Survival Food

How To Grow Black Cap Raspberries (Easy DIY)

March 20, 2024 by Seasoned Citizen Prepper

When I was a little girl, a yearly ritual was when my Mother took us all out to hunt for blackcaps. Blackcaps are those delicious little wild raspberries that pop up everywhere.

Blackcaps like sun and usually grow on the edge of the woods. Horses and cattle eat berry plants, so they usually aren’t in the pasture.

We always took the dogs because it could be dangerous if you ran into rattlesnakes – which it seemed we always did. The dogs would usually spot them before we got near and a few barks would chase them off. But if you found a nice patch and got separated from Mom and the dogs, well, you better look down.

I’ve had ever-bearing raspberries for many years. I even dug up some of my plants when I was forced to move over here. And there is a little patch of blackcaps on a wayward part of this property.

Blackcaps and raspberries don’t mix, so when you’re making your layout, remember that you’ll need to keep them at least 300′ apart. That said, you will probably get them in your raspberry patch anyway, because the birds like to eat both and will transplant the blackcap seeds to your raspberry patch.

I am a lazy gardener; there is always lots to do on a homestead. On my homestead I planted them in an out of the way spot with sun, harvested the berries throughout the season (usually one large crop in late June and sporadically thereafter) and then just mowed them down in the fall.

The lady who had this place before me had raspberries too, but she got old and the grandkids just mowed over her whole garden every year trying to kill them and everything else. Well, I planted mine along her fence line and also planted hers that I could salvage.

Now I have a fence line of raspberries that I have to mess with – but this place is way smaller and I have more time now. But somehow time seems to be going faster – or I am going slower. The thought behind putting them by is fence is that you can tie them up and put bird netting over them if desired. I have found that to be too much work.

Raspberries are technically biennials. However, everbearing raspberries are a bit different.

Everbearers fruit twice on the same cane. These canes will fruit at the tip during the fall and then bear again the following spring farther down the canes. If one large crop is desired, cut the canes back to the ground after the fall crop. This will result in a single, large crop the following fall.

Not what I have found to be true with my berries, but what the experts say.

This year in Minnesota we seemed to have gone from winter to summer in 2 weeks! So into the raspberry patch I go.

How To Prune Raspberries

They are just beginning to leaf out and many haven’t yet, but I wanted to get some of the young ones back in line so that I don’t run over them with my garden tractor.

So here is the down and dirty of raspberries:

They spread on runners. With a bad winter they will often not leaf out totally, but come back from the root stock like many roses did this year.
Move the babies back in line and cut out the old dead canes.
Watering in good and mulching will really help your survival rate.
Don’t get the bright idea (I tried already and it didn’t work.) to lay plastic down in the aisle to keep the berries in place. You’ll just lose your babies and have a much thinner patch of berries.
You can tell blackcaps from raspberries as they grow. Blackcaps will have more arching canes that will touch the ground, root and make more blackcaps. The canes are also slightly reddish compared to the everbearing canes. PULL THEM OUT!

Mine have already started to blossom in this heat. It only takes 4-6 weeks from blossoming to the first berries.

Can You Overwinter Parsnips?

March 20, 2024 by Seasoned Citizen Prepper

On April 17th just north of the Twin Cities there was 15 inches of snow. To refuse to get down about continuing snow I decided to bring in the first harvest of the year. Parsnips!

Very early last spring I got that heavenly nudge to learn to grow parsnips. I had never even eaten parsnips much less grow them, but I know the nudge so I began to research.

At one of the early farmers markets in late April when there was hardly lettuce, yet there there was a farmer and his wife with parsnips.

I asked him if he was from around here, because I thought parsnips were harvested in the fall best after a frost. He said that they were good then but if you leave them in the ground and they go through the long hard winter they are even sweeter harvested in early spring. I felt the nudge again that many of us are like that too having gone through long hard winters of life and come out better the other side.

I grew parsnips and they are wonderful. I left some in the ground to test the word on overwintering. If they could make it through this winter we have had they could make it through any winter. I did not cover or mulch them at all.

I decided today as it was snowing a little here to harvest some and it is true. They were great roasted for lunch.

