Sustainability vs Survivalist

Lord Skimper wrote:As a side note the solar still does work when it is really cold, it is best to use a black plastic like a garbage bag and one doesn't need water rather just relying on the local snow or permafrost. This is a method often used for digging in permafrost and if you have a cup lets you get fresh water at the same time. If you have 50+ garbage bags you can set up a lot of these and make enough water. works even at -30.

Solar stills are not efficient though and a day of this may only produce half a cup. It does work for boiling water on a fire though and some will make a still cap for a boiling water pot to capture the steam and make enough fresh water faster. Copper is used to kill the contaminants in the water.

An UV light also works for killing bacteria.

And you can get uv light from sunlight. Put water in an clean empty clear plastic or glass container, lay on its side in sunlight all day. This will kill germs but will not affect chemical contamination.

Here in Wisconsin the surface water is frozen in winter. All of it. All winter long. Hence snow. Or knocking down the big Dr Zhivago icicles that develop on our house in winter, especially on the northwest side. If I have to chose between risking air pollution in my snow melt or dying of thirst... just sayin'

"Solutions From Science" is a money making scheme. However, although too expensive for me, some of their ideas can make interesting DIY projects. One is the concentrating fast solar cooker. Just from looking at it, it uses a 10:1 ratio concentrating mirror focused on a large diameter evacuated tube. Probably best for shish - kabob types of cooking. The concentration would only work well on sunny days.

Evacuated tubes with both ends open: search on "evacuated tube both open."

A approx. 4:1 concentrator with about 40 deg acceptance angle can be made from flat mirrors: Mount two mirrors at right angles to make a retro reflector. Place a collecting tube of the right size where it collects: direct light, one-bounce light from each mirror, double bounce light on the back side. It is mounted off center by one diameter and even with the front edges of the mirrors. This would be easier to sketch than to explain verbally.

Those interested might look into the work on sustainable agriculture. Successful work is being done on perennial grains, intensive gardening, aquaculture, seawater greenhouses, and management intensive grazing, that I know about.

Properly done, it is possible to use humans to improve an ecology, provided they don't try to keep it all for themselves. For example, the MIGrazing has a side effect: it puts large amounts of carbon into the soil.

Very interesting. Does anyone know it?:

http://www.survivalmd.com/tsl/

DDHv wrote:Those interested might look into the work on sustainable agriculture. Successful work is being done on perennial grains, intensive gardening, aquaculture, seawater greenhouses, and management intensive grazing, that I know about.

Properly done, it is possible to use humans to improve an ecology, provided they don't try to keep it all for themselves.

Indeed. Another interesting one to search, including on utube is live fodder systems, live fodder biscuits etc. This is soaking grain over night then sprouting it in trays and growing it over a few days, usually six, then feeding it to stock. Any livestock. They get more nutrition from it and it is a fresh living food. They also like it. We don't keep livestock here, but if we did I would be trying this.

There is a lot of interesting stuff being explored. I'm hoping more of it catches on.

For those wanting to try butchering their own venison or pork or whatever from lamb to partridges I recommend the utube videos of The Scott Rea Project. Scott is a traditional Brit butcher and pretty good home cook. His videos are clear and to the point. And not at all intimidating or fancied up. Why give your deer to someone else to butcher when you can do it and know the deer you put in your freezer, etc. is actually your deer, not some other person's?

http://www.makeherbalmedicines.com/inde ... G_MHM_Jan8

When was the last time you heard of a doctor recommending licorice root for the treatment of ulcers or stomach problems? Their choice of treatment has been Tagamet. Even when research studies proved that licorice root was a more effective cure for ulcers than Tagamet, doctors still made Tagamet the most frequently prescribed drug in history.

Etc. I've read of one community which is deliberately planning to have knowledge of herbals there, in case of emergency breaking down the supply route.

Could You Help
Your Family
If A Crisis Closed
Your Drug Store?

I wonder if we could get DW to make a short story covering survival in Siddermark right after the Sword of Schueler strike. Many people have survived just because they knew that grass, clover, alfalfa, etc. are edible. Some learned this from a fiction story. Of course Safehold has many differences, but an interesting story could include many survival hints.

