In a previous post, I showed a cobb oven made from mud in the land down under.

Now, I am going at an oven on my own property. It was planned for whilst building the Tuscan camo’d bunker. I set up the base and pured the concrete floor over a year ago. I poured the insulating vermiculite layer earlier this year. This week, I scored some almost 100 year old fire brick from work (tested out as non-hazardous), borrowed a harbor freight tile saw from a friend and started in earnest!

The oven diameter is about 41.5 inches and will have a finished interior height of about 19.5 inches. As one of the readers asked, are you going to cook a whole dear in it? The answer is – maybe

The goal is to get this thing completed by this Thursday/Friday so that I can get a fire in it and have a pizza on Thanksgiving with the family – we will see. I ran into a few problems due to breakage of tools and my anal retentive engineering behavior. Top it of with my slave/child labor rebelling (at first) and you get a union style work stoppage. That came to a quick halt!

As for the mortar recipe – 1 part fire clay, 1 part lime, 1 part Portland cement and 3 parts silica sand (fine/30 grit). Thoroughly mix and the stuff is sticky!

I have finished the first two rows (a soldier course and the first chain.) The soldier course has a 20 degree angle put in it. Each chain will be subsequently steeper. The trick right now is for me to get the opening completed before I get too much higher on the dome.

Keep your eyes peeled and be sure to wear your personal protective equipment – I blew through 4 sets of gloves and still have a few lime burns.

After opening the valve and checking to make sure my berms were up and the gophers were ready to be flooded (add maniacal evil genius laugh track here) I slipped off the mucker boots and wet socks and came in side to check my water inventory/ water storage. I know that we live on less than 1 gallon a day per person in my house. But for planning, I like to have an excess. So, 5 people, 110 gallons. 22 days of water. pretty simple. However, we also have the critters to consider. 3 dingo’s (aussie shepard/queensland healer mix) – need to have about 1 gallon a day for the dogs based on past experience = So water is now I have 18 days of water.

In either event, I am short water. We should have 30 days of water on hand. So I need 180 gallons which is 3 drums (165 gallons) plus 15 gallons of water bottles.

Here is my trick on water bottles. I get a few of the neighbors to save me 2 liter soda bottles. I wash with hot soapy water – for soap, I use simple green! Then I rinse 3 times with 1 cup of water per rinse. Then 1 ounce of hydrogen peroxide in the water swished around. and with the bottle cap on and upside down until filling time.

Then drain the peroxide, fill the bottle with Reverse Osmosis water (which I have in the kitchen) and treat with chlorine bleach. Please note, that for every 5 drops of chlorine, I add 1 drop ammonia to form a chloramine solution which is very stable in comparison to chlorine alone. Though, some people are sensitive to chloramine, so tread wisely.

To do the chloramine route, take your water, add the chlorine, close and shake the water bottle then add the ammonia. Do not mix the chlorine and ammonia together as you will probably get a reaction you do not like (and burns your lungs!)

A couple things about chlorine:
-Chlorine bleach has a shelf life of about 6 months, depending on temperature
-You should use the unscented stuff
-do not used any of the powdered stuff

As for the ammonia, please be sure to buy the unscented stuff – usually costs a buck for a half gallon at Wally World – one of the few places that carry it in my neck of the desert.

Please be sure to rotate your water supply! A friend of mine accidentally did not rotate his water and found out during a multiple day power outage that one drum of water resembled a duck pond! Fortunately, he had several others that were within date.

Setting up a rotation with drums is quite simple – go out and buy large labels from the office supply store, Put an expiration date on them and stick them on your drums. Then be sure you at least once a month you check your supplies.

The biggest pain in the ass was to find the rennet. I checked the local health food store, wal-mart and then Kroeger/Fry’s/Smith’s/Ralley’s… and found it at the last spot in the jello section.

After making mozzarella three times, I got used to just doping the milk with the rennet at prescribed levels and coagulating – however no one told me about the need to mix the damn rennet in for 1 minutes instead of dump it in and stir briefly. The resultant curds are so much better. Also from my experimenting, I found that using calcium chloride in the store bought milk does help as well.

I made mozzarella because it is a make and eat cheese with immediate results – a good one for practicing on! Yesterday, I decided on making a Farmers Caerphilly cheese. Aging two weeks, it is a pretty easy cheese to make and store. The goal of course is to get milk into a stable state for storage purposes and provide high nutrition when SHTF day comes. You see, I have a neighbor who owns a dairy around the corner. I have worked out a plan with him so all will be good.

