Growing staple food

[Pineapple]

Very interesting thread. My son, who is 11, would love it. He was working on a "squirrel trap" last year, hoping to supplement our family's pantry. We live in the city, so it wasn't entirely practical (or legal, I suppose), but it also wasn't effective, so we didn't pester him much.

[Lambsy]

Very interesting thread. My son, who is 11, would love it. He was working on a "squirrel trap" last year, hoping to supplement our family's pantry. We live in the city, so it wasn't entirely practical (or legal, I suppose), but it also wasn't effective, so we didn't pester him much.

I heard squirrels carry plague and rabies in the USA.

Well theres a snare for every situation. The pole snare works on possums here, but I found one on the net for squirrels. You set the snare up on a timber pole and lean the pole against a tree. A possum or squirrel will prefer to use the gently sloping pole, rather than a direct vertical climb from the base.



Your son may need to get a trappers permit, and brush up on some techniques. There are trappers schools in the USA if your son wants to make a career out of it.

Every kid needs to know how to trap, its an invaluable skill, and gives kids a good appreciation of nature.

[Lambsy]

Lentils and split peas are good to store for a long time, its worth growing peas and lentils because of the hunger killing power they have. Adding a small amount of these to soups, makes the soups very substantial. And you can feed alot of people.
The protein levels are high, so you can conserve meat stores for a very long time as well.



Add to this barley and sorghum, and some fresh beans.

A good way of preserving meat to use in your soups, is a brine method.

Cut strips of lean meat, inch thick and soak in brine ( Water with salt) for two days in your fridge. You can add flavors to the brine,pepper, celery, onions, garlic, vinegar. The salt takes the flavors into the meat with it.

Then just take the long strips and hang them out to dry. A piece of fencing wire run through the top of the strips and the rest hangs down. After they are dry, cover them so the dust doesn't settle on them to much.

When you need to make a soup you just cut chunks of dry meat off the strip into the boiling water. You don't need to add salt to your boiling water, because the salt comes out of the meat as it falls apart.

I like a little bit of fat on the strips, it adds to the flavor, but if you are worried about the fat turning, boil the soup a bit longer.

If you are treking these are the best foods you can take with you, you can carry three weeks of food on your back easily. Provided you have access to water, and can make a fire, dehydrated food gives you a very long range.

A small pot, a mug, a spoon, and a knife, and thats your tucker kit.

[JIP]

Hey Lambsy you should really have a talk show of your own.

Your tips comes handy

[Bloodbought]

Thanks for the advice Lamsby.

Tommorow morning I will be making soup. The barley lentils and peas etc have been soaking in water all day. I dont use meat since my wife is alergic to animalfats I will use stock cubes instead and add turnip, carrot, leek and onion with some taragon

[Lambsy]

Thanks for the advice Lamsby.

Tommorow morning I will be making soup. The barley lentils and peas etc have been soaking in water all day. I dont use meat since my wife is alergic to animalfats I will use stock cubes instead and add turnip, carrot, leek and onion with some taragon

You might want to grow some Purslane, aka (Pigweed), its a mediterrainian plant that produces its own Omega- 3 fatty acids. It can be used in salads and normal cooking. Purslane is high in Vitamin A & C, and high in organic Iron, it is and excellent companion to potatoes, onions, corn, cabbage, and cauliflower.

Its actually quite funny, if you feed chickens purslane, their eggs become loaded with Omega 3s. Chickens love purslane, they hit it like it was icecream, they seem to instinctively know that it is good for them.

There are certain plants that I boil in my soups just to get the minerals out of them. Purslane and Alfalfa are at the very top of this list.
Alfalfa because it is very deep rooted, can reach deep layers in the subsoil, and can get minerals that other shallow rooted plants can't reach.
Iron, potasium,sodium, silicon, magnesium, and many more.

I can't rave on about this stufff enough, especially as it has 19% protein, compared to 16% in beef. And it has all the spectrum of vitamins and minerals, and stuff we just don't understand yet.

Alfalfa is a natural source of Vitamin B12, the other source is comfrey.