Practical Prepping Protocol even if Poor

In history, the Irish were screwed by English landlords. So what they did to survive was gather plain old white clover blossoms amd toss them into soups and mixed these into flour to "stretch" it when making bannock.

Also, when grass goes to "seed" then every meadow has grass seed. You NEVER EVER eat it if it is black as that is ergot. Otherwise, the white clover and grass seed has the most calories in the small region.

While there, the Native Americans started at the periphery of a meadow. Then walked in concentric circles. This drives all critters and grasshoppers and snakes into the center. Then these are harvested.

Any couple of 12 year olds can manage this and should be taught this. It ain't perfect as there may be amino acid deficits.

I guarantee your teen can do this. When you do this, cut a y shaped branch to "pin" then head of the snake. Then you dispatch it safely as the head may be venomous. Bury that rascal. Then peel the snakeskin off and save it.

Now boil water. Throw in pieces of snake with the bones on. DO NOT GRILL IT or you waste calories through drippings. Toss in white cliver blossoms and grasshopper parts. Parts are hard as they have exoskeletons made of chitin which you can't digest.

Use that fork in the branch to get behind his head. Snakes are sluggish in autumn being cold blooded so this is easier then.

A ratsnake lives on field mice, voles, chipmunks, and rats. That is a very large meaty snake that can feed a family.
[youtube] [link to www.youtube.com (secure)]
This critter likes woodpiles as rodents use gaps as they feel protected and the snake gets an easy meal. They like corn fields too. They can easily wriggle into a gap in siding and into a cabin. Then they will hide in rafters and in attics.

Very, very interesting post! Thank you! Who among us did not eat the clover blossoms as a child, or at least suck the honey from the individual pieces? I had not thought of using the blossoms as food, as parts of dishes - what a great idea!

Tromping down a field in concentric circles - also a great idea!

Thank you for all this!

Grilling a snake is a mess because it already is lean and has a gazillion bones. So boiling tenderizes it and breaks it downand you desperately need calcium plus protein.

Lots of meadow plants have calcium but in small amounts and you would have to eat platefuls which no child is going to do. Also that form is calcium oxalate and it can cause kidney stones. You do NOT want to pass a kidney stone when the SHTF. IT HURTS BADLY. Adults will turn into total babies when they have kidney stones. The pain is in your lower back and most don't know what is going on.

Getting calcium this way or from fish stock is a far better way to adapt.

Eery child can identify honeysuckle but it's a nonnative invasive species in America. It also was one of the top ten Chinese medicinals. That is your go to fever reducer as it's benign and plentful and ubiquitous (found everywhere due to reducing soil erosion thus was planted).

Honeysuckle vines are uaeful for baskets.

Honeysuckle helps with:
Infections of the skin (topical)
Infections of the respratory tract (tea)
Infections of the teeth
Digestion issues
Headaches
Fever

This was in my Daisy Luther email a couple of days ago. Sorry for the delay. We need to be very vigilant about the safety of the stuff we're putting up for later use. It DOES seem like there are more recalls every day. Now, admittedly, a lot of them are for stuff you wouldn't be using as preps. But... spaghetti sauce. Um... yeah, there's certainly some of that on my shelves.

Way less than 50%:

"It seems like every week we report on yet another recall (if not more than one) here at The Organic Prepper, and this week is no different. Today’s recall is something you’ll find in many preppers’ stockpiles – Ragu pasta sauce.

Mizkan America Inc announced the recall earlier this week because the sauce may contain fragments of plastic."

[link to www.theorganicprepper.com (secure)]

There are some good links in the article, as well.

Red clover makes better tea as a medicinal.

Any child can be taught to identify red and white clover.

Y'all can be learning this stuff right now as it's around.

Most plants added to wheat flour tastebad or interfere with the yeast causing bad risin'. Not white clover plus it doesn't taste bad.

This effectively doubles your flour and adds lots of protein that is easily digestable.

Starting in two weeks here locally, you could begin doing some frog giggin'. That lasts into the earlynpart if Seotember as they mature. Don't harvest too many or you mess up next year's batch.

Use the scrap to fish with as bait and chum. You could bait crawdad traps with frog guts pinned under pressed screens.

Crawdads can be found along creeks with running water and with overhanging branches as insects and the shade creates a niche where they can survive and eat routinely.

