And since this article on cooking plain white rice is so short, here's two rice recipes that are common in the U.S.A. For any vegetables or meat in this recipe, you can use them dried...just reconstitute them before cooking.

Fried Rice

I'm not sure why, but there is a completely different flavor when you actually stir-fry rice rather than simply putting the ingredients in a bowl and tossing them.

Cook the rice as I explained above. The only MUST in this recipe is green onions and soy sauce. (We grow onions in our garden, and simply use the green tops from them). You can add eggs if you want, but being allergic to chicken eggs with no easy source of duck eggs, we've found it unnecessary.

You will probably want to use your largest pan or skillet for this, as you will need room to move your rice around.

Stir fry with a little oil (butter, lard, or other fat) in a little pan whatever meat and vegetables you plan to add to this first...except for the green onions. Green onions tend to get limp and icky if cooked too long. One recipe I looked at suggested using bacon...in which case you probably will not need any oil. Hard vegetables, like carrots, will need to be cooked longer than other things, like peas or zucchini, so cook them first and add the gentler-cooked items a minute or two later.

If you are adding eggs, you will want to scramble them first, push the veggies aside, and cook them as you would scrambled eggs right before you add the rice...just break them up into tiny bits right before adding the rice.

Then add the rice and green onions to the pan and either stir or toss. Add the soy sauce as you are stirring/tossing until the rice is just coated. (Too much soy sauce can make it too salty...too little soy sauce can be remedied by simply adding more when you sit down to eat). Sprinkle with pepper and salt as well. (I don't recommend MSG, but you can add that if you really feel the need to).

Stir and toss just long enough to get a majority of the rice coated with soy sauce and spices, and whatever else was added gets distributed evenly throughout.


Spanish rice

And here I'd been making it wrong all this time!

For each 1 cup of dry rice, reduce the water of the above recipe by 1/2 cup, and have 8 ounces of tomato sauce. (I also read where someone used tomato boullion added to 8 ounces of hot water...I don't know about you, but I've never seen tomato boullion. Must just not be popular around here.)

You can choose green peppers or spicier peppers...its your choice. You will also need some onion. If you wish, you can have some garlic powder, some cilantro, chili powder, or some green onions.

First, put your peppers, onions, and DRY rice in a pan with a little bit of oil and stir fry it. You want the rice to get a little brown, but not overly. Then put all of this in your pan with the tight-fitting lid with the water, tomato sauce, and whatever else you wish to add. Cook it exactly the same as you would plain rice.

Survival cooking 101: pan bread

Okay....you have your food stores, including tons of wheat and a wheat grinder...now...what the heck do you do with it? One of the biggest problems I see is that most people today (not just the young survivalist males) have no idea how to do more than follow the directions for the microwave and the use of the toaster.

Welcome to Survival Cooking 101, where I'll give you some tips and hints about cooking from your food storage.

I'll start with what I consider one of the easiest, low-ingredient foods out there. Fry bread. Or as we here in North America like to call them, tortillas. Don't get me wrong...there are half a million different types of fry bread from a couple dozen countries out there. I just find tortillas to be familiar to those of us on the American continent, and very easy to make. They require absolutely no leavening (the stuff that makes breads light and fluffy).

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Those who have the very basics can ignore this section.

The first thing I have to tell the complete nubes is yes; there is a difference in volume between a dry measuring cup and a wet measuring cup. If I fill a dry measuring cup up with water and then put the water into the wet measuring cup, it will come out to about 7/8ths of a wet cup. In other words, a dry measure is 1/8th smaller than a wet measure. Confused? Then go ahead and use a dry measuring cup for dry ingredients, and a wet measuring cup for wet ingredients.

The second I have to tell you is the difference between a teaspoon and a tablespoon. A tablespoon is about 2 1/2 times bigger than a teaspoon. In recipes, they are often abbreviated. Sometimes, a tablespoon is shortened to tbsp, while a teaspoon is abbreviated tsp. Other times, the tablespoon is shortened to a capital T while a teaspoon is a lower case t. It is very important that you know the difference between the two, because if you put a T of salt in where its calling for a t, it could mean disaster.

