Apple Jelly and Applesauce

We bought 2 pecks of Ginger Gold Apples with the intent of only making Apple Jelly. So, we filled up our fruit steamer with washed whole apples and steamed the juice out of them. We looked at what was left of the apples and we decided .... why waste it. So, my wife put the apple remains into her Blend Tec 3 HP blender and pulverized the pulp, seeds and skin into applesauce. She added a little cinnamon just for flavor. You know, I have had lawnmowers with 3 hp motors. Here's the remaining recipe for her applesauce.

Put the applesauce into a pot and bring to a boil for 1 minute.
Pour the applesauce into hot pint jars, add the lids and tighten.
Place in the water bath and cover the jars with 2" of water.
Because we are at 3,000 ft elevation, we boil in the water bath for 20 minutes.
That's it.



Apple Jelly

4 C        Apple Juice
3 C        Sugar
1/2  B    Powdered Pectin

Add the pectin to the juice and bring to a rolling boil on high heat
Add sugar, bring to a rolling boil and boil for 1 minute
Pour into hot jelly jars, add lids and tighten
Place in a water bath with the jars covered with 2" water and boil for 20 minutes (3000 ft elevation)
You're done.

USA Drought

We heard that the corn crops were devastated in the U.S. due to the drought. We also heard that the ranchers were cutting back on the size of their cattle herds because of the drought. Because of the shortage of corn, it will be more expensive to feed the remaining cows and other animals. Ranchers are dumping their cows on the market because they will not be able to afford to feed them. That has caused a glut of beef to hit our markets with some great prices for the consumer.

So, what do you think is coming?

Because of all the events taking place we stopped by our friendly Farmers Co-op to pick up 50 lbs of yellow food grade dent corn and 50 lbs of white food grade dent corn ($13.50 & $15.25). We grind this into cornmeal. How much does cornmeal cost you at the store? I told the girl behind the counter that we wanted to buy before the prices went up. She said, Oh, we have had good rain so that doesn't effect us. In one sense she is right. The corn around here is 9 - 10 foot tall and amazingly green. Beautiful. The corn bought at the farmers market is full and super sweet. But, if the corn in the rest of the U.S. is devastated, what do you think will happen to our corn. It will be going to the rest of the country, for ethanol and for export. Once a shortage is created, prices go up. It's coming.

The other day, we noticed that Ingles had sirloin tip roast on sale for $2.28 lb. Guess what? Is this caused by a glut of beef? It doesn't matter, we bought about 25 roast over a two day period while they were on sale. We cut them up into cubes (kabobs), stuffed them into pint Ball jars and canned them. We also had some for dinner and you would not believe how tender they were. Sometimes we will grind it up into hamburger that is about 3 -5% fat, make patties for the freezer or a meatloaf mix, stuff that into pint jars and can it. This is our hedge against inflation.

I was in Ingles today, a day after the sale. Sirloin tip kabobs were selling for $7.50 lb. You do the math. When the beef shortage finally hits, how much do you think those same kabobs will be selling for?

Fortunately for me, they still had Boston Butt's with bone in on sale for $1.98 lb. We bought two the other day so I bought two more. My wife cooks it in a crock pot overnight and the next morning, you got it,  we pull it apart, stuff it into Ball jars and can it. This is the best barbecue pork you have ever eaten.

Unfortunately, people see the prices as a normal fluctuation. Prices go down and prices go up. No big deal.  But if you pay close attention, prices keep creeping up all the time. I would much rather be eating sirloin tip kabobs for $2.28 lb any day.

If you want a hedge against inflation, then watch for your sales. Basically, any meat under $3.00 is a good buy. You can buy and freeze it whole, cut it up or grind it up and can it.

