Home Front: bean and rice survival soup

A while back I secured a copy of the impressive and practical goldmine of prepping projects: 

 NO GRID Survival Projects (How To Produce Everything You Need on Your Property) by Amber Robinson, Claude Davis, and James Walton

One of the included projects was a long term storage meal of Rice and beans, Bean and Rice Soup. After collecting and portioning out the ingredients into 1.5L long term storage jars. They then sat under my desk for some months until I  realized I hadn't even tested it.

One of the important things to do with any food-prep items are to test it in a non-crisis to ensure you'll want to eat it in the event of a crisis. 

So I set about making a batch of this. The soup is remarkably simple, the first stage is the bean mix: Brown beans, white beans, lentils, split peas, chickpeas.(370g/ 13oz)  These go on with plenty of water (3L/3qt) to boil. Next in goes in the spice and seasonings mix:

Bullion cubes, garlic and onion powder, cumin, salt and pepper and dried mushroom, dried tomatoes. This cooks on low until the beans all soften up. At this point there was still a fair amount of water in the pot and the rice goes(210g 7 1/2 oz)  in. The soup was tasty if watery at this stage but the addition of the rice soon thickened it up into a very solid stew. I ladled myself out a healthy serve and got stuck in.  It was delicious, filling and hearty. 

I went back for seconds and had leftovers for lunch AND dinner the next day. This "quarter ration" ( being half of one of two jars I had made up, and it served 6 hefty servings. I was a little concerned that such a legume rich meal would lead to intestinal distress or gas but no such occurrence developed. 

I call this a resounding success. Admittedly it was a long cook-time ( several hours) and used a lot of water, but turned very cheep and light ingredients into a lot of very tasty food. I wouldn't call the end result a soup by any stretch of the imagination, it's a stew or pottage. The 1.5 kg jar of dry mix serves 12

The re-stocked and sealed jars are going into my prepping cache and the No Grid Survival Projects book is going into high rotation. 

Review: Propper 19/67 notebook

 I've been a big fan of digital documentation for quite some time. I was an early adopter of PDA's, with Palm Pilot V and Mitac Mio-168 before settling on iPhones ... Before then I was a firm user of Filofax binders.

Sometimes there is just no substitute for dead-tree edition. Propper were kind enough to send me a set of pocket-sized notebooks in my recent delivery, and I've had one sitting along side my iPhone in my Hazard4 Escape RG harness and beside my passports.

There are times where you just need to be able jot some thoughts down in a way that you can share, or destroy, easily. Take these notes and map: I've got a map, shopping list, a to-do and task management right there. 

I could tear this page out, and take it with me, pass it to a friend, eat, burn or whatever.

The 48 pages are grid printed, and whilst the grids aren't either in fractional cm or inch increments, they are nicely uniform and pleasant to write on. They aren't waterproofed like the pages of a Rite in the Rain notepad, and could even be used as kindling, in a pinch.

Notepads, still not a dead technology, and better yet, they never run our of battery or need software upgrades.

Review: Weed Forager's Handbook

I was very lucky that for my birthday, a most lovely lady friend of mine gifted me with a most marvelous book.

She knows of my proclivity for self-sufficiency and likewise has an eye for it herself. She had been on a series of Edible Weed walks and workshops, run here in urban Melbourne, and thought to buy me the accompanying book:
The Weed Forager's Handbook:
"A Guide to Edible and Medicinal Weeds in Australia"

Full of full colour photos and classically rendered botanical illustrations, this 166 page manual contains detailed edibility and medicinal notes on 20 common weeds, that can be found in my local area, and in most regards, Western urban environments. the book itself is small enough to fit easily in a cargo-pants pocket, and even a back-pocket. Great for those foraging trips around the neighborhood. 

I've made several meals containing greens I have sourced from on or around my home, in the laneway and up and down the nature strip of my quiet suburban street.

As well as the main 20, there are  another 14 short profiles of useful plants. Each of the listings comes with tales from history and folklore regarding the plants, as well as a good introduction to known poisonous plants hat should NOT be harvested.

I knew nettles were edible, but didn't know how to harvest and prepare them, and they are delightful!
Likewise, dandelions and wild lettuce grow around my house, and they have also made it onto the table, in soups and stews, and even as a boost to salads.

This book by Adam Grubb and Annie Raser-Rowland has added to my spread of knowledge with regards putting good food on the table, and even though I might have had to sneak it past the finicky teenager, I like to think that I am adding to the nutritional bounty of our otherwise distant farm and supermarket sourced food.

