Homestead diet plan

michiganfarmer · #41 04/05/12, 08:58 AM

My diet plan is labor, labor, and more labor

City Bound · #42 04/05/12, 09:55 AM

Cliff, gave a good basic introduction to the plant.

It is sweeter then sugar, diabetic safe, and nonfattening. A little goes a long way. I use it mostly to sweeten homemade drinks because the amount of honey it takes to sweeten a gallon of homemade ice tea is absolutely absurd and costly, and the amount of common sugar that it takes to sweeten a gallon of homemade ice tea is absolutely bad for my health. So, stevia works well. I have to play around with stevia a little more to find more uses for it.

The plants are perenial down in the tropics, and annuals here, but I had some success bringing the stevia plants indoors for the winter. They went dormant and were surviving until my life got too busy and I neglected to water them and they died. I am going to try again to winter them in the house, this winter. You can over winter tomatoes and peppers indoors also, because they are perenials down in their native homes.

City Bound · #43 04/05/12, 10:07 AM

Cliff, there are ways to harvest yeast from the air for making bread and brewed drinks. I have never done it though.

Darn, I kind of feel that yeasted breads are just a habit and a luxury item and we can live without the risen bread if we wanted to.

Flat breads are great. Naan breads and puri are good non-yeasted east indian flat breads. You do not need yeast to make pasta or to make the basic flour, water, salt dough that is used to make meat pies, perogie, and chinese dumplings.

Polenta is good and it goes a long way.

unregistered168043 · #44 04/05/12, 03:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cliff

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In the book I mentioned earlier in the thread, the author grows meal corn, which is what truckers fav. would be, and also flour corn. Not sure but I think she grows a third variety for something else. She can't eat gluten so all her bread type products she makes from corn.

Wonder how people in the old days made baking powder or something like it that would rise quick breads like cornbread? Did they only make flat breads if they didn't have a rising agent?

I'm going to check out that book. Like CB said, there is wild yeast floating all around us and many people catch it to make 'sourdough' bread and to brew beer. From what I've read it can be tricky, though.

I've heard that in olden days people would grind deer antlers to leven bread, it acted like baking soda.

Cliff · #45 04/05/12, 05:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Darntootin

I'm going to check out that book. Like CB said, there is wild yeast floating all around us and many people catch it to make 'sourdough' bread and to brew beer. From what I've read it can be tricky, though.

I've heard that in olden days people would grind deer antlers to leven bread, it acted like baking soda.

Oh cool I will have to try and get more info on that, thanks.

The old time cornmeal hoe-cakes didn't have any leavening I don't think.

I'm wondering how yeast type organisms would work leavening breads made from corn. I think yeast works best with gluten? I could be wrong, that's just floating around in the back of my mind.

Ooh! I bet the antlers work bc they are high in calcium? So when you add an acid like buttermilk or vinegar it would make bubbles? Off to look it up

Cliff · #46 04/05/12, 05:36 PM

Here's what I found about the deer antlers:

"Salt of hartshorn (Ammonium Carbonate).

Hartshorn is one of the oldest of “chemical” leavens. It was actually in use for many centuries before the predecessor of modern baking powder was developed in the middle of the nineteenth century.

The original hartshorn, as its name implies, was ground from deer antler and used primarily in Scandinavian countries. Today it is almost unknown although there is a chemical version of the original, better known as “baker’s ammonia,” available from King Arthur Flour – The Baker’s Catalogue.

A dough that contains hartshorn produces a strong smell of ammonia when it’s in the oven, but the ammonia dissipates completely during the cooking process leaving no aftertaste or odor. Its unique action makes extremely crisp cookies and crackers. "

No mention of having to use an acid. I don't remember my chemistry well enough to figure that one out. The next thing that was used was Pearlash... a purified type of potash, made from hardwood ashes. It did need an acid to make things rise.

Thank you for mentioning the horn thing Darntootin, I love learning stuff like this

unregistered168043 · #47 04/06/12, 05:57 AM

Hey cliff, I could be wrong but I think they had to mix the antler or 'bakers ammonia' with something called 'cream of tarter'. That might be the acid. I'm not sure though, its been a long time since I read about this stuff. I'm also interested in the old-timey way they did things.

mary,tx · #48 04/06/12, 08:51 AM

I'll do something like this if and when I have to. Until then, I'm not doing without for fun.

honeyrobber · #49 04/06/12, 10:35 AM

Corn does ferment with yeast to make whiskey, LOL. I used to make sour dough bread from a starter culture. You feed the culture and place it in the fridge and you take some starter out(normally before feeding) and make your breads. Never used corn flour before for anything so do not know how well it would work.

