Showing posts with label off the grid. Show all posts
Showing posts with label off the grid. Show all posts

Saturday, January 26, 2008

World Food Supply Is Shrinking~~~save your seeds!

More food doom news, sent in by Dennis:

Wheat Hits Record As Global Demand Depletes Supply!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

World Food Supply Is Shrinking

If that doesn’t wake you the up, then this might:

Monsanto wants to own the DNA of the food you eat, making the seeds you buy sterile. They have taken steps in court and law to give them ownership through the twisted ideas of privatization

So here’s what I want everyone to do. Go plant some food. Don’t buy anything from my company. Go plant as much as you can so you can feed yourself when the shortages or ridiculous food prices hit your supermarket shelf and you find yourself having to do without. Learn how to plant, harvest and store your food from season to season and set aside enough for those times when things just go wrong as they often do.

You need about 1,058,500 calories (per adult) for a moderately active lifestyle, more if you think farming is going to be harder then this, less if you think you can just coast through the collapse. To be safe, you should plan to harvest at least 1,606,000 calories per adult. This means you really need to grow at least 20% more then this to account for production and crop losses (a conservative figure). Don’t forget to save 5% for seeds, and don’t forget the open-pollinated varieties, or you won’t have any viable seeds next year.

If you think you’re going to have to feed someone else, or would like to, add these figures into your calculations and increase your planned production.

Your also going to need quite a few other things too, such as land, water, soil, sunshine and fertilizer / compost and some tools. There are many good sources available on the Internet to find out more. Don’t forget your storage needs, root crops will either be canned (buy a large pressure cooker and Mason jars) and stored in a root cellar. There are a few good books I can recommend if you’ve never done this.

For those of you living in the cities without land (what Deek calls ‘landless peasants’), you might consider finding some abandoned land or lots you can “share crop”. A good guard dog or night watchman might be necessary.

Start looking down the road on the water situation too. I’m confounded on how the water is going to get to the garden if the lights go out. Buckets work, but it might be a long haul from the creek or reservoir, if you’ve got one (if you don’t, move). Rain barrels are still legal in some states, although some really stupid legislation has been proposed to outlaw these. Use them while you still can.

Get started now. It takes years of experience to actually grow enough food to even meet a portion of your actual needs, so don’t delay, time is short.


The issue of seed storage is complex, and completely depends on the species, each species has unique optimum pre-storage and storage conditions. With regard to freezing seeds for longevity - this depends on species and the moisture content. In general, the lower the moisture content the less cellular disruption, but each species has an ideal moisture content for germination/viability. In general I wouldn’t ‘plan’ on going there - even if a ‘freezer’ can be assured on remaining on constantly. Once thawed - or partially - forget about it. There is NO simple/easy one size fits all solution.
Species Compendium Database

