kappydell

I figured it was worth a try...worst thing that could happen is that they would mail my money back. It would be fun to have an off-grid 'cabin'. (aka used motor home...) I even checked on the fishing up there. There is a trout stream fairly close.

aol now says you don't exist, and tries to steer me elsewhere. I got to you via pinterest, following a link they had. don't know how long that will work.

You are inspiring me! I always laugh until I cry (or pee) at those who brag about their 'budget' menus and feeding their group for 'under $5 a serving (!!!) some days that is more than I spend for all DAY. I'm a big fan of the $1 or less a day challenge. Lately (for fun) I have been working out dishes for my imaginary 'dollar diner' where everything on the menu is $1. Of course, from watching the food network, that means dishes have to under 33 cents a serving in order not go go broke on overhead. Strangely enough, I do find such dishes...pancakes with homemade syrup (28 cents); 'focaccia of the day' (my roommate loved that one when I tested it)(33 cents); breakfast tacos (20 cents each); mexican chicken skillet (a little high) at 37 cents a serving; soups, asian & tex mex recipes were the easiest to utilize, plus some of those old WW2 'stretchers' (You can add a heck of a lot of chopped ocoked pasta to egg salad and put it in a sandwich...). I'm not saying it would be easy, but it sure is fun to try seeing how low I can get the food budget...I get a heck of a lot of ideas from you ladies!

Yes, the states vary; relatively few give the tax titles, most have some kind of tax lien where there is a delay before you get the title. However, in some, after 3 years go by with the state offering them at auction with no takers, they become 'surrendered' properties, then you can buy them by bid, even by mail...one state that had that that I checked out was Alabama. I really would not care to bid on anything 'newer' than 4 years in that state due to those tie-ups. Some states even have a system where you can be awarded the bid but everyone else has a certain time to out-bid you, in which case you get your bid back...some states keep back 'fees' from the money that was returned. I got so frustrated trying to figure out all the variations that I finally decided ONLY to look on tax-title states' listings, if only to save myself the hassel. I found that minnesota, vermont, texas, pennsylvania, s dakota and (if I recall correctly) n carolina were tax-title states (no waiting time for ownership). There may be others, those are the ones I seem to remember, but don't quote me...The only reason I was able to bid by mail on the one I did was that it did not sell on the courthouse steps, so it became a 'leftover'. You still are warned to check for zoning restrictions and/or encumberances to avoid legal problems later...I made a LOT of phone calls...

rootdiggr, you can make jelly from koolade, and they have a punch flavor...so all is not lost! JELLY 2 package Kool-Aid, any flavor (no sugar added) 1 package Sure-Jell 4 ½ cups granulated sugar 3 ½ cups water Mix water, Sure-Jell and Kool-Aid together. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Stir in sugar. Stir and bring to a full rolling boil that cannot be stirred down. Boil for 1 minute, stirring constantly. Remove from heat. Quickly skim off foam with a large metal spoon. Pour into jelly glasses and seal. You can freeze or boiling water bath for 5 min. You should be able to concoct some rip-snorting flavors by mixing & matching flavors!

Yup, I've tried them, didn't care for the water pack much - the apples lost too much flavor- but canning in apple juice was much better.

. Well, if it helps any, chicken is about 50% bone & skin so you would need to determine how big your proverbial stewing hen is, and buy half that amount of meat. I seem to recall stewing hens were anywhere from 6-10 lbs whole, so you would 'guesstimate' 2-5 lbs meat. If you want cups, remember 'a pints a pound, the works around' and it is fairly close for diced meat in my experience.