Note how all these things are low work calories efforts with decent food intake.

If water goes bad from agricultral runoff or chemical pollution, frogs since they reproduce so fast will end up shaped weird and with oddities. Legs have poor development. Eyes are messed up.

This is old ancestral wisdom so if gather frogs and you notice this, something is amiss. Skip that creek and find another.

Ah luvs me sum honeysuckle! Thank you so much for this delightful and informative post! The sweet scent of the glorious flowers is unforgettable, and to be able to use as medication is a double plus!

Wish you were not an AC - I'd green you in a heartbeat!

Such a great point you make! Lower calorie expenditure is going to matter greatly after SHTF and we are trying to conserve our strength and our foods.

Terrific planning! The blossoms I would think are easy to dry and thus store, and to be able to double flour - wow - this is a very, very big thing for those paying attention!

Thank you very much for pointing this out!

Wise warning, especially since we know our waterways of all sizes are used for surreptitious disposal of every manner of disgusting thing.

White clover pudding recipe
[link to gathervictoria.com (secure)]

Last Edited by Pooka on 07/22/2019 11:51 PM

Cross-posting per request:

Folks talking about water for gardens, etc., might be interested in what we did here yesterday... I designed and built a Wirtz spiral pump using only parts from the hardware store... we launched it yesterday. It is in our little river right now, moving 20 gallons an hour over 450 feet from the river to our home. We shot video of the launch: [youtube] [link to youtu.be (secure)]

... I was so excited to see this thing work so well. We will use the water for cooling, for animals, and for the garden. No more paying for outside water!

A few thoughts from a lifelong prepper:

1. Eat what you store, store what you eat.

Be SURE that your gut is ok with the food you are storing. If this means doubling up on whatever canned / processed / packaged food you ALREADY eat, so be it. Most packaged food is good long after the expiration date... that date is more for profits and lawyers than anything else.


2. Have an ample supply of disposable plates and utensils. If things go sideways, scraping crusty food off of plates with precious water will be a bitch. Paper and foam plates and bowls are cheap. Get them now.

3. Light. LED lamps and flashlights are crazy cheap. Get twice as many as you think you need, and then double it. Darkness breeds depression, and stops nighttime productivity, reading, and social interaction. Very important.

4. Water, water, water. Did I say water? Not the 24-pack cases of bottled water, although those can be useful... I am talking about a way to store many hundreds of gallons. You will not believe how precious it is until it is measured by the ounce. Rainwater collection is brilliant if you can do it. 275 gallon totes ($50 on craigslist) are awesome. A manual pump to pull water from your well is a lifesaver. If you have a spring, river, pond, lake, whatever... think NOW about how you would retrieve and filter that water.

5. Security. Light, communication, and defense. SIMPLE FACT: if you thought ahead, and have preps, there is a literal walking army heading your way that wants to take it. Do NOT show light at night. Do NOT run a noisy generator. Do NOT let delicious cooking smells waft on the breeze unless you have perimeter security.

6. Blankets and nails. Yup. Covers windows to insulate from heat / cold and also provides light discipline.

7. Medical. Get basic first aid kits, and supplement with steri-strips, neosporin, quickclot, and shemags. Do not buy advanced medical stuff unless you know how to use it.

We have done this, with Venison. Venison is a good choice because it is so naturally lean, it is easy to dry it out to the point where there is almost zero fat content. I realize that we want fats, but stored meat is a dicey way to get it. You want the meat lean & dried until it is hard, like gravel (not kidding). After processing, if you squeeze a handful, it should be painful on the palm because the meat is THAT dry, THAT hard, and THAT much like gravel. Really.

This means you have almost pure protein, that stores for frikken EVER if you simply put it in a mason jar in a cool dark place. It absolutely requires rehydration and heat to be edible, but the flavor remains, and it is very tasty. We have found the best use is as a supplement to pasta sauces and chili. In both cases, you have plenty of hot liquid and other flavors and textures. Adding the Venison Gravel simply bulks it up, adding a lot of flavor and protein. It only takes a few minutes to rehydrate and soften as long as there is liquid, heat, and stirring.

I have eaten this after 7 years in storage, and it tastes the same as when we processed it. It is handy to have... you can almost think of it as something to bulk up any other liquidy meal.

Although it takes heat and mechanical energy to process, it does not require canning. Big difference, in both energy required and time / trouble.