Here’s a page pull for tomato , although as someone pointed out, tomatoes won’t be a great survival food...
~~~~~~~~~~~some very good resources below!~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
save our seed
seedsaver
Seed Saving and Seed Savers Resources
Mother Earth News: Saving Seeds

(special thanks to Lonewolf for this information. Send him a donation through PayPal (mcmurtry@3riversdbs.net), he’s too polite to ask for it and I guarantee, he can use it. A lot of information found on this blog has been sourced or contributed here by Lonewolf.)
special thanks forsurvival acres http://survivalacres.com/wordpress/?cat=4 for use of this blog!!!!THANK YOU.

bETTY~~~Simply Southern

Tuesday, December 4, 2007

Make your own biodiesel,Soaps,Detergents,Mud oven,

This blog to dedicated to a few do it yourself (DIY)projects that can proove to very useful and inexpensive at your home!With today's economy ,we could all benifit from that.Try a few .Let me know what you think about it or if you have a different way of doing these or others..your imput is valued..

your own biodiesel! sound out there?REALLY? Gas is topping 3.00 a gallon and experts in the field are forecasting that soon it will sky rocket.The price's going down right now will not last,and when they rise again ,gas will be higher!
So if you think this may be right for you..give it a shot.If directions are followed,seems reasonably easy and i certainly am not a chemist but i do think i can do it.I am going to attempt it very soon.Then i'll just have to pick up an old diesel engine before this trend catches on and they want be cheap anymore! With this seems like ,the older the model the better!And the frugal side of me loves that idea..
anyway go check it out.Step by step easy directions.Make sure you read this in it's entirity and study it before you attempt...GOOD LUCK!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~DIY BIODIESEL! CHEAP GAS!!!~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Anybody can make biodiesel. It's easy, you can make it in your kitchen -- and it's BETTER than the petro-diesel fuel the big oil companies sell you. Your diesel motor will run better and last longer on your home-made fuel, and it's much cleaner -- better for the environment and better for health. If you make it from used cooking oil it's not only cheap but you'll be recycling a troublesome waste product. Best of all is the GREAT feeling of freedom, independence and empowerment it will give you. Here's how to do it -- everything you need to know.
Journey to forever-make your own biodiesel!click here
journey to forever homepage!

Copyright of all original material on this website is the property of Keith Addison, unless otherwise stated, and may be copied and distributed for non-commercial education purposes only as long as the source of the material is stated and a reference to the Journey to Forever website URL is included ....

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~DIY SOAP!!!!!~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Kitchen Soap Making

handmade soap from your kitchenThe information on these pages will enable you to make soap in your own kitchen.

By following our instructions, using the recipes provided, you will be able to make a soap bar that will surpass all your expectations.

Your own handmade soap will undoubtedly feel better on your skin than just about any commercial soap you can buy, regardless of the purchase price.

You can take part in a phenomenon that is sweeping the world; the need to create a product that is as good, if not better than we remember from the past.

It also provides you with the opportunity to revive one of the skills that we have lost from our communities because of our reliance on multinational companies to provide many of our basic needs.

Be sure to read all of the instructions, including the safety instructions, thoroughly, before attempting to make your first batch of soap.
red gum soaps!click here and make your own!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~DIY LAUNDRY DETERGENT!!!~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I hope by now everyone knows that regular old laundry detergents you buy in the supermarket are made from petroleum. Yep, the same stuff that powers your car. Why would you want to wash your clothes in that stuff? Although there are good alternatives available at stores like Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s, you can make your own for much cheaper from basic ingredients.

First, the ingredients:

1/2 Cup Washing Soda
1 Cup Grated Fels Naptha Soap
1/2 Cup Borax

Yep, that’s it…the three ingredients to make highly effective laundry detergent. First you want to grate/shred the bar of Naptha soap. You can use a cheese grater for this. If the pieces are not coming out small enough, you can be brave and use the food processor in the kitchen. And before you say “no way, all that soap!”….what do you think you wash the food processor with? Then combine the other 2 ingredients with the soap and you are done. You can then put it in a glass jar with a lid, preferably a recycled one like a spaghetti sauce bottle. For lighter loads, you can use 1 to 1.5 tablespoons and for heavy loads use 2 to 2.5 tablespoons.

The total cost comes out to equal about .15 cents per laundry load…not bad! Plus, you are using one less petroleum product in your house, which is good for everyone.

GOOD HUMAN! CLICK HERE!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~DIY MUD OVEN! THEY ARE GREAT!~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Here's a way to have pizzas and loaves baked in your backyard. You can build your own mud oven — they are surprisingly easy to make. The main ingredients are sand, clay and water. Here are some
instructions for constructing the mud oven seen above. See these step-by-step photos: Part 2. Here are some tips on make your oven more efficient.
Mud oven Project - technical notes.


Basic oven is a simple, dome shaped shell of mud and sand
we built a simple one layer oven - however you can build up to 3 layers
dense thermal layer
less dense layer with straw
finish layer
to figure how big to make the oven - start off with deciding how often and for what you will be using it. lay out loaf/pizza pans to see how big a circle you need to contain it - thats how big the oven needs to be.
location of site - you need to think about:

HANDY PROJECTS! CLICK FOR DIRECTIONS

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~massage bar~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A solid massage bar is an easy and convenient
way to give or get a good massage.

1/2 cup cocoa butter
1/8 teaspoon vitamin E oil
1 tablespoon coconut oil
23-25 drops of your favorite essential oils or a blend of oils
1 massage bar mold or any favorite mold

Melt the cocoa butter over very low heat and add the coconut oil. Remove and add the remaining ingredients. Stir well and add to your mold. Let harden and remove from mold. Place in the freezer to quicken the hardening. Keep in a cool place. Let cure 1 week before use.
readers!!!! a quick note,there are lots of diy recipes here! some would also be great to give as gifts..I love this site.highly recommend...betty

p v soap!this recipe and more!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
That's all for tonight.I sincerely hope you enjoy these sites.I wish for you peaceful dreams ,peace and contentment and blessings from above...

betty