In cheese making, you use a culture after warming up the milk to room temperature. In my case, I used a double boiler set up to stabilize the temp around 80 degrees. I have some cultured buttermilk which I added (1 oz per gallon milk.) To culture your buttermilk, get some fresh stuff, crack the lid and leave it on the counter over night – It should be really thick then. After culturing the milk for 1 hour, I added the rennet (1/4 teaspoon of vegetable rennet/gallon) stirred and let it sit for about 90 minutes. I cut the curd, stirred and let it sit for another hour, stirring at the beginning for about 5 minutes. The curds were cut into 1/2 inch cubes. I then drained the whey (fed it to the dogs who loved it) three times and added 4 grams of salt to help de-whey the curds further. Then I put the curds into a cheesecloth lined plastic bowl that I drilled holes into. I took the lid and cut it down to fit inside the bowl. I then pressed the cheese for several hours (1 movie) to get my hockey puck.

The Hockey puck was soaked in a brine solution (20% salt in water) for 12 hours – be sure to flip several times.) I let it dry and have stored it in my warm fridge – set at 50 F. So now we will see the results soon.

I have developed a cheese cooker using normal stuff around the house and a harbor freight mini submersible pump ($12). This rig is used to ensure the best quality temp control out there at a pretty reasonable price. I will be testing the rig soon as I have a few other projects to deal with.

Remember – September in the US is preparedness month.

Summer is almost over and I have been spending time with the young folks in the house teaching them survival skills in the mountains of Arizona. Then after that, we went to visit the land of fruits and nuts (Southern California) for some sadly needed R&R at the beach. My daughter loved it and I was able to teach the kids how to ocean fish – my son caught a macarel and daughter caught a juvi crab. Using anchovies was fun as they were not used to seeing bait like that.

So, where were we from my last post.

Oh yeah, the idiot in chief, President Ego, mr blame, Obama has yet to take any responsibility for his lack of action for the past 18 months. Working actively to shut down the gulf coast, he has been effective, which highlights his lack of leadership and talking head status. I cannot wait for November to get rid of the puppets running congress. I personnally believe that congress should be of the opposite party of the president as we are first hand witnesses of the stupidity of this administration. Or should I say – INCOMPETENCE! Yeah, you were on scene from the beginning – recovering bodies, not worrying about oil. Could not make a call for over 80 days to BP.

Again Mr. Obama, you need to resign. Biden would be a better leader – at least he takes responsibility for sticking his wingtip into his pie hole! You on the other hand are truly narcissistic. And yes Mr. President, your shit does stink – just like your friggin community organizing background and buddies from Chicago. You took an oath to protect the constitution, yet you are working to dismantle. You and your weakling administration does not have the guts to protect the borders. The libs protecting you keep saying this is a Human Rights Issue – well, if it is, then deal with it in Mexico and Central America. The illegals are draining the system faster than you can spend money on looser green projects (and I have been doing green longer than you have had your fake degree from college.) Liar

If you are are a regular reader, we will be going back to urban survival topics. This administration makes me nauseous and disrespects everything that my family has fought for since the 1700s!

We will be going into making foods like Cheese and other goodies from raw materials so that you can survive the impending implosion due to financial irresponsibility that this admin keeps ramming down our throats.

We are using a modified Square foot gardening method. You see, the soil here in AZ has a bunch of clay. When mixed right with manure, compost and peet, we have a pretty sweet mix. It also has a tendency to neutralize the acids in the manure quickly. Another thing is that our compost took a while to get to compost quality as I left it for my middle son to manage. Come to find out, if I was not standing over him, the pile did not get turned, so we just had a bunch of lawn clippings sitting in a pile. Argh!

As mentioned, we made a composter out of a drum, 2×4′s and casters. We learned a few valuable lessons, which will only be shared with the SUBSCRIBERS of USS in an upcoming issue. We will also discuss planting and harvesting, along with a few other goodies to make sure that survival planning is a year round event that is really easy on you.

A funny thing while at Home Depot today. Looks like everyone is getting in on the Square Foot Gardening. HD even had the SFG bagged dirt mix for $12.95! About 3 x more expensive than what it costs me to make. Anyhow, when looking at the planter they built, it was well constructed. At first, I noticed the color of the wood and did a double take. One of the vendors in the gardening section said that they Homer who built it used pressure treated lumber! PT lumber is a no-no as it will kill the vegetation and will poison the harvest! The vendor also mentioned that they have had some problems with plant survival. I will be back next week to get a good laugh.