If you can grow them in your climate just think, early spring and the fresh potatoes and squash stores are eaten and no crops ready, yet but you can go dig fresh parsnips.

What an amazing provision!

7 Quick Tips for Storing Spices and Herbs

March 20, 2024 by Seasoned Citizen Prepper

Many of you have read by now my experience with VacuCraft canisters.

I did want to share another little “thing” I do to try and keep my spices, herbs & other foods as fresh as I can whether it’s for dry pantry storage or in my refrigerator since I just finished jarring up about 7 jars.

I determine which size of jar I’ll be needing to hold the food.
I grab one of my “used” canning lids (I do NOT throw them away!) and a ring.
Using my canning funnel, I put the herb, the spice, or the food, into the jar.
I use a small “awl” and puncture a tiny hole in the lid.
I cut a small piece of black electrical tape (about ¾ inch long) and place it over the hole.
I then use my manual hand pump (either one of those that came with my VacuCraft or one of those that I’ve purchased with the Ziplock system).
Place it over the taped up hole and vacuum until it’s very hard to pull your pump up. At this time, your lid should be sealed.
Put the ring on it, and put it where you want to store it.

I use this same method when I’ve opened olive jars, pickle jars, and various other jars… just puncture a hole in the lid, tape it, vacuum it and put it back in your refrigerator!

I hate throwing out foods!

What Are the “Three Sisters?” [plus how to plant them]

March 20, 2024 by Seasoned Citizen Prepper

If you have a small garden plot and don’t like digging it up every year, Three Sisters gardening may be for you!

This is a Native American gardening technique that is at least 1,000 years old and can be varied to climate conditions.

So, What Are The 3 Sisters?

The Three Sisters are corn, beans, and vined squash.

Corn is a heavy feeder and susceptible to high winds. The pole beans fix nitrogen into the soil and provide additional support for the corn. The squash also provides nutrients to the soil, but is grown for a living mulch and to keep the deer and raccoon out of the corn.

In wet or cold (a mound will allow the earth to warm faster and hence you can plant earlier) climates, you want to mound your plants. In dry climates you want to dig a depression to retain as much moisture as possible. If you are getting the normal 40″ of rain per year that most vegetables desire, just dig a circle.

Check out the layout depicting the placement of corn, beans, and squash.

Corn – planting and growing

Corn needs other corn in close proximity around it for best pollination – no pollination and you get no kernels of corn. This is why you never plant corn in a single row. By planting corn in a tightly confined circle you will get optimum pollination of the plants.

Pole Beans – Gotta Have That Structure!

If you have ever planted pole beans, you know that they will just take over a climbing structure. The pole beans will bind the corn together providing maximum wind resistance. The flowers on the beans will also attract pollinator insects.

Squash For Moisture and Pollinators

The squash will help retain moisture in the ground and stunt weed growth by shading the area. Its flowers will also attract pollinating insects.

Getting Going

Ready to give it a shot? Awesome.

Plant:

Corn first
Beans about a week later (to give the corn a chance to get up and growing, and
Squash a week after that

Let’s say you want one or two meals of corn on the cob for X weeks. Plant X mounds successively and you will have Three Sisters dining for as long as your growing season holds. Depending upon how YOU like to put your veggies up, you can plan for some work all summer or just work at canning the whole crop in a few days.

Also, for the most part, squash will winter quite well in a cool, dry area.

Here is a garden pot sunk in for watering. Six corn are planted around that pot. The beans are on the outside of the corn a week later, and 4 squash plants are planted a week later from the beans.

Don’t sweat this one, just have fun, and enjoy some sweet, sweet, all-American calorie crops.

No Knead Artisan Bread [Recipe]

March 20, 2024 by Seasoned Citizen Prepper

I’m betting on a lot of you on SCP are bread makers. So I thought I’d share my absolutely MOST favorite bread that I make up. I use the basic recipe of the YouTuber called artisanbreadwithsteve… if you’d like to find him.

I’ve used it for several different types of breads, but I don’t have one of his fancy ceramic crockpots, so I use either my Corningware crock with it’s lid, my small cast iron skillet (if I’m camping), my mini-bread loaf pans, my regular sized loaf pans or my larger sized loaf pans.