Need help? Get in touch with us. We'll be happy to help.

smokeymountainprepper@gmail.com

About This Blog

We live at the foot of the Smokey Mountain National Park and the Great Cherokee Nation.  My wife and I are in our mid 60's and we are, what would be considered, Preppers. We do not prepare for any particular event but for any event that could cause us to be without power, food, water and sanitation for any length of time. We want to be self sufficient and not worry about having to venture out into a world of crazies (zombies) trying to find supplies for our family.

Not only do we prepare for ourselves but we also prepare to barter for what we or someone else may need. We prepare for the worst and hope for the best. If we pass before we use any of our stores, then so be it, but if a disaster strikes, then we will be prepared to provide for ourselves.

Believe me, we are as well prepared to provide for ourselves, as we are, to protect what we have. To think that we are older and vulnerable would be a terrible mistake by anyone foolish enough to approach us with evil intent. We are both trained for close combat encounters, as well as, proficient with our weapons. We can help you and your family achieve this also.

You should be as serious about your families survival as we are. If a disaster is large enough, do not expect any help from your government. They could barely handle New Orleans. Do you seriously believe they have gotton any better? That is the reason for this blog. To help you prepare and give you suggestions to help you prepare for a worst case scenario. Our goal is to keep you and your family out of the FEMA Camps and to keep you from coming to us for help when a disaster strikes. We want you to be prepared.

Think about these two things.

1.    Noah did not allow anyone on the Ark he did not prepare for. Noah and his family prepared for years  building the ark and gathering food for all the different animals and his family to sustain them for one year. Now close your eyes and imagine Noah and his family pushing ladders off of the Ark of people trying to gain access and ignoring the plea's of his friends and neighbor's to save them. It simply wasn't possible to save just one without saving all. Number 2 tells you why Noah could not save even one.

2.    For every meal we give away to someone who did not prepare, reduces the time of our survival. As a family of two, if we have prepared to provide for ourselves for six months and we 'save' another couple, we just cut our survival time to three months. If you have a real tender heart, you may cut your families survival time from a few months to just a few days. As harsh as this is, keep this in mind.

So, now you know who we are and why we have a blog. It has taken my wife years to get me to even write a blog. I would be happy just being a hermit. I don't even have a cell phone. My wife has one.

I designed and developed computer systems for a Fortune 50 Company and I think that cured me of being a social net worker. But, I am inquisitive and I do a lot of research on the internet and try a lot of self preservation stuff, like, personal & home security, solar and hydro power. My wife's background is in Real Estate and Insurance. She is now into health, gardening, seed preservation, herbs, herbal medicines, cooking, canning and dehydrating.  We are not experts about anything, but we like to share what we know and have tried. If we can't answer your questions, we know someone in the Prepper Community who probably can.

We welcome your comments, suggestions and critiques.

Welcome to the Prepper World. The only thing worse than being a Prepper is not being prepared.

Our Email:       smokeymountainprepper@gmail.com

Alkaline Water

In 2009 we were on our way back from a 3 month camping trip in Alaska and was working our way back down the west coast. We ended up in Palm Springs, Ca and attended a street festival where we were introduced to Alkaline Water. The first sip got our attention because it tasted sweet and refreshing without all the chemicals we were use to. We began by buying a bottle at a time and doing some research on the Alkaline Water Machines. We bought our machine from Life Ionizer and began, what became a life style change.

When we first started drinking water from our own machine we had it set on a PH level of 8. Both my wife and I began detoxing but because my body was more polluted than my wife's, I went thru a more interesting detox than her. We both had flu like symptoms but hers lasted only about a week where mine lasted for two weeks. Also, the back of my calves on both legs developed a rash and got pretty raw. It was uncomfortable, painful even, to wear long pants. But, I stuck with it and after about two weeks, my flu symptoms and my rash cleared up. Now, if we even go to visit friends or family, we carry two to three big bottles of alkaline water with us. And, if we go on a camping trip, even in our tent, we carry our machine with us. Why? Because we have not been seriously sick since we have been drinking the alkaline water. We are both in our mid 60's and we both have normal blood pressure and no heart or diabetes problems. That alone is reason enough for us to continue drinking our Alkaline Water.