If you are wondering what to plant for your garden, get a hold of your local land grant university and ask them for a planting guide. Here in AZ. the University of Arizona (my school) publishes for each county and region. It is a nice guide which tells you when to plant and whether you should be planting transplants, seeds or cuttings. NICE!

Well enough for now.

Today was a great day for me and I hope it was for you as well.  Have you ever noticed how your outlook changes when a really positive attitude is happening?

Barring the Health Care Fiasco that the Liberals are pushing (Special Interest CRAP in my mind) I felt that things were really good today and fall is finally in the air.  So, be an ant and get to your food storage.

One thing to think about is this – where to get supplies for your basic storage for good prices.  You can get into a coop or other buying group – that is if the others are diligent.   You can go it alone, then do all the packaging, etc.  Another tact is to use a secret source which is right in front of most of you. No, it is not the government – Yeach!

The source I am talking about is the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (Mormon’s).  Please, lets not get into a philosophical discussion on religion.  Our country is based on the freedom of religion, plain and simple.

So, how do you use this source?  You probably know a Mormon or two, so it is really easy.  Ask them about food storage.  Interesting thing is that they are most likely able to discuss it or knows someone who can discuss it at length.  Then you can ask about getting supplies.  Most congregations (wards or branches) have orders which come from the cannery.  You can purchase items like dehydrated apples, potato pearls, and other grains in #10 cans or Mylar sacks.  Typically, there is an oxygen absorber pack in it as well.

Heck, if there is a LDS cannery near by, you can even voulenteer to assist in a packaging job and buy supplies.

The person to check with is the Relief Society President (get her number from the Bishop or the Branch President).  Then ask her about the food storage program – she will get you in touch with a specialist who can assist in planning your storage needs if needed.

Don’t worry, they will not require you to get baptized or go through some secret ritual just to purchase food!  They will stay in touch with you if you ask on upcoming orders though and actually treat you nicely!

• Basic Storage – has long term storage items like grains, water, toiletries
• Emergency Storage – has your items for your 72 hour kit
• Expanded Storage – these are items likes spices and herbs, baking soda and similar things with a shelf life.

We’ll further explore things for you storage in future issues.  Until then.  Remember to work on your debt!

Whole wheat is abundant and inexpensive.  I recently saw a bucket of whole wheat for about $0.45/lb being sold at Costco.  If you buy it on the spot market (thousands of bushels) you will pay about $0.10 pound plus shipping – just hope you have a grain silo!

Our society in general eats way too much processed foods.  White flour, refined sugar, corn syrup – yuk!  My wife and I were talking about our diets as kids.  she and her family ate alot of refined foods and did OK as the kids were outside all of the time. Fat kids in the 70s – ha!  Where as I was eating a pretty good imitation of the Mediterranean diet due to Dads hypertension and living the California lifestyle.  What has happened was the intro of computer games with processed foods and childhood obesity has exploded.  Want further evidence?  Go to any Indian Reservation (I live be several).  Diabetes is skyrocketing and obesity is prevalent.  Why – white flour, sugar and corn syrup in their diets, along with decreasing exercise!

While you ponder that, lets discuss adding whole wheat (a whole grain) to your diet.

Whole wheat (Try Spelt if you have a wheat allergy, but check with your doctor first) is a grain with the bran left on.  Remove the bran and you get just the germ which makes white flour.

Starting to eat whole wheat can cause your body to be gassy – you need to slowly introduce by increasing the whole wheat in small quantities.

Start with mixing a whole wheat flour with white flour at 1/3 to 2/3 whole wheat to white.

When I do pizza crust, I do a 50:50 blend to lighten up the crust!  I do this also because whole wheat is heavier than white.

When moving over to whole wheat, remember, that since it is heavier, you need to add extra leavening (what make the stuff rise)  With yeast, you will need to give an additional 30 minutes of rise time (do not forget to add a little sugar to boost the efficiency of the yeast – 1 teaspoon should do).  For recipes with baking powder, add one teaspoon additional BP for every 3 cups whole wheat flour.  If you are using baking soda, no adjustments are needed (but I still use a pinch extra!)  For baked goods using eggs, separate the eggs, beat the whites until stiff peaks form and gently fold in.  If this baked goodie is still to heavy/dense, add an additional egg white!