I drink alot of sweet tea and need to learn more about stevia. I grew some the last 2 years and had mixed results from using it to sweeten my tea. I drink a minium of a gallon of tea a day myself.

I will not do this diet due to my love of certain things like tea. I make my own wine, I can and freeze, I hunt. I have in the past out of need hunted and farmed to feed my family out of season for hunting. I was able to correct the income problem before winter. I know I can survive with nothing more than my 20 gauge shot gun and 22 rifle and 1/4 acrea and seeds to put in the ground. I had no tiller either all ground was worked with shovel and hoe. The 3 of us lasted 5 months living off the land. I sure hope you like greens/salads. These are the easiest to grow. I grew alot of potatoes from potatoe peelings you just cut the peeling 1/8 inch thick or so.

texican · #50 04/06/12, 10:59 AM

From a preppers standpoint, your goal is good, and lofty. However, throwing in off site hunting and fishing negates the homestead goals.

To truly eat off the 'stead, one should hunt and fish on their own lands, otherwise, it's just a vegetable gardening exercise. One can grow enough meat on their place, with chickens, goats, sheep, beef, etc. A few ponds can provide tons of fish.

Get a bigger chunk of land, put in a patch of grain, a hay meadow for the winter forage, a small pond or lake for fish, and your golden.

IN a "needful" time, such as a SHTF scenario, there will be ZERO hunting and fishing "off site".... wild fish and game should never ever be depended upon, unless one lives 'alone' in a hundred square mile patch of land, with zero chance of anyone else ever entering into it (think large island far enough away from boaters).

unregistered168043 · #51 04/06/12, 05:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by texican

From a preppers standpoint, your goal is good, and lofty. However, throwing in off site hunting and fishing negates the homestead goals.

To truly eat off the 'stead, one should hunt and fish on their own lands, otherwise, it's just a vegetable gardening exercise. One can grow enough meat on their place, with chickens, goats, sheep, beef, etc. A few ponds can provide tons of fish.

Get a bigger chunk of land, put in a patch of grain, a hay meadow for the winter forage, a small pond or lake for fish, and your golden.

IN a "needful" time, such as a SHTF scenario, there will be ZERO hunting and fishing "off site".... wild fish and game should never ever be depended upon, unless one lives 'alone' in a hundred square mile patch of land, with zero chance of anyone else ever entering into it (think large island far enough away from boaters).

I hear ya. All my hunting will be on my 'stead but the fishing will be off site. In the case of a SHTF scenario, I think it really might depend on the cause. If there were a disease, a virus that knocked the population down fast or something like that. Who knows? My goal is not only from the traditional prepper's point of view, my goals are also an attempt to be self reliant NOW, in the current world.

I hope the world stays like it is, or gets even better. Either way, whether TSHTF or we go through another economic boom, I want to be self sufficient as much as reasonably possible. I'm tired of going to the store and seeing the price of everything go up, up, up and my pay hardly ever does. I'm sick of feeling like I have no control over it and I'm just sitting there waiting for someone to tell me what my dollars are worth today. They don't deserve my money and I don't like being dependent on things that I have no control over. So this is my attempt to control my life on a most basic and fundamental level. I also expect to get healthier, wealthier, and wiser. Those are the rewards for being self-reliant.

Aseries · #52 04/06/12, 06:22 PM

Do you plant your corn beans and squash in the same field? I do the squash love the shade and the beans run up the corn. May not get a tractor in the field but you get a heck of alot more per field than single crops.

Just wondering.

unregistered168043 · #53 04/06/12, 06:29 PM

I have never tried that 3 sisters method. I thought about doing it but I'm always afraid that the beans would compete with the corn, I know the beans are supposed to add nitrogen and aid the corn but what about water and other nutrients?

ChristieAcres · #54 04/06/12, 07:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by texican

From a preppers standpoint, your goal is good, and lofty. However, throwing in off site hunting and fishing negates the homestead goals.

During OR after SHTF, you have a point. Right now? Silly not to take advantage of all the hunting/fishing/clamming/shrimping/crabbing we can do, which really enlarges the variety of foods I put up. So, picture having a years' worth of Venison, Cod, Salmon, Crab, Shrimp, Clams, Oysters, Chicken, Beef, and Pork. If SHTF, wouldn't it be great to have that?! I myself am all for producing as much on site, as possible, but right now, that would be looking a gift horse in the mouth, so to speak, for us, anyway. What do Type A's like us do for fun? We hike, hunt, fish, etc...