Before now, have you ever heard of Alkaline Water? Do you know of it's health benefits? If you are on city tap water, here is just one of the over 300 reasons to drink healthy water.





Another reason would be arsenic but I wouldn't worry because the FDA says it is in quantities small enough to kill the bugs and germs but is safe for human consumption. hummmm   How about a little fiber with your water. If that doesn't excite you, how about chlorine. I know you can smell and taste it in your tap water. But don't worry, even though it dries out your skin, it's safe to drink, also. I guess the drying properties of chlorine only works on the exterior. hummmm  Many people have started drinking bottled water but just how safe is that. A lot of the bottled water also comes from a tap.

Our bodies, through thousands of years of evolution, knows what is good for it and what is considered a foreign toxin (poison). It wraps up the toxins to safe guard our organs and then expels them from our bodies or saves them as fat cells until it can expel them at a later time. Unfortunately, we put so many toxins into our bodies, it has a difficult time keeping up expelling everything that is not healthy for us.  We don't even have to think about this because our bodies does this automatically for us. But, instead of me trying to tell you all the research that has been done on the health benefits of Alkaline Water, you can go here to find out all about it. FYI - In Japan, the Alkaline Water Machine is considered a medical device.

www.lifeionizer.com/healthtrip

This is our web site because we liked the water so much we became dealers. If you are interested, you will notice Life Ionizer has a zero down finance plan.

Please let me know if you have any questions.

Power Grid

Hundreds of millions without power after Indian grid goes down for second time in 2 days

Rajesh Kumar Singh / AP

Heavy traffic clogged streets in central New Delhi, India, on Tuesday following power outages and rain.

This was posted on MSN on July 31, 2012.

It is important to realize this is not a problem that only happens someplace else. The U.S. power grid and basically our entire infrastructure is aging and not being improved upon. With all the taxes that are collected and all the lotteries being played, there is little to no money to upgrade and maintain our infrastructure. All of the money appears to be going toward government salaries, expenses, benefits and social programs. So now we need to raise taxes for much needed projects but as soon as that happens, the money will be gobbled up by government salaries, expenses, benefits and social programs. What in the world has gone wrong here.

We already have rolling brown outs in some states because their consumption is greater than what they are generating. It would not take very much to jeopardize our entire system. Can you even imagine what it would be like if we lost out entire power grid for any length of time. For one thing you would not know what happened or how long it would be down. Remember, no power and you lose -

TV, Radio, Phones (Land Lines and Cell), Water, Sewer, ability to Cook, Heat, Air Conditioning, Traffic Lights, Restaurants and 911. You would also lose the ability to purchase gas for your car so you could escape to someplace else that didn't have power or the ability to purchase kerosene to heat with.

Yowzer. Oh, I forgot, we all suffer from Normalcy Bias. This is when we think that it has never happened before so it won't happen in the future. Or, don't worry, our government would never let this happen. Or, don't worry, it's only temporary. If we all whine in unison and loud enough, surely, our services will be restored. Go fish.

Our government has been constantly warning us of all the possibilities of the threats to our power grid. Have you not been paying attention or did you think they were just doing 'What If's'? Solar flare's that could damage our satellites and power grid, a nuclear explosion high in our atmosphere that would have the same effect as a massive solar flare, an internet attack on our power grid, a terrorist attack on key facilities and a strain on our entire power grid caused by demand. Our government has even told everyone to have at least a 72 hour supply of food and water for each person. If you are on sewer, you had better plan for your sanitation needs, also. If a disaster lasted longer than the 3 days of food and water you have, are you prepared to move your family into a FEMA Camp like the New Orleans Super Dome?

This CME occurred on Friday August 31, 2012.  
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/48902487/ns/technology_and_science-space/

Pay close attention to what could happen with a direct hit on Earth. Especially notice how casually the effect on the power grid is mentioned so as not to alarm you.

