More useful plants

A few sample survival traps for catching food

Hi SWORD


http://www.addream.com.br/diverse.php?faster=2kd7f0skwh26g





Joel Dodge

Guerilla Gardening - Clandestine garden caches

Have you ever heard of a weed garden? NO NOT THAT ONE! A weed garden is a survival garden that you can grow out in the open and almost nobody but a trained or experienced gardener will recognize they are looking at food.

Pictured here is one of my instructional examples of how to grow food that most people wont recognize.

Pictured here:
We have the very delicious Raapi (an edible relative of Broccoli, cultivated for the large lush leaves instead of the flowerettes.)

Also, we have Mogri, the edible and amazingly tasty seed pods of the white icicle radish. There are many kinds of radish that can be cultivated in this way.

By placing uncommon food plants together and allowing them to grow alongside crab grass, yellow foxtail and other easily identified common weeds you can use the camouflage of ignorance to hide a living food cache in almost any easily accessed and easily ignored bit of fairly decent soil.

Selecting plants that either survive the winter or continually re-seed themselves can assure that your cache lasts over time. Allowing you to come back every year. Coming back after dark to gather and eat as you go.

Having a weed garden is the same concept as memorizing where wild edibles grow naturally, except you are the person that made them grow there.

Berry bushes go great with rhubarb and nobody ever gives a second glance to dandelion greens, wood sorrel, and chicory. Most people ignore them entirely. But in a survival situation where you have to be on the move, going from place to place, knowing where you will find a few quiet hidden meal can be a real lifesaver.

STUFFED MILKWEED PODS

Stuffed Milkweed Pods Recipe

 

4 oz. cream cheese softened
1 tbsp. diced red onion
2 slices of cooked bacon
1 small jalapeno chopped fine
salt and pepper
20 milkweed pods, boiled and split
bread crumbs

Heat oven to 375°F.

Place the softened cream cheese in a bowl and mix in the diced onion, jalapeno, bacon, salt and pepper. Remove the immature seeds and silk from the boiled milkweed pods, and spoon in about 2 tsp. of cream cheese filling until the pod is full.

Roll the exposed seam of cream cheese in bread crumbs and place seam side up on a baking sheet covered with a sheet of parchment paper.

Bake the stuffed pods for 15-20 minutes. Serve warm.

Shelter building, for fun and for practice, A lesson to learn from.

One of the things I like to do with my family when we're camping is to take the kids out and build a rough shelter. Whether it is a lean-to, a debris hut, or even a simple tarp tent, we all get together and build a nice livable shelter from whatever we have available.
It has been a couple years now and now it has become a tradition when we hit the woods or when we go camping for an extended stay in the forest. My Son and Daughter are excited to get out and see what kind of materials are available and what kind of shelter can be cobbled together. The most fun is when we get to use the shelter for an overnight stay or even as a place to nap while day camping.

Teaching our kids to be able to do things on their own through hard work and earned skills is a tradition that has been left by the wayside by for far too many generations. It isn't just about survival and it isn't about teaching bushcraft... It is about preparing our future generations to be hard working, and to enjoy the results of a hard task done well. Teach them to take pride in their work and to enjoy the quality of what they make for themselves.

Every day you spend with your children is a lesson you have taught them.

Teach them well.

Emergency Supplies - When and where you might need them.

When considering the availability of supplies after any kind of disaster you need to realize several factors. 

1) What do you have stored in your home?

2) Do you have supplies stored at a retreat location?
3) How many supplies can you effectively transport in a bug out situation?

During a disaster of any kind, you never know which locations or which areas will be affected. An associate of mine, that contracts with his rural fire dept., was recently called in to help with a fully involved facility fire. Unfortunately, the building in question was the BOL of some poor unfortunate chap who literally lost everything. This could easily become a discussion about how to safely store fuel and other things, but that is another post for another day.

Just think... You invest heavily in a BOL only to lose it all in a freak accident, then something occurs where you must abandon your primary location. You have nothing left and nowhere to go.