BUT: if you really want storable, versatile protein, there is nothing like peanut butter. Really. You cannot store enough. Yes, it can separate over time (long time) but even then it is not rancid, it just needs to be re-incorporated. Peanut butter is one of the top ten prepper foods, and it is also a comfort food. Believe me, a soy cracker from an MRE is not tasty at all by itself. Smear peanut butter on it and it is awesome. Both in taste, texture, and needed protein.

Thanks for the info, as canned meat is costly.
Any ideas on crackers or similar for long term storage, A while back i looked at some crackers but they were too expensive. cannot recall the name sailor or something. I have the ingredients to make something, i would probably make flat bread?

Crackers won't store well, because they are starved for moisture, and will find a way. ;-)

You probably want to know how to make flatbread. Delicious, carby, and can be made to have the crunch that we tend to crave.

Here is an example: [link to rethinksurvival.com (secure)]

He mentions Steve Harris, who is a friend of mine and crazy knowledgeable, and a seriously good guy. Listen to what Steve says. ;-)

That is the conclusion i came to also.
Yea i thinking, I got a lot of soups, stews, chili ect.
Freeze dried and some have a high calories for the price, Like 25 cents a serving for 200 calories.
The veg stew from augaston farms tastes ok but if i add 1 can cambells or whatever to 6 or 8 serving it is way better meal extender. feeds the family on a can.

Thank you so much for bringing this to this thread - we have some very smart people on here who may wish to dive into your design to get themselves some badly-needed water!

Thank you for the information on using venison - seems a great plan if one has access to that meat!

I'm a peanut butter devotee and several of us were discussing this yesterday. I was blessed with a gift today, and some of it is going to stock peanut butter, within the next few days!

Anybody have experience/opinion on storing Walmart brand PB? Any reason not to? Please advise.

Excellent suggestions. I have a couple of things to add from my own experience:

1. Cheapest food that I have stored is from the restaurant supply. For example, 50 lb. bags of white rice, ditto for popcorn which can be ground into cornmeal. Both keep well because they are low moisture and low fat. I pack in the mylar bags inside of 6 gallon food grade buckets with a cup of diatomaceous earth and an oxygen absorber.

In my house we eat a lot of rice, tortillas, etc., so this is food that will never go to waste.

2. Ref water storage, you can ask at companies that use products such as hydrochloric acid (same stuff they call muriatic acid for swimming pools). Often, you can get the used drums. HCl is not poisonous, so you can wash out the drum a few times and have 55 gal. of water storage at no cost.

Beware of totes that may have had haz waste or whatever in them. I see them advertised cheap or free. At least with the drums, I know what was in them.

3. Water for the garden and fruit trees. Don't want to use my well or it could go dry. On my farm, aka The Brazoria County Mosquito Hatchery, every rain floods my pasture. I had a big pond dug that collects the water very well. Now, I can run pipe to the garden area.

I prefer to put money into things that make food. For example, stocking my pond with fish to catch when needed. Planting fruit trees. I am working on a new garden area to plant in Jerusalem Artichokes so I have food in the ground year round. I have goats in my pasture and chickens in the yard.

I have been prepping as a hobby for a long time.

BTW, I told Wifey yesterday, "I am going to put more food in storage. If SHTF all of my kids, nieces, et al, will show up here. At least they will make themselves useful".

I pray I never have to use what I have prepared!

Good to see you, Darth! Great recommendations and suggestions! Stocking your pond is very smart - fish requiring no preservation or freezing at this time, just ready to eat when needed. Smart indeed!

Jerusalem artichokes are so good to have - never starve with them on hand, and they just keep muliplying - never have to replant. Great stuff!

Love that you have a pond now, and can water garden from it - cannot afford well to run dry in summer, for sure!

Survival means water access. If you have water then you likely have critters living in that niche. You should consider crawdads (crayfish). Nobody will hassle you taking some mudbugs.

Don't forget to "purge" any such creature like limpets, periwinkles, crawdads, etc.

You empty out their digestive tract. You eat the body and tails of crayfish and have leftover for soup stock and scrap to bait traps and fish.

Don't waste nuthin'.

Crawfish are fresh water critters so you purge them in salt water and they empty their stomach contents and you clean 'em.

Here is very standard crayfish boil.