Have an accepted offer on 50+ acres of land (future home site). About 50% cleared for eventual pasture, 50% wooded. Lots of wildlife in the area, dirt is better than most of the area and plenty of pond sites available.
Ordered 'The Encyclopedia of Country Living, 40th Anniversary Edition: The Original Manual for Living off the Land & Doing It Yourself' when it dropped about $10 on Amazon. Reviews make it sound like a must-have book for our next adventure.
Just went over this with out group.
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Nuclear War Survival Skills book. Look up the author. He has seen and done some shit. If I remember he was also there for some testing of nukes. Was working with congress on civil defense before M.A.D. and eventually started petitioning them to start civil defense up again after the US stopped it. This book has a lot of what civilians can do in case of an attack. There are some parts of the book that describe what you can do in 30 minutes (basically what you can do before the fallout starts landing outside blast radius) to survive. Amazing book.
Your body will thank you. Raised vegan, sometimes saw my parents “lapse” into vegetarianism, went to mostly vegetarian as an adult but rebelled by trying inconsequential quantities of meat. I had a myriad of mystery health problems that I couldn’t understand and neither could my doctors; I’m early 30’s. It was a horrible journey, but I feel like a new person on carnivore/zero carb and I’m only three months into it. Also everything is starting to make sense which is glorious.
I’ll be honest with you, changes in weight or muscles are not as visually dramatic for me initially. If your experience is like mine, your body will spend a lot of time nourishing deprived joints, bones and muscles in the beginning, but you’ll feel more energy and stronger. I also experienced extreme oxalate dumping which was tough. I wrote some of my experience here (kind of went on a tangent, tbh!): https://www.reddit.com/r/zerocarb/comments/df5qdp/optimizing_my_way_of_eating_for_further_health/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf
If you have more questions, feel free to message me. I’m still learning about meat (I didn’t even know what each cut was or how to cook it) but I hope you enjoy that first steak as much as I did!!!
Oh I suggest some good reading for recovering vegetarians/vegans, message me if you’re interested in a book list but “vegetarian myth” by Lierre Keith is a good primer: https://www.amazon.com/Vegetarian-Myth-Food-Justice-Sustainability/dp/1604860804/ref=nodl_
>Even in the sea level zone, every plain vegetable except tomatoes, every meat, every seafood that is canned at home--and almost every mixture containing these--MUST BE CANNED IN A PRESSURE CANNER.
pg.54 of putting food by
now, i'm sure someone will dust off the old chestnut of "but my mom/aunt/grandmother/neighbor cans everything en plen air using nothing but an open boiling water pot and they're just fine!"
you could buy some pH strips and test your soup and maybe the pH will be below 4.6, which would fall into the USDA category of 'high acid', not requiring a pressure caner, but i'd personally recommend spending the money for a pressure canner or borrowing a friends.
Trust me this is what your looking for.
If there's an EMP, you can count on two things: you won't be reading any of the books you've saved on your electronic devices, and you'll be trying to survive in a post-nuclear nightmare. For this reason get a hard copy of Nuclear War Survival Skills by Cresson H. Kearny. It is the single best book written on the subject for the average citizen.
In addition I would get a hard copy of the LDS Preparedness Manual. You can skip past the first couple of dozen pages if you aren't interested in the religious stuff. After that is an encyclopedic resource for survival.
You can get both books on Amazon right now for about $40 total, and if you do it will vastly improve your survival library.
If you get a hold of Carla Emery's "The Encyclopedia of Country Living" she teaches how to make soap from ingredients you make yourself -- including how to make the lye from wood ash.
In fact the whole book would be very handy for preppers.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/1632172895/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_glt_fabc_10Y1MM197Y3Q2NR7HG2B
If you haven’t already, you should read ‘Norwegian wood’ by Lars Mytting. It’s an excellent book about chopping, stacking, and drying wood.
Here’s the link:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/1419717987/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_fabc_36ASJN61XP5VVKNVZ8MK
It's a recipe out of Fermented Vegetables. You basically make chimmichurri as usual except instead of vinegar, you ferment it. And you don't add oil until you serve it.
Hello and welcome. I had gastroparesis before I had weight loss surgery, and one of the only consistent pieces of advice I was given by multiple practitioners was to reduce fiber intake. As the vegan diet is very high in fiber, it is not optimal, or even suitable, for someone with gastroparesis.
Let me say that I also felt very guilty about eating meat and even fish, but after doing some personal research, I realized that....life IS death. They are opposite sides of the same coin. You cannot have life without death, because all organisms are consuming something in order to live. That is just the natural law of life. Many of us assume that the most compassionate thing is to eat only plants, but in reality, growing plants is very resource-heavy work, too. Harvesting plants kills many animals, particularly in industrial agrilculture. Industrial agriculture also relies mostly on fossil fuels, which pollute the land and destroy watersheds. You really can't have sustainable plant agriculture without animal input from manure....the system isn't a closed loop.