You can also take whole wheat grain (not the flour) and cook it on a stove.  Mix at the ratio of 1 cup wheat to 3 cups of flour.  Bring water to a boil, add the wheat, lower to a simmer.  Cook for 1 hour.  You can eat it like oatmeal.

Another good use is as a hamburger extender.  We used to sneak it into the kids hamburgers when they were being picky eaters.  Smash it up and add to your hamburger.  Works great in spaghetti sauce, sloppy goes, in lasagna and other casseroles and in burger patties!

Take time and play with your recipes.  whole grains can help with your overall health and lighten the burden on your bank account..

Until next time, I bid you Peace!

5 lb bag of rice

5 lb bag o beans (your choice)

1 pound of salt.

Now,  Another thing to do. Water storage.  If you have friends (or yourself)  who drink soda from 2 liter bottles, get them to save the bottles and caps.  Wash them out with warm soapy water and rinse with hot water three times.  Now fill them up and store them in a cool place.  Do not forget to put about 2 drops per quart/liter of non-scented bleach in them for storage.  According to the USEPA, you should use about 8 drops per gallon for clear water and up to 16 drops per gallon if it is murky (not our situation as we are prepared!)

Please remember two things- 1.  Bleach has a shelf life of 12 to 16 months depending upon storage conditions.  It is shorter if it is hot where you store the bleach.  2.  Replace your water every 6 months.

If you are storing water in large quantities, it is 1/8th of a teaspoon (8 drops) per gallon of water to be stored.  for a 55 gallon drum filled within 1 inch of the top (always leave some space!) you will need – 6.75 teaspoons = 1 and 1/8 ounces – not a whole lot!  There are kits out there for long term storage as well.  Look them up!

Take care and build your stockpile!

Beans should be a key component in your food storage and emergency/disaster kits. You need to be storing and using Beans on a frequent basis for several reasons. First is that they are an inexpensive form of protein. Second, when teamed with rice (brown) it is a whole protein replacement. You should have a 5 to 1 ratio of rice to beans at a minimum. (if I am wrong about this, please chime in!) Also, beans will last in your food storage for years, while jerkey and other meats are good for a much shorter period (nutritional value drops rapidly.) Another reason is that if you do not use beans in your diet, in emergency situations your bowels and neighbors will not like you for the gas you will produce. This is because of a sugar within the beans that some people do not digest well. If you take time to put beans in your diet, you will be able to digest the beans efficiently and with little gas!

Beans are easy to cook and are great as long as you know the secrets. Yes, I will tell you them now so that they are no longer a secret!

Cleaning your beans – you’d think you would not have to worry about cleaning the beans, but you are wrong. Most every bag I have purchased had a stone or two in them. Just spread a cup within a pot lid or large flat bowl or table top and pick through them. Make sure to get rid of any beans that look bad/discolored as well. Dump the cleaned beans into a pot and continue until done with one pound.

Rinse the beans two or three times with clean cool water.

Cooking your beans: To make it easy on you, you should soak the beans overnight in hot water. To accomplish this, add one pound of beans to a pot, add 2 tablespoons of salt in 6 cups of Very Hot water. Pour over beans, cover and let sit overnight. You are now ready to cook the beans the next day – just drain, quickly rinse. Again, add 6 cups of water with 2 tablespoons of salt and bring to a gentile boil. Cook for two hours. (Now for the secret!) When you add water to keep the beans covered, add it as boiling water. IF you add cold water to the boiling water, your beans will be tough! Also, add a tablespoon of oil to keep the foam down.

Old Hard Beans Sometimes you don’t use your beans quickly enough or you just plain forget about them – I just found a can of beans that are 6 years old, Yikes! To revive your beans, Clean as above and then follow these instructions:

For every cup of dried beans, add 2 1/2 cups of very hot water and 1 tablespoon of baking soda. Allow to soak over night. Drain and rinse two or three times. Cook as above in an open pot.

If you have a pressure cooker – it should take 20 to 25 minutes to cook the beans!

Notes: If you are adding spices/herbs to your beans, add half at the beginning and half with about 30 minutes left. Do not add any additional salt to your beans until they are fully cooked, as they will get tough. Be sure to add a variety of beans to your food storage / emergency/ disaster preparedness kits. They are cost effective and a great source of nutrition.

beans, Survival, emergency kit, disaster kit, food storage, cooking, rice