Friday, April 22, 2016
Today I made Laundry Soap!
Saturday, March 28, 2015
Updates, Soap Lady, and Gluten Free Emergency Kits
I am bad at this! First off, I want to apologize about the lack of updates on my blog. The past 8 months have been a whirlwind of busy-ness that turned my personal life in ways I did not expect. However I am making this year a time of personal responsibility and accountability and that means being accountable for past promises that were not delivered.
This time last year, I promised a few folks that I would do some product reviews on my blog that I never got around to doing. I am going to rectify that now.
First I want to graciously thank The Soap Nut Lady and the fine folks over at GlutenFreeEmergencyKits.com for giving me samples of their products to try. Both things I have received while I was at the Survival Preppers Expo last year.
The second item that I was given to try was a bag of nuts! Soap nuts from The Soap Nut Lady to be exact. If you have not heard of soap nuts, they are small round nuts that look like walnuts, but they saponify water, giving a nice soapy feel slick feel. From what I remember they gave off a slight nutty / piney sent. I will admit, I did make a mistake with the product. I had never used soap nuts before so this was new to me. What I did was I put the soap nuts into the little bag that came with and let them soak in my huge bucket that I use for laundry for a while. (Like 15 minutes.) and then used them for my wash. Even with that short of soaking time, the water got a little slick and it kind of worked. From what I understand, you have to soak the nuts in water for several hours to get the full effect. Just doing a short soak in a huge bucket of water was my own mistake. As a cleansing material, I would have to honestly experiment more with it, if I got some more. I was also given a packet of ground up soap nuts to put in a spray bottle, but I had not used that. I think I still have it though.
I just thought that I would still get these reviews up, and rectify this. Both products I feel were pretty good, and the companies that gave these products to me were very nice to talk with when I first met them. Again, thank you! Hopefully my dear loyal readers, I might be able to add some more experiences to my blog in the coming months. I again do apologize for the delay.
-Ravenwolf
Saturday, July 12, 2014
Eggplant Urban Farm Supply
St. Paul, MN 55104
(651) 645 0818
Saturday, June 21, 2014
Laundry Update again!
Hi guys, I know it has a VERY LONG time since I have made another post. (I am very bad about these things, though My old laptop fried!) I am just putting up a little post today to show you that I have updated my laundry setup! I have had this for several years now and it works great and I am willing to share what I have done with you guys. As you may or may not remember from a previous article, I wash most of my clothes by hand. It saves me money. But, I did spend a little money to upgrade. I stopped using the plunger and dishpan and went to two buckets and a product called "The Breathing Mobile Washer" The orange bucket I bought at Home Depot for $3, the white bucket I got from a bakery for $1 and the Washer I bought at Emergency Essentials for $14.99 ($17 or so with shipping!) Let me tell you. The money I spent on the Washer was WORTH IT! Literally the first day It nearly paid for itself. My apartment laundry room costs about $1.75 to wash and $1.75 to dry. If you do three loads, it would cost you $10.50! Within a week it has paid for itself.
The Breathing Mobile Washer acts like a plunger, but has a grate underneath and a smaller cone on top to add extra pushing and sucking power, forcing water and soap through the cloth material. That is how the manufacturer claims this works. I know it does work on my clothes. Here is an action shot!
There is one little downside to this product though. Sometimes the head of it tends to come off, if you do not twist it back on. To prevent this, you can either get an "O" ring gasket from lowes. Or you can do like I do and when you plunge it up and down doing your laundry, twist the handle in a clockwise motion not only keeping the head on, but also adding a slight spin motion in the bucket. That is the only downside.
You can get this product from Emergency Essentials, very cheap and it pays for itself.
Washer Specs for you Techie people from Emergency Essentials website:
Weight: 1.36 lbs
Dimensions: approx. 29” long x approx. 8” base diameter I just thought I would share this with you! -- Ravenwolf
Friday, April 11, 2014
Expos and New Things.
