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slvrfx
28th February 2011, 16:00
Closer then ever, the dream of a lifetime. The goal.

What I've been in training for most of my life, is living a life off-the-grid.

I was never bothered by my x who didn't think he had to work a conventional job- he must have reincarnated from a past life as a Mountain Man- for I always saw it as an opportunity to become creative and to pull away from society and it's preconceived and erroneous ideas about how we must live, to fit-in...

So I learned a lot of skills- I'm going to start with what could be the most serious:

1. I had 12 children, and I had most of them at home, without even a midwife, sometimes I didn't even wake up my husband. (I had a strong drive to be like the ga-zillions of native women, since time began, and do something that women are made to do.)

2. Didn't go to doctors at all. No vaccinations, no antibiotics, just natural remedies found in most homes, and a knowledge of basic herbs. (And guess what? We don't get sick.) There were a couple of emergencies when we did need Drs.

3. Home-taught my children. Not one got a diploma, though 4 of them decided to get Graduation Equivalent Degrees. Two went on to a University.

4. Raising domesticated animals for food- goats for milk/cheese/yogurt, and meat if need be. Chickens and ducks for eggs (and yummy chicken soup)...yeah, know how to butcher and clean these critters.

5. Firewood. Everything there is to know about cutting wood, seasoning it, stacking it, burning it...(yeah, there are some tricks to this).

6. Collecting water if need be, and also purifying with basic supplies from a hardware store.

7. Gardening, dehydrating, canning, freezing...and OH MY...cooking from scratch.

a. Capturing the 'wild yeast'
b. Making tofu
c. Making gluten (high-powered protein) from flour
d. Making temph from soybeans

8. Making soap

9. Clothing- sewing, knitting, crocheting...even blankets and rugs

10. The Arts. This is so important, to keep people's spirits up. Painting, watercolors, POTTERY (for your own kitchen-ware and household as well as decorative)...music, writing...

The real biggy is knowing how to get by on next to nothing, and being happy while doing it.


How's this.......Do you know how you can take a heavy cardboard box (or wood), put a lot of densely-packed straw in it, start a cast iron pot of dried beans (or stew), on an open fire, or stove, until it's boiling hard, then quickly put a lid on, place it into the straw box, cover with lots more straw, put a cover on the whole thing, and leave it alone for a few hours? Walla. A home-made crock pot.

And my kids? Well we have the skills, plus all my sons are carpenters, plumbers, stone-masons, electricians...

There are massive food shortages due to droughts, severe flooding and unseasonable cold.

There are water shortages because of severe droughts.

Economic conditions are worsening in even the world's most productive countries.

How many of you are ready for this?


Oh, and here's one for the computer junkies...I've not done this but I know it's being done...if you have (or get ) a ham radio, there's an adapter you can buy that will enable you to run your computer through the radio.

So we have begun our plan.

Icecold
28th February 2011, 16:08
Many famous campers have said that the Indian teepee is the best known movable home. It is roomy, self-ventilating, cannot blow down, and is the only tent that admits of a fire inside.



http://www.jarnhirose.com/images/teepee400.jpg


Villagers outraged as teepee dwellers win right to stay

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/villagers-outraged-as-teepee-dwellers-win-right-to-stay-1046082.html

learninglight
28th February 2011, 16:16
Closer then ever, the dream of a lifetime. The goal.

What I've been in training for most of my life, is living a life off-the-grid.

I was never bothered by my x who didn't think he had to work a conventional job- he must have reincarnated from a past life as a Mountain Man- for I always saw it as an opportunity to become creative and to pull away from society and it's preconceived and erroneous ideas about how we must live, to fit-in...

So I learned a lot of skills- I'm going to start with what could be the most serious:

1. I had 12 children, and I had most of them at home, without even a midwife, sometimes I didn't even wake up my husband. (I had a strong drive to be like the ga-zillions of native women, since time began, and do something that women are made to do.)

2. Didn't go to doctors at all. No vaccinations, no antibiotics, just natural remedies found in most homes, and a knowledge of basic herbs. (And guess what? We don't get sick.) There were a couple of emergencies when we did need Drs.

3. Home-taught my children. Not one got a diploma, though 4 of them decided to get Graduation Equivalent Degrees. Two went on to a University.

4. Raising domesticated animals for food- goats for milk/cheese/yogurt, and meat if need be. Chickens and ducks for eggs (and yummy chicken soup)...yeah, know how to butcher and clean these critters.