BTW, Dean Ing wrote a story about surviving after nuclear war, and had in the story and as an appendix, many simple methods of improving survival odds. Don't remember the name.

Maybe Ing could co-author a full book from the viewpoint of common Siddermarkans just trying to survive until things settle down?

A person who's reliant on others for the necessities of life will always be subject to the people, companies and agencies who feed, house and protect them.

From: Mother Earth News email advertisement

Reading inter library loan books on a regular basis found:

Nutrition and Physical Degeneration by Weston A. Price DDS

The book is copyrighted 75 years ago. Dr. Price and his wife spent about ten years: hunting up groups with unusually good health; looking for common elements among them; and evaluating what was found. This seems to be an early book on the nutrition science.

As a dentist, he was most interested in teeth - the development of poor teeth and dental caries seems to be one of the early signs of poor nutrition. The first shows up with poor nutrition when young, the latter at any age. At over 500 pages, no good summary is possible.

Anyone interested in sustainability or survivalist matters should definitely look into nutrition.

Much nutritional deficiency comes from over processed foods - white flour, sugars, etc. Whole grain cereals such as oatmeal, whole rye, and such are part of the answer. A combination of cod liver oil and dairy products from animals pasturing on early green grass can be a supplement which works very well. A half teaspoon three times a day along with unprocessed foods and foods providing needed minerals stopped caries in its tracks However, protection against oxidation damage is needed.

Many other "primitive" food combinations work well also. But watch out for some scams that are out there. A good nutrition newsletter could be a wise investment. You might check out:

http://www.doctorshealthpress.com/video ... mbo=1&up=1

I rather like this book Paleofantasy: What Evolution Really Tells Us about Sex, Diet, and How We Live. It summaries current research as to what paleo was really like vs the hype promoted by the paleo lifestyle fans. One of the interesting things that I remember is that actual food eaten varied tremendously from group to group. But what was universal was variety. They tended to eat 40-50 different things every week.

biochem wrote:I rather like this book Paleofantasy: What Evolution Really Tells Us about Sex, Diet, and How We Live. It summaries current research as to what paleo was really like vs the hype promoted by the paleo lifestyle fans. One of the interesting things that I remember is that actual food eaten varied tremendously from group to group. But what was universal was variety. They tended to eat 40-50 different things every week.

Variety helps. A back yard garden lets you have things you can't get in the grocery store. In our climate, Rhubarb, once established, takes care of itself, is early in the spring, and can't be bought here. Raspberries need more water than we usually get, so we plant where the water comes off the roof. That planted near the garage doesn't produce as well - smaller roof. Work is 1) picking, and 2) annual pruning of older stems. It is only available frozen in the store, and BJ really gloats when she sees the winter prices in store flyers. Currants and grapes are good producers also, the grapes need pruning for best results. Our apple tree tends to produce alternate years

Often, the problem is not production, but preservation. Canning, dehydrators, jams, fermenting, salting, freezing are all preservation methods - anyone know other means? I don't count the fat we put on in harvest season


http://pro.stansberryresearch.com/1405R ... g=0&h=true

It's a simple fact of life that every American should have the basic ability to take care of himself, in any situation, without the help of the police, the government, or social services.

This is an advertisement teaser. It is likely worth reading just for the hints given, even if you don't buy.


http://personalliberty.com/organizing-tyranny/

The universal vision is right in front of our faces and always has been: to break away from the corrupt mainstream system, to remove our dependency, to provide our own necessities and, thus, to remove our consent.

This one also applies to the political and extractive / inclusive threads. However, the S/S community is applying it, at least in part.

Preservation of food has many benefits. If from the dawn of time we had access to refrigeration we wouldn't have - ham, bacon, corn beef, pastrami, salami, jam, alcoholic beverages, dried fruit, chutney, many spices, pasta, and much more.

Smoking is a preservation method as well.

Daryl wrote:Preservation of food has many benefits. If from the dawn of time we had access to refrigeration we wouldn't have - ham, bacon, corn beef, pastrami, salami, jam, alcoholic beverages, dried fruit, chutney, many spices, pasta, and much more.

Smoking is a preservation method as well.

That depends on what you're smokin'...
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Don't open that!! It's the original can of worms!