It also never hurts to know what will make a needful addition to the pot, should the shops be bare and the roads closed!

Wish Lust: books - The Knowledge

Its been a little while since I have done a book-review, which is a bit poor on my part, as there is a lot of preparation, survival and readiness material out there, and you are remiss if you rely only on the ephemeral and transient internet for this kind of learning and discovery.

My last report on this was to discuss the  Guide, Canning, Freezing, Curing & Smoking for meat keeping, Tan Your Hide! for turning skins into leather, The Urban Homestead for its down-home DIY ideas and Toolbox for Sustainable City Living for more of the same.

Several people have now suggested I check out this best-seller listed book, by Lewis Dartnell, "The Knowledge: How to rebuild our world from scratch"

I haven't sourced a copy yet, but from the excerpts and reviews I have read and been recommended, I think it will certainly be right up my, and perhaps your alleys. Here's what the website has to say for it...

"Maybe it was a viral pandemic, or an asteroid strike, or perhaps nuclear war. Whatever the cause, the world as we know it has ended and you and the other survivors must start again.

What key knowledge would you need to start rebuilding civilisation from scratch?
The Knowledge is a journey of discovery, a book which explains everything you need to know about everything. This is a quick-start guide for rebooting civilisation which will transform your understanding of the world – and help you prepare for when it’s no longer here…"

I'll add that the website also expands on the book, and the author has not been resting on their laurels, and has been adding content and links to other similar works. I get the feeling that he really cares about the topic, and it's not just a "publish or die" project but rather a central passion. I was impressed, and can;t wait to have a read myself. 

Home Front: Book Learning - homesteading

Taking a step back from all the boo-yah, of military style packs, pouches and things that go "stab" in the night, I thought it would be useful to do a quick review of some of the literature that I've read and plan to or have been utilising, both in preparedness, and also in recovery from a potential society-changing disaster. Not only that though, these are things that can improve your day-to-day life, if you're into that kind of thing. I have some other friends of similar ilk, Mr Not an Urban Hippie for one, who like to get into this kind of thing: growing, preparing and preserving ones own food, for fun, economy and satisfaction. The fact that he and I share common interests such as adventuring, Japanese martial arts, and raising families is encouraging, if for no other reason, that I know I'm not the only one.

I digress. The kinds of knowledge and skills that are called for to do this kind of thing, seem to be the kinds of things that many of us urbanites either ignore, have never considered, or assume that "someone else will do that for me". Take a visceral example: Meat. Where does meat come from? The story goes that a school kid asked that question innocently answers "the supermarket", and when pressed as to -where- the meat, the actual flesh comes from, answers, "umm, a cow? on a farm?" The same could be said for "bread" or "your shoes".

Well, I like to know how to do this kind of thing myself. Because it's fun to know how, to make things, and it might just be hands some day. I've previously talked about preserving (canning, mostly) and growing our own food items as well as training and practicing "survivalism" and "useful skills" which leads me to the main focus of this post: Where do you go to learn "homesteading"? I myself have turned to books! Four of the book I have used to teach myself how to do some things are pictured here; Guide, Canning, Freezing, Curing & Smoking for meat keeping, Tan Your Hide! for turning skins into leather, The Urban Homestead for its down-home DIY ideas and Toolbox for Sustainable City Living for more of the same.

Perhaps these are "too simple", "too hippy" or "too out there" for your needs, but I want to have an understanding of not only what I don't know, what I do know, but also to have tools at hand to educate those around me. Electricity is a tenuous resource, those of you who have visited third world nations can attest to that. Books, whilst delicate in their own way, are power-independent. I'll be sad, come the EMP, the power station/lines being out or apocalypse, if you are unable to read my blog, and that I won't be able to continue my postings, but having a stash of books with valuable knowledge at hand will be a comfort. Sitting back at home whilst everything is fine, reading up on "how things are made" or planning out my next urban homestead improvement, making delicious and lasting foods.

So, for those of you who didn't grow up on farms, or had parents, or grandparents who taught you all "the old tricks" but still want to be able to do all the "old timey" for when you can no longer just order a pizza delivery online, or duck to the 7-Eleven for that whatsit, I heartily recommend finding yourself a selection of "how-to" book, comparing, contrasting, and trialing out their techniques, suggestions and finding what works for you, and your situation, before there is no choice. It's fun, informative and very satisfying.