Saturday, August 24, 2013
Prepping Tools: RadioShack NOAA Weather Radio
Tuesday, January 15, 2013
Eating for Victory and Make Do and Mend
Two new additions to my library. Eating for Victory and Make Do and Mend.
These two books are a collection of reproduction pamphlets that were handed out by the British Ministry of Food and the Ministry of War to the common folks during the second world war on how to live on the ration system. These two books also are a very good peek into what our friends in Great Britain had to deal with in their daily lives on the home front. Literally everything was rationed, from cloth and furniture, to food, fuel, and metal. Somethings were heavily restricted, while other items were non-existent due to the Nazi blockade. Over half of their food pre-war was imported from the U.S and other countries. The war in itself changed the way their agriculture worked. Everything was tightly restricted and controlled, and these two books are a couple of examples showing what they had to go through.
Eating for Victory covers the food rationing system and gives a lot of recipes and meal plans with foods that are heavily rationed. It shows you how to plan meals, how to work with new foods like dried eggs and dry milk. With us today... Well if you think about it having things like food storage is really food rationing, you are working with only the stuff that you have if you can't get to the store. Most of the items in this book should be in everyone's food storage. They have recipes using stuff like butter, sugar, flour, oils, salt, and food additions that would add any sort of flavor into dishes that would be bland.
Make Do and Mend is the companion book to Eating for Victory. This book covers home heating, basic home repairs, clothing maintenance and all the ration coupon rules and regulations. There is just one pamphlet alone that covers how to wash your clothes so they don't wear out as fast. The Mrs Sew - and - Sew pamphlets show you how to darn and repair rips, tears and holes in clothes. This book also shows you how to conserve fuel if you use gas or coal cooking ranges (I think there are several here that might be interested in that!) There is so much more in this book that what I am just telling you here.
Both of these books are very good, if not only for the historical value, but also for other prepping ideas. The only few downsides to these books are: 1. Some of the information is old since we are talking about the mid 30's to mid 40's era here, especially the health information so keep that in mind. 2. They do use different measurements than we do, especially in cooking, if you can get around that, you would be doing fine. Personally though, I think these books are good to have in a prepper's library. I got both of these on Amazon, though I don't remember what I paid for them, they were not real expensive though.
Thursday, September 06, 2012
Prepping Vacation, Summer Reflections
Hey guys.
Wow, it has been a little over 3 months since my last post!? Wow. Sorry it has been so long. I ended up taking a couple of months off to have a bit of prepping vacation. Not that I ever really stopped picking up good information for prepping. I just needed a break for a while. It is easy to burn out from doing this all the time. This summer I decided to hold things off for a while instead of going over board. I know that sounds a little "grasshopper-ish" but I have been working on this for the past few years.
What have I been doing the last few months you ask? Well I had a nice little vacation with my pack... I mean family this summer. Can't pass up a family trip for a week of fun. Hell this summer has been great. And I still got to use some of my prep skills even while I was on break. I finally got to put my wineskin bota bag to use when my family and I went for bike rides during this hot summer. Also I did not pass up the chance to visit a native american museum and store to see what goodies they had. I actually ended up in front of their book rack spending 5 minutes copying down the titles of some really good instructional books. What they had covered leather making, cooking, medicinal plants, and native ritual ceremonies. I even ended up buying a cookbook later when I got home for cheaper than what they had it for. At the end of this article I will have a list of the book names I wrote for you guys to check out. Some of those books, If I get them I will review. This has kind of started me down the path of looking into the old ways of how things where done. I ended up finding old and new documentaries and some "reality shows" of doing things from times past. So far I am loving shows like 1940s House, If Walls Could Talk: A History of the Home, Victorian Farm, Edwardian Farm, and Frontier House. The best thing is most of these shows are on DVD or in book format. I personally believe that the old ways of doing things should not be forgotten, and should be practiced when possible.