5. Firewood. Everything there is to know about cutting wood, seasoning it, stacking it, burning it...(yeah, there are some tricks to this).

6. Collecting water if need be, and also purifying with basic supplies from a hardware store.

7. Gardening, dehydrating, canning, freezing...and OH MY...cooking from scratch.

a. Capturing the 'wild yeast'
b. Making tofu
c. Making gluten (high-powered protein) from flour
d. Making temph from soybeans

8. Making soap

9. Clothing- sewing, knitting, crocheting...even blankets and rugs

10. The Arts. This is so important, to keep people's spirits up. Painting, watercolors, POTTERY (for your own kitchen-ware and household as well as decorative)...music, writing...

The real biggy is knowing how to get by on next to nothing, and being happy while doing it.


How's this.......Do you know how you can take a heavy cardboard box (or wood), put a lot of densely-packed straw in it, start a cast iron pot of dried beans (or stew), on an open fire, or stove, until it's boiling hard, then quickly put a lid on, place it into the straw box, cover with lots more straw, put a cover on the whole thing, and leave it alone for a few hours? Walla. A home-made crock pot.

And my kids? Well we have the skills, plus all my sons are carpenters, plumbers, stone-masons, electricians...

There are massive food shortages due to droughts, severe flooding and unseasonable cold.

There are water shortages because of severe droughts.

Economic conditions are worsening in even the world's most productive countries.

How many of you are ready for this?


Oh, and here's one for the computer junkies...I've not done this but I know it's being done...if you have (or get ) a ham radio, there's an adapter you can buy that will enable you to run your computer through the radio.

So we have begun our plan.

WOW!! Thank you for sharing:cool:

slvrfx
28th February 2011, 16:29
Homesteading still exists in the USA.

Now, I can only share what I was told by a miner, 8 years ago, who had a mining grant in the National Forest East of Salt Lake City, in the Uintah Mountains, but here it is if anyone wants to check this out-

He had an 160 acre grant to mine in that park, which he had gotten from the Bureau of Land Management. An 8 year grant, which enabled him to mine.

But he told me that you can also do this for a Homestead grant, in any National forest, he might have said state forests too, I'm not sure.

According to him, you just get a legal description of the plot you want to mine or homestead, and pay a small fee...I think he said $150.

And then, of course, you have to be able to show them you're intentions by carrying out either mining or homesteading.

He told me it's a very well kept secret.

Yah-think??

DianeKJ
28th February 2011, 16:54
Thank you for sharing :)

I'm a suburbia domestic goddess, but if we had the means and money we would be on some land.

I homeschool my children (3 + adopting my nephew) and I've found that over the past few years all I want to do is go simple, learn old skills. It's a lovely shift for me and I enjoy learning as I go. I'm sad that I don't have an elder woman to guide me and show me what I want to learn. That is one thing that is sorely lacking in society. So I've just been following my passions and collecting as much knowledge as I can. Right now I'm planning my garden and I will learn to can/preserve food. For a school project we are building 3 different types of solar ovens to see which one works the best.

I'm curious about "capturing wild yeast" can you tell me more about that?

Thank you again,
Di

slvrfx
28th February 2011, 17:09
DianeKJ- the wild yeast is very simple. Spores are floating around in the air all the time.

You basically mix up a small batch of flour (I'd say 2 cups), and water, with some sugar (about 1 teaspoon)-yeast feeds on it, about the consistency of yogurt and have it sit in a warm (room temperature), spot for a few hours. Then refrigerate and use about half of it in place of commercial yeast the next time you bake.

It makes breads of the sour-dough type.

Keep this started going by replacing the amount you used with an equal amount of fresh flour/water/sugar. It percolates itself.

DianeKJ
28th February 2011, 17:46
DianeKJ- the wild yeast is very simple. Spores are floating around in the air all the time.

You basically mix up a small batch of flour (I'd say 2 cups), and water, with some sugar (about 1 teaspoon)-yeast feeds on it, about the consistency of yogurt and have it sit in a warm (room temperature), spot for a few hours. Then refrigerate and use about half of it in place of commercial yeast the next time you bake.

It makes breads of the sour-dough type.

Keep this started going by replacing the amount you used with an equal amount of fresh flour/water/sugar. It percolates itself.


Thank you! Before refridgeration, how did they keep yeast alive? I imagine a root cellar was cool enough.