I highly recommend this book: https://www.amazon.com/Vegetarian-Myth-Food-Justice-Sustainability/dp/1604860804 It is NOT perfect, and there are some logical flaws and hyper-emotional arguments made, but I think there is valuable information for those of us struggling with the ethics of eating meat.
The best advice I can give you is to eat soft eggs and nice flaky fish to start. Your body is going to be SO happy - and my guess is, it's going to tell you LOUD and clear what it needs.
Be well.
Well as an NC native (living out of state) and someone who has lived at a couple startup ICs, I love the idea and sentiment. I’d recommend checking out this book: “Creating a Life Together” (https://www.amazon.com/Creating-Life-Together-Ecovillages-Intentional/dp/0865714711/ref=nodl_ ) It has a lot of good practical information. Having a solid legal, accounting, and decision making structure is pretty important. I’ve been at places where gardens and ideals come first and the practicalities second, and the practicalities catch up and overwhelm in the end.
I believe to be successful creating community one needs to have financial stability, which typically means you need income from outside the community. The idea of land-based artisanal business is very appealing, but it’s very hard to startup a business and it’s very difficult to startup a community: doing both at the same time is a multiple of the two. Especially if you want to have an aspect of independence for each member, if people are relying on a land-based business in which members are a part to make money it’s going to lead to a lot of entanglement.
I agree that power generation should not be a priority. It is possible to find land in NC not far from an increasing number of solar-farms or to buy green credits.
Also it’s worth visiting some of the communities that already in exist in NC.
I’m sure I have more thoughts but that’s all I feel like typing at the moment. I wish you the best in your endeavor. What part of NC are you looking at? Do you live there presently?
Basic survival needs include food, water, and shelter (including protection from dangers\weather, clothing, and a safe place to get enough sleep). It looks like your fiance is working hard on the shelter part and on catching food. I would urge you to work on your food sources. What are you going to eat the first spring? Where will it come from. What will you plant first so that you can eat in the summer and into the fall. How much do you need to plant and how will you preserve your harvest for winter?
There are a lot of good resources out there. When we first started we bought "The Backyard Homestead" (book link below). There are probably better books out there, but this one is usually available used and it really helped me with ideas on what we could do. It has basic info on foraging, vegetables, meat, fruit & nuts, herbs and grains. Also includes info on canning and preserving.
Start off small. Practice with some gardening this next year if you can. TX is wonderful to try out a small fall garden right now, and you can plant this coming spring (usually in Feb) and start understanding what works for you. The Backyard Homestead
Couple of items come to mind:
1) Beekeeper's Bible - Nice book with tons of information.
2) J-Hook Hive Scraping tool. Always nice to have extra.
3) Leatherman Tool - It helps having a knife, a saw, pliers, and a screwdriver all in one. Doesn't need to be fancy.
4) Bee Tool Belt. I got one made from this guy Kevin in Wisconsin. It comes with a queen cage, which is handy when you want to make a split.
5) Nuc box from a local beekeeper supply store. Mann Lake will ship $50 wooden nuc box with everything. It is good to have one in case you need to catch a swarm or make a split with a current hive.
Hope this helps!
Someone mentioned Sandor Katz's book "The Art of Fermentation", which is basically the bible of fermentation. However, it reads more like a textbook - a reference manual to consult from time to time. If you're looking for something a little more modern with nice pictures and great recipes, I'd recommend these - I own both, and have tried several of the recipes with very tasty results.
https://smile.amazon.com/dp/1612124259/
https://smile.amazon.com/Fiery-Ferments-Stimulating-Fermented-Condiments/dp/1612127282/
Suggestion: On the Wiki page, maybe add Fermented Vegetables?
The Beekeeper's Bible is my absolute favorite book on the honey bee. http://www.amazon.com/Beekeepers-Bible-Honey-Recipes-Other/dp/1584799188/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1431387856&sr=8-1&keywords=Beekeeper%27s+bible
I would suggest reading the book "Norwegian Wood: Chopping, Stacking, and Drying Wood the Scandinavian Way" to learn about the tried and tested techniques behind all of this.
These tips come from me as a scandinavian, there might be some difference in the UK, but see these as general tips.
Always buy wood in bulk, if you can buy unseasoned wood then do it. It's alot cheaper, but remember that wood should be handled and laying for drying before midsumer - ish early june. Wood is like insurance, its really freaking nice to have. Buy atleast for 2-3 years forward then you'll be able to get a good price. Here someone from the UK will have to step in, but i'd say never pay more than 500sek per cubic meter. What a decent price in the UK is, idk.
Here comes a rant on BTU, i've never understod it so i'll use Kw/h. But what i mean is count on how much you need, 1 kg of birch wood is ish 4kw/h (1364 btu). You'll easily be able to heat your house with wood, but man you need like 10-20 cubic meter. And thats alot of work to handle.
When it comes to burning remember to do it correctly, every burner has its pro's and cons and be sure to read the manual. You cant keep a burner going for over 400 celsuis for a longer time, it will destroy your burner and your chimney. Your relation with your burner is a deep one, you need to learn how it works.