Wish me luck, ladies. Today I sent in a mail bid for an 8/10 acre lot in a rural area that is being sold for taxes. Wisconsin is a tax title state, you can buy the title when they sell them to recoup taxes. Most sales, from what I've seen have been for vacant lots & land, but there are some houses, too. Normally I would not bid, but if the parcel has been offered at the auction on the courhouse steps and nobody has purchased it, the parcel is opened for bid by mail. You send in a bid and a 10% payment by money order. If you get the highest bid, they mail you back the title; if not, they mail you back your money order. The only risk, is if you don't check the zoning laws and buy something you can't use the way you meant to. The minimum bid on the parcel I bid on was a mere $100 for 8/10 of an acre. The land is rural, buildable, I can put in septic, an outhouse (if I want to), and off city water, so I can dig my own well. I can put a mobile home on a slab or permanent foundation as long as it is a double wide, and electric hookup is NOT mandatory to live in it, so I can go off-grid if I choose. It's not in a swamp, (oh excuuuuse me, a wetland) either. So what the heck, I sent in a bid. We'll see if I get lucky, if so, I have a future cabin spot. (I figure the reason nobody bought it was that it is an odd shape and a road runs thru the middle; but I would put the garden/orchard on one side & the cabin on the other. I've seen folks buy city lots a heck of a lot smaller. Jest saying, I have known some who have bid on lovely property & bought it for a song. You might consider checking your desired states tax lien or tax title offerings...

Everything is going up, poultry is no exception. At my prep group meeting, one member (who usually is not very talkative) warned us that there is a virus affecting young piglets (it kills them) in droves. He was predicting a raise in pork prices until they got a handle on it and could replace slaughterred pigs with young replacements. Then tonight I read that due to ongoing drought in California that not only vegetable prices, but beef prices would go up because they are killing cattle in anticipation of being unable to feed them. The moral...as ever...when you see a good price, stock up because you never know...

tomight my anti-virus program (avast) blocked access to mrs survival, deeming it a dangerous site. then when i tried to go another route, the computer said 'no such site exists'. Third time was the charm, but it sure looks like somebody is messing with the mrs...

Use it like lard. Melt in at low temp (crock pot is wonderful for making salve), add as much of the herb(s) as the fat will take and let cook on low for 4-5 hours. Turn off heat, strain fat, let it cool. Repeat with fresh herbs daily for about a week for a good strong salve. Two weeks if you like, the strength is up to you. After you strain out the last of the plant stuff (milk strainer works well) you may add powdered benzoin to the warm mixture (about 1 oz powder to each 5 lb lard) to keep the lard from going rancid in 6 months. If you will use it right away, you don't need to add it. You can also substitute Vitamin E (few drops/oz larddon't overdo it) or the herb, Balm of Gilead (5 buds/gal of lard). If you want a stiffer ointment, add in some bees wax (maybe 8 oz wax per 5 lb lard)Drop it into the hot fat and stir to melt it in. Let things cool to check the consistency - you might want to add more. When it is like you want, re-melt and package. I usually don't use either benzoin or wax; I make small batches of salve and use it right away, refrigerating it. But the additions might make it not only last longer, but appeal to others who might use it, because the texture would be more like 'normal' (store bought) salve.

thank you all! - I hit the big 6-0 and true to the dare/bet my best friend and I had, I did take that midnight birthday suit stroll. For up here in the Midwest, it was not overly cold (though I admit I wore shoes...) only 20 degrees. But above zero, so it felt like spring! The dogs thought it was great fun...

I automatically put everything in my 'bone broth' pot (aka the small crockpot). It makes for some amazingly delicious broths to nosh on while cooking, to help me keep my (dieting) mitts out of everything else there that I should NOT be eating. This last week it has been ham-bone broth. Ham bones in, then add the water drained off cooking veggies, the leafy and washed cut off parts of celery, the onion skins (again, washed), and pan deglazing liquids (after refrigerating to remove excess fat). The ham flavor blends well with my home-made fish chowder (from the catfish, drum, bluegills, and whatever other kind of fish I caught)so I use it as a base there, as well as for bean soups of all kinds, vegetarian vegetable soups, and as the liquid used to make gravies & sauces. This broth is ever changing as I add more cooking liquids and consume some almost daily. Oh yes...don't forget to add the liquids drained from canned foods. The shrimp broth from canned salad shrimps (my room mate drains and rinses them, I save the liquids) add a lot to that fish chowder, too. If we bought shell-on shrimp I would throw in the shells too. You just strain out the bits you don't want. Plus the bones can be boiled 2-3 times before the flavor is gone. I LOVE MY CROCK...I MEAN STOCK POT!

No worse than dehydrating any other kind of soup. Mine have kept on a kitchen shelf (room temp, no less) up to 18 months before I ate them and they were fine. I realize though, there is always risk in home preservation.

Are you on meds that make you photosensitive? Some plant oils will do it too...