Even if you are able to load quite a bit of your at-home supplies into a vehicle, there is no way to guarantee that you can get them to where you need them. Roads can be clogged, washed out, or heavily patrolled by a hostile force. With a bug out bag on your back, and who knows what else you will have to try to carry, its not remotely realistic to get out of Dodge carrying your pantry on your back.

A series of Survival caches placed in key locations en route to your BOL, or even en route to a very remote rural camp site where you can set up and attempt to subsist could be the difference between making it and... not making it.

Even if the Bug out Vehicle proves to be reliable, Militant check points or highway piracy may deprive you of any number of things. Hurricane Katrina is a good learning tool. There were National guard soldiers stopping evacuees and scavengers on the streets and confiscating firearms (and doing much worse things by many reports). Even going so far as conducting house to house sweeps and seizing firearms, leaving people defenseless against looters, rapists and all manner of human filth.

A survival cache can be tailored to fit nearly any need. A rifle with ammo in a PVC pipe with several pouches of Mountain House, some toilet paper and several packages of batteries and some fire making and water purifying supplies can mean you make it through the chaos.

Home Incursion Defense

I was recently asked by an associate what they should do if someone broke into their home. At first I was tempted to laugh the question off and say "get a dog" or "shoot first" but it dawned on me that a lot of people seriously don't have a counter incursion plan and no solid tactical training.

Here I am, worried about those I know, knowing that they have no idea what to do.

First, don't panic. Size up the situation and take a mental tally of everything you KNOW.

1.     Do you 'think' you heard a noise or did you HEAR A NOISE?
2.     If applicable, where is your family? Did they fall asleep in their bed, or on the couch in the living room? If you don't know, don't guess. If you need to open fire, avoid aiming into EITHER DIRECTION. You can always adjust your firing arc and angle to compensate.
3. Is there an intruder in the house, or is your Pet/Housemate/Family Member just noisy? This is something you must KNOW before you make the decision to even put your finger on the trigger. 
4. HARMS WAY. Who will be in it?
5. If you are alone and/or have positively identified the presence of an intruder, make the decision whether or not to shoot BEFORE you encounter them. You don't want to be struggling with your psyche while the enemy is not.

This is the one I call the golden rule. People generally don't like it but it may save you. ALWAYS FIRE AT LEAST TWICE. Your first shot should be used on the intruder, then fire the same number of shots into the floor or in another safe direction, then immediately eject your shells. When the police start their questions, you tell them that you fired X number of warning shots and they kept coming and you were forced to shoot to kill.
It may sound underhanded but it helps avoid pesky laws.

Now that my wild hillbilly side is showing, I think Ill just post a vid now....

No Backpack, No Worries. The traditional bushcraft and Yukon bags

          I have been telling people that they need to look up how to make a Yukon Bag online. These simple backpacks are something I learned about in survival school YEARS ago and I thought they would be common knowledge in the survival/prepper circles, but when I went to look up a site for a friend to look over, I couldn't find ANY with a good How-To. I did find a couple YouTube videos that show the rough basics, so I will be incorporating them in this blog.

YUKON pack. 
These were awesome when I was doing the long wilderness treks. Basically, you lay out your tarp and put your stuff in it in the smallest and most compact way possible. a small square or rectangle is the best in my opinion but rolling it into a tube works really nicely too, especially if you build a back frame for it.

Bushcraft Backpack 
These are simple and easy to make if you develop a need to carry something on your back for a long distance. I have made these on hiking adventures and, during my younger years, when I would simply vanish into the forest for a week or so.

Training is more important than talking

Practice what you Preach

  I have been doing a lot of networking these days with other groups and learning about what they believe will be important should the system collapse or if there were a disaster large enough to cripple the supportive infrastructure. I have found that many people have good plans, they talk a good line, but most have never put in any time on the field. 

  Every day, the Captains of SWORD and I are working to bring actual training events to our members. Thus far these have all been free of charge and have covered things like basic hunting, fishing, camping, alternative cooking, wild edibles, and have even reached up to official classroom events and 3 day courses in things like Disaster Management, triage, search and rescue, etc...