I also went to the state fair too. It gave me a chance to speak with master gardeners and I found out that there are gardening classes in my county. I got some great square foot gardening ideas for my balcony. I got to check out new camping gear and I am thinking of getting a Duluth pack for my Vehicle Kit. I also gave out information to folks on prepping too. It was great talking with some of the vendors. Oh and I nommed some tasty fair food. Deep fried apple pie with cinnamon ice cream? TO DIE FOR!
Also, this was the summer of facing my fears. For the first time I drove long distance... alone over 200 miles round trip. That I felt it still was a big deal for me, though it was the second time I have done a trip like that. The first time I drove it was quite a bit longer.
I also do not like being around crowds, but I chose to go to the state fair. I also never really took the transit system by myself before, again, with the state fair I learned to use the park and ride system. I also used my map skills when I was at the fair and learning to locate places that I wanted to go. I don't like traveling to the big city. The big city was where the state fair was. In years past, I went with my family, this time I chose to go alone and it was still fun. I just kept my eyes open, my wits about me, and wrote the more important information down (like the transit bus number and pick up location).
Hows about that for an update?
Prepping is serious business, but it should also be fun and allow you to have fun. I know it did for me.
RavenWolf
List of Books I Found:
A handbook of Native American Healing
The Book of Buckskinning Series
Secrets of Native American Herbal Remedies
Encyclopedia of Native American Healing
Cherokee Plants Their Uses a 400 Year History
Frontier Chuckwagon Cooking
Ma's Cookin Mountain Recipes
Hillbilly Cookin'
American Indian Cooking and Herblore
The Native American Sweatlodge
Stories and Recipes of the Great Depression by Janet van Amber Paske
Monday, June 04, 2012
Canning Supply SALE!
Sorry for no articles as of late, I have been busy these few days. I will get something up this week!
Ravenwolf.
Tuesday, May 22, 2012
Sickness and 6th Sense
I got a bit of a story to tell you guys.
Last week* for some odd reason, I was making my usual run to the grocery store, and I was going to add in a few stock up items. When I was there, I suddenly got this huge urge to add a lot of extra chicken soup and cheese ravioli. Was odd was, yes I do stock up on chicken soup, but not the ravioli so much, and I bought a rather large amount, which is not usual, and ravioli I almost never stock. That is mostly because 1. I dont like pre-made canned meals all that often, and 2. the kind I like is expensive so it is a luxury item. Just for some reason, which I will explain in a bit, I HAD TO stock up on it.
And I am glad I did.
A few days later, I was sick as a dog. The grocery store trip was on monday last week. By wednesday afternoon, I got a "little scratchy throat" and by that night I had "painful mucousy throat". The next day it was still pretty bad, going to my sinuses, home remedies did not work, and I went to the doctor. Doc says "I am treating you for throat and sinus infection. Your on antibiotics for a while, and on bed rest." I was out of commission for nearly five days as this infection went from throat to sinuses to lungs. But the infection was not that bad, what made things a bit more miserable was the drugs. Some of the side effects really beat me up. What was funny was I found out that some of the things to eat to make the side effects more bearable were what I listed above. I had to be eating something that would be good for a sick tummy and something with cheese for meals. Who'd have thought that chicken soup and cheese ravioli were a few of the things that would be good for my stomach as well as easy to make for dinners? The next 4 days I was eating peanut butter, crackers, chicken soup, cheese, cheese ravioli, Ensure, and gatorade. LOTS of all that and every bit I had stocked up extra on, all from my food storage. Since then I have changed my list around and am looking for other ways to stock up on stuff like cheese and yogurt so it lasts longer.
But yeah, I would have been in a bit of a bind if I did not follow that "sense". Have you guys ever gotten that weird feeling like "I have to do this (some action here) right now for some unexplainable reason", you know the sort of 6th sense gut feeling about something? Personally when I get something like that I am learning to listen to it. Do you guys do that?
(*This was a few weeks ago.)