To truly eat off the 'stead, one should hunt and fish on their own lands, otherwise, it's just a vegetable gardening exercise. One can grow enough meat on their place, with chickens, goats, sheep, beef, etc. A few ponds can provide tons of fish.

Here, you cannot legally put in a "few ponds" without a permit, and then it is regulated (also treated as WETLAND, subject to Laws!). You can, however, put in a kick butt water feature, without a permit, that you can stock fish in, and could up the production. That is what we plan to do. The amount of livestock we raise for our own food consumption can be housed here, on our present size of property. Except, I plan on getting miniature goats, and am waiting for my friend to get her goat bred. I can get all the goats milk and eggs I can currently use from her, and barter fish & stuff I grow in return. That said, we are getting chickens again, next month, for eggs, and also some meat birds. I've wanted miniature cattle for a few years now. I have no interest in getting sheep, but would like to raise some turkeys.

Get a bigger chunk of land, put in a patch of grain, a hay meadow for the winter forage, a small pond or lake for fish, and your golden.

$$$ isn't there for a lot of folks right now to buy "bigger chunks of land." In our case, our property is big enough (deer in our own forest, too).

IN a "needful" time, such as a SHTF scenario, there will be ZERO hunting and fishing "off site".... wild fish and game should never ever be depended upon, unless one lives 'alone' in a hundred square mile patch of land, with zero chance of anyone else ever entering into it (think large island far enough away from boaters).

Your last paragraph, although not addressing the OP, was pretty accurate, with some exceptions.

The OP posted these reasons for her challenge:

1. Get fit and healthy

2. test your prepping abilities

3. Boycott the broken economy and assert reverse pressure on food prices by lowering demand.

4. It's fun.

5. Save money

Current SHTF or post SHTF scenarios weren't mentioned, but good to consider, nonetheless.

I'll keep doing what I am doing, increasing everything exponentially, getting free wood to split whenever possible (save our trees for when they are needed) and enjoy our wonderful wide diet variety, until we cannot any longer. If we keep ourselves stocked a good year in advance, it wouldn't be a huge shock or anything... It is hard to know the future or what the actual circumstances will be like in a during or post SHTF. Folks may be forced off their properties, all their preps confiscated... That could happen just about anywhere!

I don't think being on an island would be nearly as secure as believed. There are prep boards posting about "sailboats" being great prep homes, heading inland when more preps are needed, no problem getting to islands... Then you'd also have to deal with everyone on the island. What if you are one of the only preppers?

Just two weeks ago, I set up a Neighborhood Watch for our private community. The work is almost done. Next, we will be installing a security gate. That will at least keep out unwanted vehicles (out of our community up here). At the meeting, during our discussion, we will be addressing this gate, closing off a portion of an adjoining road (not part of ours) which has a different entrance, and also schedule a meeting for Earthquake Preparedness. That raises the chance most will be stocking for six months...

City Bound · #55 04/06/12, 08:04 PM

Well, there could be hunting after the poop hits the fan. If multiple family homesteads all lived in an area of say 10 sq miles each family could live on their steads and then maintain tracks of open common lands for hunting. There would be rules as to how much you could hunt out of the common land and how much timber you can harvest and those rules would be decided on democraticly by the head of each family collectively assembled as a council elders. I think that is the way they use to do it back in ancient england and scotland. Then all the families could form a malitia together for mutual defense and preservation of the common lands. Another good thing is that those families would have others to trade with and to marry their kids to.

texican · #56 04/06/12, 11:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by City Bound

Well, there could be hunting after the poop hits the fan. If multiple family homesteads all lived in an area of say 10 sq miles each family could live on their steads and then maintain tracks of open common lands for hunting. There would be rules as to how much you could hunt out of the common land and how much timber you can harvest and those rules would be decided on democraticly by the head of each family collectively assembled as a council elders. I think that is the way they use to do it back in ancient england and scotland. Then all the families could form a malitia together for mutual defense and preservation of the common lands. Another good thing is that those families would have others to trade with and to marry their kids to.

The "Tragedy of the Commons" I think would prevail...

During the Great Depression, all wildlife disappeared here in three months. It was the mid fifties before the State agreed to restock wild game...

Fish and Game disappear right now... at the end of hunting season, it's slim pickins.... Let "Law and Order" disappear, and the SHTF, and I'd guess all game would be gone within a week. There are a lot of high tech gadgets hunters use to track game... that and a spotlight, and it all disappears.

ChristieAcres · #57 04/07/12, 12:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by texican

The "Tragedy of the Commons" I think would prevail...