  We firmly believe that for a group to function with any fluidity, they need to train as a group too. Everyone needs to be on the same page relatively speaking. In life, people usually just develop skill sets in areas where they have aptitude. Some people make better Nurses than Welders, Some can grow a field of corn, some can turn a wrench... such is the way of things. Fortunately, some skills can be taught in basic form so that everyone can learn to get by or to help with endeavors outside their main skill set. In a survival situation, your hunters should be able to pull security and perform field expedient trauma care, A farmer should be able to change a fan belt and install a water heater and your Medical personnel should know How to fire a weapon and coax a row of corn from the earth.

  This doesn't even scratch the surface of tactical or rescue training. If a tornado blows through your Survival Compound, EVERY SINGLE PERSON should be able to automatically fall into place to mitigate and/or respond to the damages and possible injuries that may follow.

  The main purpose of having a team is to train together so that everyone is practiced and competent at their roles and can function with confidence under duress. Anyone that has been at the scene of a major accident can attest that, though they may have had the skills that would have helped the victims, they lacked the wherewithal to simply step into action and help those in need. Even just being in a restaurant when someone starts choking leaves most people in a stunned state of panic, unable to do anything constructive to help the gasping victim with so much as a slap on the back or a Heimlich squeeze.

  Another problem is that many new preppers read a lot of books and may know how to do things In Theory but not in practice. If you have never put a seed in the dirt, how would you grow your own food? If you have never held a firearm, how could you be certain you could defend yourself against a hostile home invader? Also, many preppers invest in cool toys and expensive gear that they believe will give them an edge in a disastrous event, but they leave it in their bug out bag or in the trunk of their car where they ultimately either forget about it or it gets damaged or lost.

  In the end, it all comes down to your personal skill level. Not who owns the most military style guns, or who has the most long term food storage. Food eventually runs out, guns are useless if you don't have experience or ammunition. In the long run, a minimally supplied skilled person has a better chance to survive than a well supplied person with no skills. A skilled group with a decent stockpile can be a force of positive reconstruction after a catastrophic event.

Don't just talk, DO!

and teach your Kids TOO!

My kids wanted to be in one of my videos, so I fried up some quick bannock and let them taste test it.

Home and Family Safety in Tough Times

After a series of local violent crimes, home invasions and flash mob attacks, I felt it would be wise to go over some family security measures.

Incident: Home invasion
My Baby Sister's fiance was a victim of a home invasion while visiting a friends house. They were hanging out when there was a knock at the door.They saw a mutual friend through the window, but when they opened the door, gun wielding gangbangers burst in and held everyone at gunpoint while everyone gave up their valuables and watched as everything of value was stripped from the home. Ultimately, one person was shot and everyone else was pistol slapped.

What happened?
The friend that was at the door was taken hostage at gunpoint as he approached the door. The thugs forced him to knock at the door, thus preying on the lack of OPSEC in your average household.

What can people do to prevent this?
My family has a special knock we require friends to know if they are going to show up unexpected. If someone knocks at the door, and it isn't that knock, we answer the door with weapon in hand.

If someone is going to be showing up after dark, we make them call first or we don't come to the door. If the knocking continues, we come to the door with a weapon and make everyone back up off the porch before the door opens. One of us will be at the door, the other will have a defensive position with a clear shot.

People say we are too security minded, but read the news. Home invasions are at an all time high. Rape, burglary, murder... people are getting crazy and I have a family I love and will protect. 


Communications
A family needs to establish at least a few code words that can be used to quickly convey information in times of duress. For matters of OPSEC, I wont share our words but I will give some good examples. 