Monday, May 14, 2012
Prepping: Seasonal Rotation and Spring Cleaning!
I am just letting you know that I am still around. Right now I have been doing a little cave spring cleaning, and donating some old bones that I don't need anymore. Books are being donated, old clothes that are too worn out are going to the trash, or rag bin. Food being rotated. Rotating and donating should be a part of prepping too! That is the difference between being a prepper and a hoarder. Move and rotate. The Rule for Rotating non prep stuff: If you have not touched it, used it, or worn it in over a year, then you are not going to miss it. Looking for cash? Sell what you do not use! It is a good way to make a bit of extra bank for your pack... I mean family. Any little bit helps to keep order in your life.
Monday, April 09, 2012
Survival Media: Real Day Preppers
I just wanted to let you guys know about this webisode show called Real Day Preppers. It is a unlike Doomsday Preppers, this show is no spin, and shows that us Preppers are NORMAL PEOPLE! I so far am loving the hell out of this project. This show is fully produced by lowbuckprepper. Also as an aside, check out his youtube channel too, he has some good tutorials too! So far his show has 2 webisodes up and both are pretty good. Check them out!
Saturday, March 24, 2012
Some of my favorite prepping items that I use.
The List:
Hiking Backpack: I picked it up cheap at a garage sale for $3, and I use it every time I go out. It is good for shopping, and carrying most items. If I am gone longer than 4 hours I will put a meal in there for when I am out and about and it can carry a ton.
4 Wheeled Cart: It is the one that I mentioned in my article Survival Gear: Carts! I use it for hauling groceries, garbage and laundry. Dead useful at the grocery store when you want your own cart and it folds down flat for storage.
Bread maker: ... for making... bread. Yeah I know I am a lazy ass, but I like my fresh bread. You can find them all the time at Goodwill for almost nothing.
Pocket Knife: I have a Leatherman Wave. The blades are demon sharp, and it works well for when I have needed it. I used it last week to cut a bread roll for my sandwich at lunch time.
Canteen with cup: Have used it numerous times when I wanted a drink when I am out doing stuff. Nice to carry on the side of my backpack.
Keychain Hand Sanitizer: I have a nice refillable one on my keychain.
Is there stuff that you carry everyday that you would not leave the house without it? Let me know!
Sunday, March 18, 2012
The 'feeling' of prepping.
There is a certain 'feeling' when you vacumme seal a package of dried blueberries as a special flavoring for later.
There is a certain 'feeling' when there is a snow storm outside, and you really dont care because you have the extra food at home to make your own hot chocolate from dry chocolate mix, dry milk, and hot water, and not panicing like everyone else is.
There is a certain 'feeling' when you're laid up for a while, yet you have pre-made dinners in the freezer, cans of soup in the cupboard and buckets of dry stuff that just takes water to boil.
There is a 'feeling' when you grow your own food, preserve it and eat it yourself.
The 'feeling' you get when you enjoy that small treat that you get yourself every once in a while because you have done really well in prepping and splurged a bit on some candy.
There is a certain 'feeling' when your car breaks down, yet you do not panic because you can either fix it yourself or know someone who can fix it for you.
Personally, I call that a measure of 'freedom and relief'.
Thursday, March 15, 2012
Dehydrating More veggies.
If any of you have any projects going on, please put them in the comments section, I would like to hear it.
Wednesday, March 07, 2012
Prepping lessons learned during problems.
As you all know, I have been dealing with some problems with my hand getting cut, and having surgery to repair the problems. Here are some things that I have learned during all these troubles. I had originally posted this in a thread on Today's Survival Show forums under the thread named "accident happen". This kind of covers when I had the first initial cut and repair at the emergency room. Then when I had it examined a week and a half later and went through surgery to correct some nerve problems after it. And also covers the subsequent cast, and then splint.