Now, for any dry measure, whether its a cup or a spoon, you do not mound the ingredient into the measuring device. It should be level with the top of the measuring device. Of course, those of us who have been cooking a long time often just 'wing it', but for nubes, you might want to take this extra step just to be exact. Take a knife and scrape it across the top of the measuring device so that any excess falls right back into its container.

The moisture content of flour can vary, and even a trained eye or hand couldn't tell the difference. So even if you measure exactly, a dry flour will turn out a dry product, a moist flour will turn out a sticky product. With breads, its easier to add flour to a sticky product than to add water to a dry product.

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Okay, now we open up our "Cookin' With Home Storage" recipe book and look at the recipes for tortillas. There are three tortilla recipes, and even an additional recipe called "Indian Fry bread". Lets try the plain wheat tortillas. It makes a lot, so I'll cut the recipe in half for you right here.

2-1/2 C. of flour (that's two and one half dry cups)

1/4 C of shortening (that's one-fourth dry cup. You can use lard, butter, or another semi-solid fat for this as well. If you need to use a liquid fat, like corn oil or olive oil, you will need to use slightly less, or it could end up too sticky).

1/2 t. salt (that's one-half teaspoon of salt. Honestly, you could omit this if you need to).

1 C hot water. (that's one wet cup of water.)

Put all ingredients into a bowl and mix until a ball forms. Knead until pliable. To knead, you use your CLEAN hands and a CLEAN counter top (while camping, a plate may have to do)...push down on the ball with your palm, turn the dough around, and push it again. If it is too sticky, you can add flour while you are kneading (this can be messy, so be prepared). Your end result should be like clay or play dough.

You could use a bread machine or food processor on the "dough" cycle, but its a good idea to get your hands use to the dough...in an emergency or camp-out situation, these items may not be available to you.

Now, put a skillet on top of your stove and turn the burner on to medium. No higher! I use cast iron as a skillet, but you can use whatever is available to you. Its easiest to learn on a stove top before you learn over a camp fire. Get use to feeling the temperature of the pan by holding your hand over it (do not directly touch the pan unless you want to burn yourself). This way, when you do end up cooking over a fire, you can gauge whether there is too much heat or too little before you start the actual cooking.

Now, while your pan is heating up, pinch off a peice of dough that abouts 2" in diameter. Smaller or larger won't really matter, as we have all seen the variety of different sizes in the grocery store. Flatten it out as thin as possible. I use a rolling pin. If you do not have a tortilla press, then it will not be perfectly round. Don't worry about that, either. Hungry is hungry, and pretty doesn't matter when you are hungry.

Now, take your flattened tortilla and put it into the dry pan. A dry pan means you have not put any type of oil or fat into the pan. I have never had a tortilla stick to the pan. Cook it for a short time, then flip it over. When it starts to develope bubbles may be the best time to start flipping it. Essentially, you want a few brown spots to develope on each side, but you want to keep them from getting black spots (meaning its over-cooked). If you need to, you can flip it over again and again until each side gets nutty-brown spots but no black spots.

Keep doing this until you have all the tortillas cooked. Now your tortilla is ready to be filled with whatever you need. However, I use to work with a gentleman from Mexico...at least I think he was from Mexico...he simply folded his tortillas up and ate it like we would eat a roll with the rest of his dinner, which usually consisted of a stew of some type and a salad. Its not necessary to eat them in the fashion of the U.S.A.

I also use this recipe to make pancakes for Mu-Shu...the only difference is that they are a bit thinner, and you put two tortillas together and cook them that way, so that one side of each gets dry-fried and the other side gets steamed. (Eat them seperately, of course).

If you need to, any extra tortillas can be put into a bag or other container and then into the refridgerator or freezer.

In upcoming blogs of Survival Cooking 101, we will discuss beans and rice.

Bloggers must reveal freebies????