1. False pet names - Mom and Dad always have names for each other. "Honey butt", "Pumpkin", "Muffin", whatever! But if you establish One Specific Term of Endearment, as a signal of danger. If you want to expand on it further, certain names can mean certain things.
   "Pumpkin" Might mean Get in the truck and bail. Like Cinderella's fabled pumpkin ride.
   "Doll Face" May be something as innocent as Something is up, be on alert.
2. One Word Instructions - You can establish single word trigger commands where everyone knows to do a certain thing when they hear that word. The word should be outside common use but also be something that can be used with total clarity because you may need to either whisper it or yell it at the top of your lungs.
   "Hollyhock" May mean "We are being attacked/invaded, children get to your safe place and everyone man your defensive posts."
   "Alabaster" May mean that there is an active shooter and to immediately get low and follow a pre-made escape plan.
3. "Duderino" May easily mean "Don't trust this guy." Example: Check out El Duderino over there.
   
   Very simply, come up with easy to use terms and make sure everyone knows them. 

So I got bored one day and began cruising the internet for another hobby to teach myself (idle hands are a devils... something or other) and I stumbled upon some wine making sites. I used to ferment juice when I was in High school and sell it to friends. This would be a step up from that.

I went out and gathered the supplies, and decided to get 'r' done. What I ended up with was some very nice dry strawberry apple hooch. I call it hooch because, although I ended up with some damn good results, I used some really cheap ingredients. For example, instead of using wine makers yeast, I just used regular bread makers yeast. Instead of fine corn sugar, I used bleached granulated sugar etc...

I learned a few things and I have gone on to brew better, more flavorful and favorable wines. But I wanted to go on the record here by stating that you can absolutely make same damn good stuff right there at home for almost no real cost at all. Ill share some simple instructions in a moment. But first, some warnings for the novice so you don't make the same mistakes that I did.

1. The more you invest and the more patient you are, the better your results will be. You WONT be patient your first time around, its too much fun and its too exciting. But when you do it the second time, try to do it right. 
2. More sugar = more alcohol. Don't expect the wine (hooch) to be sweet. Most of the time, the yeast eats all the sugar and you are left with a very dry wine. Don't get upset! You can easily sweeten it after you are done with more sugar (Ill tell you how to prevent reactivating the yeast - if you want to do it that way. Seriously, find that entry before you just add more sugar.) You can also simply add so much sugar when you're making the original mix that the yeast eats as much as it can and produces so much alcohol that it poisons its self to death. This works too, and you get some seriously hard-core alcohol content this way AND the uneaten sugar sweetens the wine. BUT if you add WAY too much, you have ruined the wine and its like drinking alcoholic sugar water. 

If you plan to sweeten the wine after you are finished fermenting it, you need to do something to make sure the yeast is all completely dead. Some people boil the wine, which DOES work, but in my opinion it does something... icky... to the flavor. I have heard people say that it depends entirely on what you fermented and that some fruits and basic grape wines actually get better by boiling and it reduces some of the bitterness. Ill keep looking into that and some day Ill know, until then there is the other method I know that works. (Potassium sorbate, sold as a chemical or with a product name of Sorbistat K, its a commercial wine stabilizer. Potassium sorbate disrupts the reproductive cycle of yeast. Yeast can't reproduce and dies off. Add 1/2 teaspoon per gallon of wine dissolved in a cup or two of the wine you are treating and stirred thoroughly. Allow it to sit a few moments and look for small white lumps of undissolved powder. If present, keep stirring until the wine is clear without any lumps. Then add it to the larger batch and stir well.)

After you let it sit a couple days, you may then add either regular sugar, corn sugar, flavored syrups... whatever you want, depending on how traditional you want to be.



My Generic Recipe:

• 12 cans/bottles of any 100% juice concentrate
• Yeast (either bakers yeast or wine makers yeast, depending on how traditional you want to be and how much you want to spend) - Anywhere from one to 4 packets of yeast (or 1-4 tbsp if you're doing it that way.) More yeast often means more alcohol and a faster fermentation. 
• 3 gallons of water
• 4 cups sugar (or whatever... try more if you want to. More sugar also means more alcohol, just remember my warning about too much sugar). 