1. Do not open a can with your bare hands. (I paid the stupid tax for that one!)
2. GPS comes in handy when you are in a panic. (The directions to the E.R. were very accurate!) And this is why I have practiced with it. I knew how to look up directions to places with it beforehand (Puns intended!)
3. When in doubt with something like this, go to the ER. Better to go there and have it be nothing, then do nothing and have it be something. For me I went there and it turns out it was the best decision.
4. GET A NEW CAN OPENER! -- RECTIFIED with a new safety can opener.
5. This was a HUGE reminder to build up my medical supplies. I did not have the basic stuff like gauze or skin safe tape. It is a huge hole that I did somewhat rectify.
6. It is not a good idea to have about 50% of your food supplies relying on one can opener. Even less of an idea if you can only use one hand.
7. Having premade or homemade frozen meals that only take a bit of warming up would help on the days that you can't or don't want to cook.
8. It is a good idea to practice having a bucket bath to keep yourself clean. It helps not only when you are rationing water, but also if you can't really submerge any injuries in water and dont feel like wrapping anything in plastic. I just filled up a bucket with hot water, used my good hand with a wash cloth, soap, and kept the other hand elevated to remind me not to put it in the bucket. I could wash myself really well. To do your hair just dip a bowl in the bucket and pour it over your head. I did all of this in the tub, sitting on a second up turned bucket for a seat. (those buckets are also used for laundry too!)
9. No man is an island. Sometimes you need help, especially if you are injured.
10. Take care of your tools! This includes any and ALL bodily appendages! You do not know what you have till its gone.
11. Press and Seal Reynolds Wrap works well when you have a cast and can't get it wet.
12. Keep track of medicine reactions and keep in contact with your doctor. I did not know that Ibeprophen gives me BAD heartburn. Not good. Not fun.
13. If they tell you not to get something wet, like a cast or a splint, it is for a good reason. I once got a few drops of water under my splint, talk about SMELLY! Also that could cause other problems.
And again to repeat what I have been saying this a lot lately "Sometimes you need to learn the hard way. I sure as hell did. All of this over a stupid can lid." So yeah, I had some and still have some holes to fill.
Tuesday, February 28, 2012
Update: I have been home for a while.
I did manage to get some canned meat though cheap.
Thursday, February 09, 2012
Gone for 2 weeks.
Ravenwolf
Saturday, February 04, 2012
Food Prepping and News.
Around by me I look for deals on seafood items when I can. So far I have stocked up on stuff like salmon (frozen, canned), Tilapia (frozen), Shrimp (frozen, canned), crab meat (canned), tuna of course, and kippers (canned). Most would say "how in the world can you prep those!?! Those are LUXURY foods!" Well, ALL of what you see listed that I have, I found on sale. Tilapia and Shrimp were the most expensive. I found bags of shrimp 2 for $5 a while back at Wal-mart (yeah I know...) But still it was cheap. And with Tilapia, I found a good deal at Whole Foods once, though it was still a bit expensive. I cant remember how much I paid for it though. That being said, most of the other items you can get for $3 and under if you keep your eyes peeled for deals. Just today I got 2 cans of kippers for $2 a piece at Big Lots. Not a bad price.
Why get all of this? Well for one, we need omega-3 fatty acids in our diet, and fish is a good way to get it along with brown rice and capsules. Second, it adds variety to my food storage. Third, I just like seafood. But I just find it funny that this category does not get much of a mention in the prepping circles.
Anyways, I have some news for you guys... It will probably be another month before I can post anything, due to the fact that I am going to have surgery on one of my paws... I mean hands. I cut one of my fingers pretty badly a few weeks ago, and though the cut healed, I need surgery to fix the nerve damage. I will try to knock out a few articles during my recovery time, but I can't promise anything. I will try to keep yall updated though. This is the type of stuff we prep for though. I might share some of my experiences with you!
Thanks for reading!
Saturday, December 31, 2011
Dehydrating Didya know?
Oh, and they were a dollar for a 1 lb bag when I got them.