The FTC has announced that bloggers will have to reveal how much they are getting paid (in cash or by items) by companies to review items.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/business/6652792.html

Okay, I shall reveal our income from our blog. We don't get paid shite for this. In fact, I think I have 0 (zero) hits to the advertising on this blog, and have earned nothing for even that yet. And to be even more clear, there is some kind of screw up where I can't even see the advertising on my own blog unless I look at it from another computer. So if I review something, its open and honest with no freebies attached.

Now, if someone can tell me how I can get in on this racket...I would love to review your storable food, your camping equipment, gardening impliments (including seeds), your food animals and subsequently housing and pens for these animals, power generators, and wood stoves. Thank you very much.

Sincerily, Mama Squirrel.

Support Big John!

Hey guys...Big John Lipscomb is considering opening up another business, selling dried food packs rather than freeze dried, at an incredibly lower cost than the freeze-dried.

Its just my opinion, but one of the reasons why most people don't purchase the freeze-dried is quite simply the cost. A 30-year shelf-life is great, but most of us don't purchase food to have it sitting on the shelf for 30 years...unless we're actually purchasing 30-year's worth of food. And even then, who'se got the money?

So go to Big John's blog and encourage him to do it. If the food contains the food we're allergic to, we probably won't be able to purchase from him, but I completely encourage anyone whose willing to help the rest of us schmucks.

Big Johns Blogspot: http://www.bigjohnlipscomb.blogspot.com/

The Individual post: http://bigjohnlipscomb.blogspot.com/2009/10/eating-to-stay-alive-fight-evil.html#comments

Fun with DHS...in ways that won't get you in trouble.

The rumor (which could be true) is that DHS (Department of Homeland Security) is watching our every move. They are recording our phone calls. Robots are reading our E-mails, following our online activities. Some even go so far as to say we are being tracked by our phone GPS (even when the phone is off) or that they are going so far as to listen in or watch when using our nifty computers that have built-in web cams and microphones.

So, I was thinking up some ways to have fun with DHS...but ways that won't get you in trouble!

1. Take your phone with you only on mundane trips, such as the grocery store. Linger a bit too long in the baking isle. For even more fun, make a special trip, but don't purchase anything.

2. For surfing the net, pick an obnoxious celebrity. Google their picture endlessly. Make sure to use Google, and not Ixquick.

3. Play music, and sing loudly into your microphone. For even more fun, sing badly. Obnoxious songs are even better.

4. For the webcam, pick your nose. Make a chore out of it....really dig for gold in there.

5. Also for the webcam, try to imitate a stupid movie dance. If you are truly brave, you can webcam yourself dancing like "Buffalo Bill" from "Silence of the Lambs".

6. Have two e-mail accounts...email stupid stuff to yourself, peppered with buzz words. Say stuff like, "Obama is da bomb!" It will cause the robots to red flag your e-mail (or blog), but when they have a real human read it, there will be nothing they can do since in youth vernicacular the phrase means, "Obama is a great guy." This might work with your phone as well.

7. For street cameras, smile and wave. Hold up signs with friendly messages as well. In areas where it has already been implimented, people have used signs saying, "Just going to store to purchase a cola."

8. Put "Ron Paul" bumper stickers on normal people's cars. This works especially well in areas where they are already pulling people over simply for having these bumper stickers. Eventually, the people will either get tired of being pulled over, or the police will tire of it and eventually quit. One caution, though...you may wish to put the sticker on with clear tape rather than using the glue on the back of the bumper sticker...I know my dad considered it vandalism when a company put their bumper sticker on his car without his permission. If you put it on using clear tape, then they have the choice of removing it without injuring the appearance of their vehicle.

9. Put up pictures of Bush II as the joker. See if people throw as big of a hissy fit as they did about the Obama joker posters.

Have fun, and have a good day.

Religion and Government

Its only October, and I'm already hearing about the ban on overtly religious displays in governmental spaces over the holidays, as well as consternation over the Prayer Breakfast at the White House.

Let me just give my two cents on the subject.