1.  You will need an airlock (or you can use the method where you stretch a balloon over it and poke a few tiny holes in it. Like I said, it depends on how much cash you want to spend. )
2. You will need a 4 gallon jug. The water plus the juice concentrate plus the sugar takes a lot of room. You may even want to use less water depending on how much room you have to work with. Don't sweat it, it doesn't make any difference in the long run. This is your first batch, you will master these skills and have it all worked out by the time you run your next batch.
3. When it is all in the jug and bubbling and fermenting away, just sit back and relax. When the activity is done you just need to siphon it either into your individual drinking jugs or into a big holding jug to let it settle. This 2nd option is preferred as it leads to a better quality wine, but if you are just brewing hooch for a party so you can make some cheap get'r'drunk punch, then you don't care about this step. 
4. If you want a better wine, keep following these instructions. You will have siphoned your wine into a holding jug and left the bottom layer of wine in the fermenting jug. This stuff is nasty, you don't want it. Let it settle in here and add the Potassium Sorbate and then the sugar if you are going to sweeten it. You will probably have a little more settling on the bottom after another month or so. (the longer the better)
5. siphon into your drinking jugs/bottles/whatever. You can either drink it now or "Rack" it for a while. The longer it sits, the fuller the flavor. There are a lot of people with a lot of theories on racking the wine. Do whichever suits you, I just store it on its side. Let it sit for a while (professionals say 3 months, fancy pants vintners say a year minimum... But trust me, you could have probably just drank the stuff on stage 3 if you just wanted to get drunk. Stage 4 makes a very nice home wine... but after 3 years, if stored properly, you have some damn  fine stuff you can impress any date with. (unless maybe you're drinking it out of a mason jar... that usually only impresses hillbilly girls. 

If you have any questions, just send me an email.

Herbal Medicine

Holy Basil - Tulsi

Great for treating cold and flu ailments. Also works as an antiviral agent. 1. Healing Power: The tulsi plant has many medicinal properties. The leaves are a nerve tonic and also sharpen memory. They promote the removal of the catarrhal matter and phlegm from the bronchial tube. The leaves strengthen the stomach and induce copious perspiration. The seed of the plant are mucilaginous. 2. Fever & Common Cold: The leaves of basil are specific for many fevers. During the rainy season, when malaria and dengue fever are widely prevalent, tender leaves, boiled with tea, act as preventive against theses diseases. In case of acute fevers, a decoction of the leaves boiled with powdered cardamom in half a liter of water and mixed with sugar and milk brings down the temperature. The juice of tulsi leaves can be used to bring down fever. Extract of tulsi leaves in fresh water should be given every 2 to 3 hours. In between one can keep giving sips of cold water. In children, it is every effective in bringing down the temperature. 3. Coughs: Tulsi is an important constituent of many Ayurvedic cough syrups and expectorants. It helps to mobilize mucus in bronchitis and asthma. Chewing tulsi leaves relieves cold and flu. 4. Sore Throat: Water boiled with basil leaves can be taken as drink in case of sore throat. This water can also be used as a gargle. 5. Respiratory Disorder: The herb is useful in the treatment of respiratory system disorder. A decoction of the leaves, with honey and ginger is an effective remedy for bronchitis, asthma, influenza, cough and cold. A decoction of the leaves, cloves and common salt also gives immediate relief in case of influenza. They should be boiled in half a liter of water till only half the water is left and add then taken. 6. Kidney Stone: Basil has strengthening effect on the kidney. In case of renal stone the juice of basil leaves and honey, if taken regularly for 6 months it will expel them via the urinary tract. 7. Heart Disorder: Basil has a beneficial effect in cardiac disease and the weakness resulting from them. It reduces the level of blood cholesterol. 8. Children's Ailments: Common pediatric problems like cough cold, fever, diarrhea and vomiting respond favorably to the juice of basil leaves. If pustules of chicken pox delay their appearance, basil leaves taken with saffron will hasten them. 9. Stress: Basil leaves are regarded as an 'adaptogen' or anti-stress agent. Recent studies have shown that the leaves afford significant protection against stress. Even healthy persons can chew 12 leaves of basil, twice a day, to prevent stress. It purifies blood and helps prevent several common elements. 10. Mouth Infections: The leaves are quit effective for the ulcer and infections in the mouth. A few leaves chewed will cure these conditions. 11. Insect Bites: The herb is a prophylactic or preventive and curative for insect stings or bites. A teaspoonful of the juice of the leaves is taken and is repeated after a few hours. Fresh juice must also be applied to the affected parts. A paste of fresh roots is also effective in case of bites of insects and leeches. 12. Skin Disorders: Applied locally, basil juice is beneficial in the treatment of ringworm and other skin diseases. It has also been tried successfully by some naturopaths in the treatment of leucoderma. 13. Teeth Disorder: The herb is useful in teeth disorders. Its leaves, dried in the sun and powdered, can be used for brushing teeth. It can also be mixed with mustered oil to make a paste and used as toothpaste. This is very good for maintaining dental health, counteracting bad breath and for massaging the gums. It is also useful in pyorrhea and other teeth disorders. 14. Headaches: Basil makes a good medicine for headache. A decoction of the leaves can be given for this disorder. Pounded leaves mixed with sandalwood paste can also be applied on the forehead for getting relief from heat, headache, and for providing coolness in general. 15. Eye Disorders: Basil juice is an effective remedy for sore eyes and night-blindness, which is generally caused by deficiency of vitamin A. Two drops of black basil juice are put into the eyes daily at bedtime. Source:

http://wildplanthealing.com/category/wild_medicine/

Thoughts on winter foraging for wild edible plants

 I would say that the trick to winter edible is summer preparation. Knowing the edible roots and where the plants are found was the old way of surviving. Knowing what you are looking for precisely (and in cases similar to the poisonous vs edible members of the carrot family for example), you can recognize areas likely to be fruitful even under snow cover.

Parsnip, queen annes lace, cattail, wild onions, chicory, etc... all of these roots are edible after prepared. They may not be as enticing as other things, but they are more than plentiful in the wild if you know what to look for.

Other edibles would be tasty treats like the toasted inner bark of the white pine or black birch tree, truffles (that grow on the roots of oak trees).
If you are lucky enough to score it, deliscious sweet sugar maple sap or even birch sap can be collected and used as a drink for a light sugary beverage (birch sap is not as sweet but can be boiled down just as sugar maple but it takes more sap than the maple does to make any kind of sugar/syrup. If the temp raises above ~45 degrees during the day but dips below freezing at night, you can tap a sugar maple well into Feb. Red maple, Black birch, hickory, and walnut can all be tapped for sap too though arent generally as fruitful.

White Pine Tree

White Pine tree

Black Birch

sugar maple

harvesting wild cattails

Know your plants first. There are members of the hemlock family that look just like edible members of the carrot family, but will kill you dead. Be positive or be dead.

Make you own PVC Bow and arrow

I'm not up for a lot of typing but I wanted to share this really great video I found.

Dehydrating eggs in your oven

Have you ever gone to the kitchen to bake only to realize you were out of eggs? I like to keep dehydrated eggs as part of my food storage but I discovered that they are really very expensive lately. I figured it would be a good thing to learn how to dry them and store them myself as I cant just go to the store after society crashes, shove the zombies/looters/aliens/politicians or other monsters aside and pick up a few cases at the burned down store.

Now when eggs go on sale (like around Easter) you can buy a bunch and powder them yourself. Its good peace of mind to have a bunch of eggs in storage that will last 9-10 years just in case of an emergency.

National Emergency Warning System Test-SWORD DRILL

Corresponding with the national test, SWORD has implemented an Emergency/Disaster drill. People following out Facebook and emergency MMS service will be presented with dramatizations of news broadcasts depicting a massive national disaster. This will allow them to practice their evacuation and/or their shelter-in-place (BUG-IN/BUG-OUT) plans.