About a 1/2 of a percent of the population would continue as though nothing happened. It would be a small inconvenience but overall, it's OK. They would have clean drinking water, food, light, sanitation and heat to continue life indefinitely. I'm not talking about the rich here. The other 99 1/2 percent, including the rich, would be in a total panic. Which group would you be in?  Would you want to venture out looking for supplies in a situation like that?

It cost so little and is so easy to prepare ahead of time it would be embarrassing for a disaster to happen and find yourself not prepared. If you want to just check into being prepared, just a little bit, then check out these sites.

http://www.carolinareadiness.com/


http://www.honeyvillegrain.com/


http://www.samsclub.com/


There are are lot of preparedness sites where you can buy supplies for long term storage. From individual meals to 72 hour kits to a years worth of supplies. All you have to do is take the time to, Just Do It.

Emergency Water

In a disaster situation one of the most important and necessary items to have is clean drinking water. It is always better to plan ahead than trying to figure something out when you are under a lot of stress.

Gravity Water Filters

There are several gravity water filters you can choose from. I have a Berkey gravity fed water filter that can produce about 30 gallons per day. A set of filters will provide about 2,000 gallons of clean water which is great for a long term water solution. Here is just one of the sites where they can be            purchased   -  http://www.getberkey.com/berkey-water-filter-systems/

Personal Water Filters 

You can also purchase personal  water filters at Prepper Conferences, Gun Shows and camping supply stores. These are great for emergencies, hiking or if you enjoy primitive camping.

I’m Dying of Thirst Water

I would only use this method in an extreme emergency. If you can find a river, stream or pond (flowing water is better), find an area where the bank is somewhat sandy. Dig a hole about 2 – 3 feet from the water’s edge and it will fill up with water filtered by the sand.  This filtered water     will keep you alive and hydrated. Do not drink directly from the river, stream or pond as you will       suffer greatly.

Purify Water (Boil)

Collect water from some source and filter through a shirt or a better option would be a coffee   filter. Heat the water until it comes to a full boil and boil for about 5 minutes. Let cool and drink.

If you do not have electricity, do you have a means of heating your water to sterilize it? Consider one of these -

Camping stove with bottled gas
Sterno stove
Solar Oven
Cured wood to make a wood fire

Distilled Water

Distilled water is simply water that is turned into steam which is then condensed back into a liquid. The impurities stay in the pot as they are too heavy to travel with the steam. One way of making distilled water is by using a fruit steam juicer. This consist of a bottom pot that will hold the impure water to be steamed, a middle pot that looks like a bundt pan with a drain hose that will collect the distilled water and a top pan/pot that will hold ice or cool impure water so the steam can condense on the bottom of the pot and drip back into the middle pot. Simple enough. The biggest problem with this method is the ice or water in the top pot must be changed often as it gets hot. It takes a lot of time and energy (fire) to get a significant amount of distilled water.

Another method is to use a pressure cooker. Put a heat resistant plastic tube over the escape vent on the top cover and put a stainless steel tube in the other end of the plastic tube. Then the tube should coil down into a bucket of cool water and come out the sealed side of the bucket. The water coming out of stainless steel tube will be your distilled water. Again, you must keep cool water in your bucket with the tube in order to condense the steam.

Purification Drops

You can buy liquid purification drops at most stores that carry camping equipment.

Water Bladder

A water bladder can be bought at camping or survival stores. This can be filled to provide you with water through short time emergencies until services are restored.

Containers

At the first sign of an emergency or potential emergency, fill every container you have including the bath tub(s). These will help with short term emergencies.

Do-It-Yourself Projects

For all you do-it-yourself types, here are some things that may interest you.