In our society lack of self discipline is rapidly becoming a social issue, and the results (alcoholism, obesity, drug use) are getting classified as 'diseases'. After all, SOMEBODY has to pay for all those visits to the docs, the shrinks, the sodial worker, the group support meetings, not to mention all the psychotropic MEDS! Crying "Im a victim!" is much easier than working; and crying "my child is a victim" is almost as good. Having a child with a mental disorder is profitable for some who work the (welfare) system. They WANT their children fouled up because it works to their benefit. Talk about the ultimate selfishness...! I don't want to be uncharitable, but enough already! For about 5-6 years now we have been seeing 'I have ADHD' or a similar excused used as a defense for criminal activity. But heaven forbid we should insist on self-discipline from folks. It is a real head-shaker. We need to define 'adult' a different way then merely years of age.

Garage? I use the same things I found worked in the kitchen. I screw a couple of metal towel racks (the old fashioned ones with thinner hanging rails...el cheapos), then attach S hooks as desired to at least one of them. It holds multiple items with holes in handles both in the kitchen and over the workbench; everything from the steel measuring cup to a ring of Allen wrenches. I love my DIY pot (I mean tool) hanger-upper. two of the towel racks hung one over the other above the workbench holds longer stuff upright; and I always leave at least one to hang the wiping rags on to dry. I have the door covered with a row of them going all the way up. Yes, it makes a lot of noise when I open it (all that stuff clatters & clangs) but I look at it his way...a homemade door alarm! Once the clattering starts, so does the barking of the dogs. Nobody gets thru that door unnoticed (grin/wink). The magnets sound way cool - - for both the garage AND the kitchen.

Mine used to get a kick out of the pencils I wore in mine...he was always borrowing them, too!

Oh yes!!! I love those dish scrubbies! I have a batch made from the years' turkey & ham mesh net bags and they last forever. They are going out in some Christmas cards. The men of my family especially like them for taking bugs off the car bumpers.

What kind of fence do you have? We recently got some plastic strips on sale at the local building supply store that we wove thru the links of the chain link fence for more privacy. Only moderately effective, but we did notice that some of the neighbors followed suit. They are noting more than properly sized strips of plastic, fastened with split fasteners at each end - easily duplicated from cheap/recycled materials. We also planted fast growing flowering shrubs as a hedge outside the fence - more friendly than the fence, easier to explain from the beautification angle, but they do block the back yard from snoopy types who might be standing at the bus stop 'waiting for the bus'. (You could always say you sunburn horribly or are allergic to the sun, so that is why you need all the 'shade'...)

How about planting patches of 'wild' herbs for remedies...that way you already know where they are if you need them! I already started last season in the untended fringe areas of my cities' parks

among my personal observations is a prep group I belong to...unlike many that do not last long, this one keeps growing and growing because it teaches simple, useful preps, with the members themselves doing presentations in their interest and experience areas. No gloom and doom...just how-to fun, welcoming the many 'newbies' with open arms. Many members are living the 'prep' lifestyle or changing their lifestyles to use what they've learned. This group has chosen to be part of the solution to todays problems, and I consider them part of the under-reported GOOD news.

Today is day three of our Christmas Baking Frenzy. For some reason, our life activities include several seasonal 'frenzies': spring planting frenzy, shorter yard cleaning & weeding frenzies, harvest (picking & preserving) frenzy, salmon fishing frenzy, Christmas decorating frenzy, and now Christmas Baking Frenzy. Not that it is a bad thing, we get a lot done. But I could not miss the humor when I looked at my kitchen and saw... (cue music) 12 stollens cooling, 11 boxes for shipping, 10 kinds of cookies, 9 gumdrop fruitcakes, 8 gallons of peppernuts, 7 dozen mounds bars, 6 dozen thumbprints, 5 turkey roasters of Chex Mix! 4 sniffing canines, 3 loads of dishes, 2 frazzled cooks, and one kitchen completely "blown awaaaaaay"! We love Christmas, especially the goodies we make only once a year. What are your must-haves? (We're always looking for new recipes.)

im proud of myself...cooked up a chunk of tenderloin, came out perfect. I usually end up with tough meat. Along with oven baked taters, butter simmered corn...couldn't have asked for better for Sunday dinner!