Arrowwind
28th February 2011, 17:54
Perhaps many have used this method. I am finding out that this has been a used primiative technology in many cultures

http://projectavalon.net/forum4/showthread.php?14584-The-No-Electric-Refrigerator

delaware
28th February 2011, 17:57
Thank you for sharing, all of this interests me too, since quite a while actually. How do you make a water filter? What are your secrets concerning firewood? Can you tell me more? Thanks

slvrfx
28th February 2011, 18:08
A very simple water filter is to take a 3 in. PVC pipe, put a screen at one end, drop in about 3 cups of charcoal, like what is used to purify aquarium water, then fill with clean common sand. Leave room for the water you're pouring in to purify. Gravity fed.

I have a $300 Berkey and it uses charcoal filters.

To be really safe, doesn't hurt to boil and kill suspected pathogens.

Firewood is a looooong story. Complex because there's so many different aspects, ie. just the type of wood.

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DianeKJ- the wild yeast is very simple. Spores are floating around in the air all the time.

You basically mix up a small batch of flour (I'd say 2 cups), and water, with some sugar (about 1 teaspoon)-yeast feeds on it, about the consistency of yogurt and have it sit in a warm (room temperature), spot for a few hours. Then refrigerate and use about half of it in place of commercial yeast the next time you bake.

It makes breads of the sour-dough type.

Keep this started going by replacing the amount you used with an equal amount of fresh flour/water/sugar. It percolates itself.


Thank you! Before refridgeration, how did they keep yeast alive? I imagine a root cellar was cool enough.

Yes, a root cellar. In the northern climates, the old timers would cut huge blocks of ice and keep them covered up, and use them in their 'refrigerators' and other storage areas.

Arrowwind
28th February 2011, 18:13
I was in tepee for a short time.. Its pretty hard work.. especially when the winter comes. I would prefer not too. You have to love smelling like wood smoke all the time and not having any privacy.... guess Im spoiled

slvrfx
28th February 2011, 18:26
Yes, Arrowwind, it is hard work, and no room for free-loaders.

Since I put up my initial post, I realized I forgot the other skills people in this extended family have-

Four of my daughters have nursing skills, especially with geriatrics, and most have also home-delivered their children.

I have a daughter-in-law who is very savvy in alternative energy resources, and also can build straw-bale buildings. (I'm also familiar with the rammed-earth concept.)

Most of them have food-service experience, handling huge groups of people, and mostly management skills.

One of my sons knows how to install a sand-point well, but of course, they can also dig deep and line an old fashioned well with stone.

A couple sons are gifted mechanics, good at 'rigging' if necessary.

Most of my daughters have started gardening and a couple are becoming quite knowledgeable of herbs.

My sons were Boy Scouts and that says a lot too.

And I have to add, for the joy of it...a daughter who is a professional baker, specializing in DESSERTS! Yum.

Arrowwind
28th February 2011, 18:28
Yes, a root cellar. In the northern climates, the old timers would cut huge blocks of ice and keep them covered up, and use them in their 'refrigerators' and other storage areas.

We are in the process of building a house. We are not necessarily using sustainable materials but I think this construciton will last many hundreds of years short of occassional roof repair.

We did put in a root cellar so I researched that topic pretty well. It measures 7 x 11 and is located under the house. My husband says that it should not freeze as long as someone is living in the house. Of course we live in a very cold climate so in other locations it probably would not freeze... we are unsure at this point so we will have to see how it would go if no one was in the house... it will all depend on well how our passive solar plan works

So I do have a lot to learn about how to manage food in a root cellar... and ideas or book ideas you might have are appreciated.. I know right off the bat I will be storing potatoes, beets and cabbage and carrots and dehydrated foods including fish.

slvrfx
28th February 2011, 19:26
Right off the bat...carrots in bins or crocks in sand, or layers of newspapers, but make sure the ink is soy-based, and no colored inks.

Cabbages, pull them out of the ground root and all, and hang them upside down from the rafters.

Potatoes store really well. My dad and other relatives grew potatoes as a cash crop and stored them all winter in basements and we lived in BRRR-Land.

Sol Va
1st March 2011, 04:35
Hello community, preppers, survivalists and wanna be expats,
I came across a site that describes a cliff front, double beach New Zealand
community just getting started. One of the most beautiful, remote places I
have ever seen. Check this out!

http://www.sovereignones.com