In this blog you will discover how to make –

            Laundry Detergent

            Fabric  Softener

            Graham Cracker Pie Crust or Vanilla Wafer Pie Crust

            Croutons

            Bread Crumbs

            Dehydrated Sweet Potatoes

            Canning Butter

            Save all Glass Jars and Bottles (No BPA)

            Dehydrated Pineapple

Recipes for

            Pineapple-Strawberry Jelly-Jam

            Pineapple Jam

Laundry Detergent

As inflation continues, one of the things we hate spending money on is Laundry Detergent and Fabric Softener. You know Borax is all natural and has been around for a long time and Arm & Hammer is well known for its qualities. The Zote and Fels-Naptha bar soap have excellent stain removing qualities. Combined, the three together make an excellent laundry detergent. Also, in certain disaster situations, you could use this as a Barter Item.

Ingredients

            ½ cup borax

            1 cup of Arm & Hammer Washing Soda

            1 bar of Zote or FELS-NAPTHA (Heavy Duty Laundry Bar Soap)

Mix

            Hand grate 1 bar of soap in a pot of water & heat on stove to melt.  Do not boil.

            Fill a 5 gallon bucket half full with water

                          (Purchase at Lowe's or Home Depot w/ Gamma 'screw on' Lid)

            Pour melted soap into bucket

            Add borax

            Add Arm & Hammer

            Stir well

            Fill bucket with water, stir and let sit overnight

Next day

            It becomes a gelatinous goo.  Mix well

Usage

            Fill your laundry container (bottle) half full with concentrated detergent and fill

                           with water.  Shake well.

            Use 2/3 cup in a top load machine

            Use ¼ cup on a high efficiency machine

Note:   A 5 gallon bucket of concentrated detergent should last about 1 year. 

            The box of Borax and the Arm & Hammer will probably last 10 + years.

            Add up the savings on that.

Fabric  Softener

1 gallon of white vinegar  (Sam’s Club, Costco, Grocery Store)

½ oz bottle of fragrance oil (Purchase at Wal-mart in the Candle Making section)

Pour the bottle of fragrance into the bottle of vinegar.   Shake well.

Use as you would the regular fabric softener you buy in the store.

When used in your laundry you can smell only the fragrance and not the vinegar.  It also removes static from your clothes.

Note:         If you don’t like a fragrance in your clothes then just use the vinegar.  

                 Your clothes will not have a vinegar smell.

                 Also, if you do an Internet search on the uses of White Vinegar, you will find

                             a ton of useful information for uses of vinegar.

Graham Cracker Pie Crust or Vanilla Wafer Pie Crust

Have you ever bought a Graham Cracker Pie Crust or a Vanilla Pie Crust at the store? It's Pretty expensive.

We watch for sales on Graham Crackers and Vanilla Wafers and buy as many as we can. Off brands are cheaper and work just as well. Check with your discount grocery. We put them in our blender and pulverize them. Then we put them in a quart or ½ gallon Ball jar and vacuum            pack it. When you need either a graham cracker or a vanilla pie crust, remove the amount you need for the crust and re-vacuum the jar.

Croutons

I hope you never throw bread away. We do this with our homemade bread but you can use store bought bread also.

When you think bread is no longer useful for sandwiches but it is not yet moldy, cut it into           squares, place on a baking sheet, sprinkle with olive oil and your favorite seasonings and bake         on low for about 10 – 12 minutes until dry.

Put your dry croutons in a jar and vacuum pack.

Bread Crumbs

When your bread is no longer useful for sandwiches, break it apart, throw it into your blender and pulverize it into bread crumbs.

Spread the bread crumbs out on a cookie sheet and bake on low for 10 -12 minutes stirring occasionally with a spatula. 

Put your bread crumbs in a Ball jar and vacuum pack.

Dehydrated Sweet Potatoes

Boil the sweet potatoes until fully cooked. Cool, peel and mash. Spread the mashed sweet           potatoes about an 1/8 of an inch on wax paper and dehydrate until completely dry. Break apart,      put in your blender and pulverize. You’ll be amazed at how many sweet potatoes you can get             into a ½ gallon jar. Vacuum pack.