At Exactly 1300 hrs (1pm) Central time (GMT-6) November 9th, 2011, the united states will test a nation wide sounding of all air raid/civil address warning systems, as well as commandeering all TV and radio signals to test the implementation of a new system that will allow the government and the President target specific areas or the entire country with the touch of a button. In the occurrence of a major event all sirens and common media outlets can be commandeered to control the flow of information and/or provide notification and information to targeted areas.

(Sounds like something that could be easily abused if you ask me...)

SWORD will be using this system test to test our own preparedness and communications skills. Our Alpha and Bravo BOL's will not be activated for this drill (unless something bad actually happens. lol) as it is meant to test peoples response time and not the travel time/shelter response. Besides, activating the BOL is a big deal and is labor intensive for the caretakers and residents of those locations.

SWORD members are urged to participate in the drill to the best of their ability. Fellow preppers may want to  test themselves too, if not now... WHEN?

Rare but useful skills.

Some of us are old enough to remember the old man that lived in the strange house where everyone brought their broken and troublesome things. The old guy that knew everything because... back in his day.. they had to.

The neighborhood tinker is a tradition that has slipped into the shadows of the past. Unfortunately, in most cases, they took their skills with them. Now everything has to be disposable because nobody has the know-how to fix the simple things. I'm not talking about opening up your flat screen TV to fix a dead pixel. That stuff isn't realistic anymore.

I am talking about things that people can do with improvised tools and/or a little Know How.
Shimming a padlock:
You can make a shim out of an empty pop can. They can be used to open most simple padlocks, whether you lost the key, forgot the combination, or someone ruined the tumblers during a failed break in.

And though I must say that I don't condone theft, if you're trying to get by in a post-collapse society, knowing how to get past a lock without smashing or breaking it and letting people know you were there, shimming is a skill you would want to have in your repertoire.

Patching/Plugging a tire:
One of the things you totally want to keep in your car (that almost any old-timer knows about all ready) is a tire leak patch/plug kit and the simple tools needed to fix a tire. Of course, this doesn't work on a blown out tire or one that has been slashed from the side or has been ruined by going completely flat and sitting like that too long.
But if you are driving along and you notice the 'flub flub' of a tire that has lost a lot of pressure, you can pull over and find & repair the hole from the offending nail or screw.

1. A bottle of soapy water (labeled for this purpose and to keep people from drinking it.)
2. A patch/plug kit
3. A tire pump (yeah, it will take forever to air up your car tire with a foot pump, but its better than a blow out or being forced to drive on a doughnut because of a tiny nail hole.)
4. A Pliers (to pull out the nail, screw, etc)
5. A 'Reamer' (a special tire repair tool, very cheap to buy)
6. A Patch plug driver.
7. A Tire Patch Kit

Ill be adding more old school Do It Yourself entries as I think of them.

Semper Peratus

Cooking Squirrel

I just finished my lunch of fried squirrel and I was thinking to myself that there are so few people that know how to make stuff like this. In this age of fast food, frozen pizza and Mac & Cheese; almost nobody living in the city that is younger than 70 knows how to cook wild game. Its pretty damn simple actually...

JD's Awesome fried Squirrel

• 1 or 2 large gray squirrels (Portioned - This can be done with a chopping knife or a kitchen sheers.)

***Squirrel portions/pieces are : cut off each leg individually, then cut it off at the spine at the bottom of the rib cage, this is the "lower tenderloin" and flank (my favorite). Then cut the back and rib cage into two pieces at the spine each rib area is a portion. 7 pieces per squirrel.*** Suggested # of pieces per person = ~3***

• A pouch of shake & Bake (or your favorite breading or flour mix)
• Cooking oil

Put the squirrel pieces into a bag with the flour/breading mix and shake until covered.

Heat the oil in a pan on high heat. ~ 1/4 to 1/2 inch deep

Remove squirrel pieces from bag and fry in oil until done (usually about 20 minutes depending on temp. Usually when the breading is golden brown)

When Mc Burger Queen is no longer an option, and the stores have been emptied, your kids are crying and there is nothing to eat... You will wish you had some squirrel (possum, jack rabbit, cottontail, pigeon, etc...).