Why did the Pilgrims come here? The Puritans? The Anabaptists? The main reason was for religious freedom. You see, over in Europe, each country's government had adopted a particular religion to be the state religion. And anyone who was of any other faith was immedietly an outcaste. In some cases, they were put to death. When the "New World" was discovered, people began piling into boats and coming over to this harsh wilderness because they wanted the ability to practice their faith in peace. Others came for economic opportunities, but you get my meaning. Of course, they occasionally made the mistake of doing exactly as their oppressors did...they began to harass people of other faiths.

But a few of our early colonies had decided, early on, to practice religious freedom. They didn't care if you were Catholic, Jewish, Muslim, or whatever. Virginia, where our darling Thomas Jefferson came from, was one of them. Thomas Jefferson wrote in his own memoirs about how they purposely voted for religious freedom (The Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom, 1786).

A copy of this statute can be found here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virginia_Statute_for_Religious_Freedom

But allow me to put some of it in plain, modern language for you.

God made our minds free. For the government to punish or coerce people to follow a faith not of their own breeds hypocrisy and hate. Governors may believe they are acting on God's will, but so often they are infallible, and prop up false faiths on the government's expense. It is sinful and tyrannical to force people, through taxation or punishment, to prop up a faith they do not believe in. Man needs to be free to give his mind and money freely to that church or pastor whom his own opinion tells him is the most righteous. Civil rights, human rights, natural rights are not dependent upon religious opinion, any more than one's opinion on something else (like football). In fact it is necessary to have open religious debate in order for those of less innocent minds to be able to point out that which may be dangerous or false to those who are of innocent minds.

So, no one can be forced to support any religious worship, place, or ministry. They shall not be forced, restrained, or taxed, and no person shal be made to suffer because of their opinion or belief. And yes...it will be tax dollars that go into the housing and care of that display on governmental land.



One thing I tried to warn people in the past (when I cruised message boards instead of having my own blog) was that they should NOT want the government propping up their faith. The moment that the government says "yes" to your belief system is also the very moment that the government can begin dictating to you what your faith is, and even saying "no".

Case in point...George Bush Jr. set up his faith-based program. Most people of strong religious opinion were for it. Until...a preacher came forward and admitted that he was being paid by FEMA to preach to people that government is of God, and that they should do everything the government tells them to do, including giving up their natural and God-given rights known to us as the Bill of Rights. And even more recently, I have heard preachers come forward to say that the government has attempted to shut them down because they are not "government approved".

I tried to warn you. And trust me, your church will be next.

If you are conservative, you have probably already seen the video of people appearing to pray to Obama, and you are sickened by it. I watched it myself...and even as a person who is extremely tolerant, I was sickened by it. As sickened as I was by kids at a faith summer camp praying to Bush. Combine that with kids singing songs to Obama that uses phrases from "Jesus Loves Me" and "Battle Hymn of the Republic"....if I were a conspiracy theorist, I would swear that the government is incrementally attempting to create a religion where each new president is the new Jesus. Don't question him! He is your Lord and Savior! If you question him, you are a terrorist! You are a racist! You are EVIL! You should be burned at the stake! WITCH!

Is this what you wanted? Oh, its fine when its the presidential candidate of your choice, or if its the FAITH of your choice, but when its someone elses...well, bully roar. Its not right under Bush. Its not right under Obama. Its not right, period. Or, as the Virginia Act for Religious Freedom says...its sinful.

So why do some preachers actively CALL for their faithful to blend the Church and the State? Why do actively tell their faithful its time to bring this country back to God. Why do they tell you that the Wall of Seperation is a myth? Because...they want that government check that churches in other countries get, that's why. Its a simple case of infallable human greed. In which case, I would be very leary of that pastor.

So the next time someone calls for the Seperation of Church and State, don't automatically assume that they are an atheist on the road to Hell. Perhaps they are simply trying to protect your faith, as well as their own, from government intrusion. Yet atheist or Fundamentalist, I will stand side by side with those who tell the government to get the F*** out of their brains, out of their lives, out of their souls. I will stand with you, my brothers and sisters, to protect what God or nature has given us.