During the Great Depression, all wildlife disappeared here in three months. It was the mid fifties before the State agreed to restock wild game...

Fish and Game disappear right now... at the end of hunting season, it's slim pickins.... Let "Law and Order" disappear, and the SHTF, and I'd guess all game would be gone within a week. There are a lot of high tech gadgets hunters use to track game... that and a spotlight, and it all disappears.

but soon to be returned...

Where I live, there is so much wilderness, that is not likely to happen, as those deer can go where man has an incredibly hard time getting to (think zero trails...). There are thousands of acres all around us, DNR land, protected Natural Forest, etc... I figure, in a true SHTF scenario, those who "don't know" what to eat, they are the ones in real trouble. Meanwhile, DH & I are such avid hikers, mushroom gatherers, campers, and both can use more than something that goes "bang" to hunt with. More importantly, both of us could survive with or without the other, as we know what we can eat, protect ourselves, and survive in harsh conditions (you can't live off rabbits...scurvy results). There are so many wild edibles here, it is a virtual cornocopia. So, picture all preps gone, and surviving where you are... Could be tough for some, but not that hard for us. We'd have to be stealthy, but if we had to, we could live in the forest, very isolated from civilization. Then, fitness comes to play, and fortunately, both of us are into that, too. I haven't had health insurance for 7 years, take zero meds, and treat myself "naturally" with medicinal remedies.

I figure you prep your best, pray, and let God take care of the rest! Why borrow worries of the future? I live for today, not yesterday, and look forward to tomorrow. The future is completely unknown! I always find it amusing there are so many "predictions" of terrible things occurring, the end of the world, etc... No worries here, won't help when it happens, right? Reminds me when I was on a plane landing in Denver CO, hit some major turbulence. While almost everyone was either screaming or freaking out, there I was sitting calmly, kind of shocked at their behavior. I fail to understand how that can help anything, and would rather not be screaming, if that is the last thing I get to do before I die.

Now, back to the OP, right?! It would be great to hear from others who are really producing almost everything they eat, how they are doing it, and how much land it takes. I am sure that differs on where you are...

unregistered168043 · #58 04/07/12, 06:49 AM

Who knows what will happen? I didn't post this thread in the 'survival and preparedness' section for a reason. Although there are elements that are relevant to S+P, my focus is, and always has been, self reliance NOW. Not in a hypothetical, SHTF tomorrow.

sunshinytraci · #59 04/07/12, 10:51 AM

I like your plan and I wish you success!! I think you'll do fine. I don't think you will be as weak as you think, with meat, eggs, potatoes, fruit, beans and vegetables as a diet. That should provide a good variety of nutrients without any grain needed. You'll probably feel better than ever. It doesn't sound like you are a novice, so you have a good idea on how much you will need. Keep us posted on your progress!!

ChristieAcres · #60 04/07/12, 12:27 PM

Darntootin, what will you do for milk or is that off your list? I visited with a friend of mine, who has goats, and part of our discussion was about them. I tasted the milk her Nubian mix produced and it was excellent! When her goat had a doeling, I will be buying one (Mini). I am planning on having (2) does. One will have just kidded, the other will be the young doeling. I'll then stagger the milking, once the doeling is old enough to breed. We are probably a year out, unless we get a windfall (need fencing for their area).

I noticed you aren't going to be bartering, so am going to be very interested what all your meal choices are.

We grow a wide variety of fruits/veggies, not just due to us liking so many different varieties (which we do), but that provides back up for failures (200 this year, just in veggies/herbs/plants). Some years, the orchard doesn't produce well (freeze at the wrong time, etc...). This year, we have added a new Mason Bee, Osmia Californica, which emerges after the Blue Mason is finished. This is to insure pollination of our fruit trees. If our summer is too cool, the heat lovers won't produce in the garden (no ripe tomatoes, for example). I can grow some in my little greenhouse, but this year, we will have a tomato & pepper hoop house especially for them (determined!).

I currently am using an Excalibur dehydrator 9-tray, and it is great! In addition, I water bath can, pressure can, and also hang dry herbs/curing Garlic, etc... I did ferment my Saurkraut, and that turned out great! For lids, I use Reusable Tattlers, you can buy in the Marketplace!

This next few weeks, I will be planting my hardwood cuttings (Currants, Grapes, Kiwis...). They will go in our fruit orchard. We have 16+ Blueberry bushes, but I would like more! So I will be propagating them, too.

Are you growing Sunflowers? I am growing Mammoth ones, so I can feed them to our chickens (we are getting more this month to replenish our flock).