To re-hydrate, remove the amount of sweet potatoes you think you need. Add water a little at a time until you get the consistency you like. Add butter, cinnamon or nutmeg and enjoy.

Re-vacuum pack your jar.

We usually do this during the sweet potato harvest so we can buy in bulk.

Canning Butter

Recently in Norway they had a shortage of butter. A pound of butter cost $32.00   

Did you hear the one about the U.S. is suffering a drought, corn and grain prices are exploding and cattle herds are being reduced. Don’t think for a minute that the problem in Norway could not happen here.

So, here is our hedge against high butter prices.

We buy butter anytime we can find it on sale. Especially at Sam’s Club and Costco. We buy equal amounts of salted and un-salted.

Process

Wash your jars, half pint or pint, and place in the oven heated to 225 degrees.

Place your lids in a pot of water and heat but do not boil.

Melt the butter but do not boil it. The ghee (foam) should float to the top.

Spoon off the ghee and save for putting on toast of other uses.

Ladle the clarified butter into your heated jar, wipe off the jar rim with a paper towel damp with           vinegar, place a hot lid on top and tighten with a screw lid.

The top should seal as the jar cools.

You will notice a separation of the butter fats and liquid in the jar.

After the top seals and the jar is cool enough to handle, give the jar a good shake to combine the           contents.  Shake the jar about every 15 minutes until it sets up.

You’re done.

This butter does not have to be refrigerated. Simply store the jars of butter in your climatized    prepper room.

Enjoy.

Save all Glass Jars and Bottles (No BPA)

Because of the BPA issue, we save all of our glass jars for food storage.  We do not use plastic    containers unless they are BPA Free. BPA is also in every canned product. So, we do our own           canning of vegetables, fruits and meat.

Dehydrated Pineapple and Pineapple Jelly

We were in Big Lots one day and noticed that a can of Libby’s Pineapple was on sale for $1.00    each. It normally sells for around $1.69 per can. So, we bought every can of Pineapple.

We drained and reserved the juice and spread the pineapple out on our dehydrator trays (we     have an Excalibur 9 tray Dehydrator).  The pineapple is dehydrated until dry and then stored in a Ball jar and vacuum packed. Did I mention we have a Food Saver vacuum packer.

We use the reserved pineapple juice to make jelly.  Recipes follow.

 Pineapple-Strawberry Jam

1 ½ c. Whole Strawberries

1 (12 oz) can unsweetened pineapple juice

3 tbsp Lemon Juice

1 tbsp butter to minimize foaming

1 box powdered Fruit Pectin

4 c. Sugar

Wash, hull and quarter strawberries – measure 2 cups.

Mix berries, juices, butter and pectin in a flat bottom pot.

Place over high heat and stir until mixture comes to a full boil.

Stir in the sugar and return to a rolling boil.

Boil vigorously for 1 minute, stirring constantly.

Skim and discard the foam from surface.

 Ladle jam into hot sterilized jars.

Seal with hot lids and rings. Makes about 6 (8 ounce) jars of jam.

Pineapple Jam

            Ingredients

            2 cans of crushed pineapple with juice and enough water to make 6 ½ cups

            6 cups sugar

            2 envelopes (boxes) of dry pectin

            1 tbl butter reduces foaming

            Directions

            Pineapple in stock pot

            Sprinkle pectin over pineapple

            Stir  well

            Bring to a full rolling boil

            Add sugar and stir to a full rolling boil

            Boil for 1 minute to activate pectin

            Ladle into jars

            Wipe rims

            Finger tighten tops

            Place in hot water bath canner and turn up heat

            Place lid on canner and set timer for 10 minutes (5 minutes to begin boiling & 5 minutes

                           to boil)

            Makes 9 half pint jars