Sweep your chimney, here we have rules that it needs to be done every second year. With that said you need to do it alot more often if you burn alot. We do it every year and we only go through 3-5 cubic meter every year.
If you want to deep dive and learn alot i'd recomend this book: https://www.amazon.com/Norwegian-Wood-Chopping-Stacking-Scandinavian/dp/1419717987/ref=sr_1_1?qid=1668171181&refinements=p_27%3ALars+Mytting&s=books&sr=1-1
It's 50% tips and 50% poetry regarding wood.
What am I looking at here? Are those re-used lids from commercial jars? Are those re-used jars? If you want to take the risk of using this food, go for it. Please do not feed it to unsuspecting persons.
Get a copy of this book It not only tells you how to safely can food, it is a great resource for smoking, freezing and dehydrating foods.
My wife is using recipes from a book called, Fermented Vegetables by Kirsten K. Shockey and Christopher Shockey.
There are tons of recipes for different krauts, but she like the basic naked kraut.
This is the book on Amazon: https://www.amazon.ca/Fermented-Vegetables-Creative-Fermenting-Chutneys/dp/1612124259/ref=asc_df_1612124259/?tag=googlemobshop-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=292951821317&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=7160782588753962029&hvpone=&hvptw...
The sheds my father uses to dry and store firewood has 1" slits between the boards in the walls, and even some hatches on the walls without doors that can be opened to let even more air in.
He usually built the sheds with a front and back door, then stacked along the back wall first, then rows in front of that until it was filled up. This can take several years. Then he opened the back door and used the wood there first. That was he always used the oldest wood first.
Anyway...
Have you read this book?
https://www.amazon.com/Norwegian-Wood-Chopping-Stacking-Scandinavian/dp/1419717987/ref=sr_1_2
Jesus that is a long link. Fermented Vegetables.... Kirsten and Christopher Shockey.
A nuclear exchange isn't going to be as bad as you're thinking.
If Russia dropped all of its 6000 bombs on the US all at once, they'd probably kill a third of the population, maybe half, pretty much the big cities. There's still going to be a lot of people around rebuilding.
"Mutually assured destruction" was a US doctrine that the rest of the world, rightly, didn't subscribe to. "Nuclear Winter" was mostly soviet propaganda disproved in the early 1980s.
I'd highly recommend reading https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1634502973/; it's not the normal prepper fiction, it was actually written by a guy working for the US government on what it would take to keep the civilian population alive during a nuclear war. A lot of that book (like the food storage information and improvised cooking methods) has value for other disasters too.
Nuclear War Survival Skills:... https://www.amazon.com/dp/1634502973?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share
There's a pdf of the earlier edition (public domain) available if you do some searching.
Really good book.
I mostly just wander the internet in my research.
One book that is absolutely great is the encyclopedia of country living by Carla Emery. She has been living the homestead lifestyle since the 70's and has kept the book constantly updated since. I really can't overstate how much information is in it.
Know where it's in stock? I was hoping to get a second copy shipped to some family members on the other side of the country.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/1634502973/ref=cm_sw_r_apan_glt_i_5A8EGFS3ZC0NF1BHHCTH
I just printed this one.
There is a 2016 version, but probably not surprisingly, it is temporarily out of stock to purchase.
Anyone know if the 2016 version can be found for free like this one?
Highly recommend: Nuclear War Survival Skills: Lifesaving Nuclear Facts and Self-Help Instructions https://www.amazon.com/dp/1634502973/ref=cm_sw_r_apan_glt_i_6NJHV4NY0TAPH7GXKMWC
You can also find it online as a free, legal, PDF. It's old, but the way nuclear bombs affect human bodies hasn't changed since 1987, and the author spent a few decades working in .gov labs on this stuff, so it isn't just generic prepper porn...the dude actually knows what he's talking about.
Short answer is "no", but 6" of dirt would. Maybe stage a few large (from the garden store) bags of soil near each window, then when needed cover the windows with dirt.
Key thing is you want dense mass.
Think about "up" too. A ground based detonation is going to throw irradiated dust way up into the atmosphere, which will settle on the roof of your house. Even if you're not getting radiation horizontally in the basement, you could be getting it vertically through the roof/floor.
I'd highly recommend this book: Nuclear War Survival Skills https://www.amazon.com/dp/1634502973/
It's also available as a free PDF, but after reading the first few pages of the PDF I concluded it was worth 15 bucks for a hard copy.
It was written in 1987 during the cold war, but the author was studying nuclear physics since before the first nuclear weapons were dropped on Japan, and spent several decades working in government labs doing research around what civilians need to do to survive Warsaw vs NATO went nuclear It's not just standard prepper fear porn...the dude has serious credentials and knows what he's talking about.
If you're at ground zero when a 5 megaton bomb falls on you, you're dead no matter what you do; vaporized instantly. If you're 2000 miles away from a 5 megaton detonation, you'll probably survive no matter what you do. Between those extremes, there's actually a lot of things you can do to greatly increase your chances of survival.
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