This recipe works almost flawlessly… unless you alter the type of flour you use. I’d suggest getting used to the “basic” recipe before you step into the designer-type breads.

Either way, I’m just sure you’ll love it as much as I do. One of the main reasons I love it is that I put the dough together in about 5 minutes or less, follow his directions of covering it with plastic wrap & forgetting about it for 8-12 hours. You let your yeast do the work for you. I usually put it together after supper and then get it ready for the 2nd rise just before I start breakfast.

Cleanup is a breeze. Just a bit ago though (before lunch) I mixed up a batch of dough because I planned to make some hoagie buns for our sandwiches etc. I love being able to take the same dough, make a few minor adjustments (raisins, cinnamon, sugar or ground flax, ground sesame seeds, oatmeal, you name it!) and having scruuumptous and easy artisan breads… be they round, square, oblong or whatever shape I want them to be in, even braided!)

You Will Need:

3 cups sifted flour
1 ½ tsp. salt
¼ tsp. instant yeast
12 oz. room temp. water

Directions:

In a glass bowl, mix all dry ingredients with a wisk. Add water & use the HANDLE of a wooden spoon or plastic spoon.
Starting at the outer edge of your bowl, work your way inward until the dough begins to pull away from the bowl (It will be a somewhat “sticky” bowl)
Cover with plastic wrap & set in a safe place and leave for 8 to 12 hours to rise (about double).
When risen, set your oven to 450.
Grab you favorite 8″ skillet (I like my cast iron one) and oil it GENEROUSLY.
Gently push your dough out of the bowl onto a floured surface.
Flour your hands and gently flatten your dough to about 2 or 3 inches and then FOLD gently the ends inward, then the sides inward.
Place the dough in your oiled skillet & then turn it over to make sure both sides are oiled.
Place in your pre-heated, 450 oven, and bake for 30-35 minutes (until golden brown).
If you “tap” on the top of your bread, it should “thump” and this should mean it’s done.
Remove it from your skillet, let cool on a rack, and when thoroughly cool, place in a bread bag.

(DO NOT KNEAD THIS DOUGH!!!!)

Food Storage: Here’s What Works For Us

March 20, 2024 by Seasoned Citizen Prepper

I try to not be afraid to admit that I need to try new things or different ways of doing things when a particular tactic is showing less than stellar results. To that end, our food storage has evolved over the years into a loose plan that, hopefully, will meet our needs and the needs of our family and close friends should it be necessary.

In the last years of the last century, Y2K was on everyone’s minds. For those with a ‘prepping’ mentality, Y2K gave us an opportunity to get our feet wet in what, for many, became a lifestyle of choice. It served to awaken within me that desire to be as pro-active, as prepared as I could be in every way.

Like some of you, before we had a really solid survival food list, we made purchases of buckets of wheat, soy, popcorn, rice, beans, you name it. Most of it suited our lifestyle. Some of it didn’t. I’ve mentioned before that soy doesn’t suit my palate, but on a homestead very little goes to waste. Chickens will eat nearly anything.

But it’s hard to eat 5 gallons of popcorn because after a few years, it just won’t pop. The wheat we did well with, since we grind our own for bread and wheat lasts almost forever. We finished up the last of the Y2K hard red wheat in 2013 and couldn’t tell that it was the worse for sitting in a five gallon bucket for 14 years without any special treatment. We had originally nitrogen packed it in the buckets ourselves, but once opened, it was exposed to ordinary air.

We had virtually no problems with bugs in wheat, barley or rice and bugs don’t seem to like pinto beans, but they get a bit hard to cook after a while.

I’m the prepper in the family and feel like I have to be prepared for this family of 19 people, 42 chickens and 3 cocker spaniels.

We actually eat from our preps. Our day to day pantry and prepping pantry are one and the same so we have overcome the issue of having stored food that is cheap and easy to keep, but not on your everyday menu. We have no freeze dried, no MREs, Mountain House meals or dehydrated strawberries.

We do have several cases of strawberry jam, purchased in 2010 at a very good sale price. I opened another jar this week and it is as good as when I bought it. Last year several local supermarkets had sales of name brand canned vegetables, products that we normally use, at 2 cans for $1.00. Too good to pass up and so we have perhaps 3 dozen cases of corn, green beans, whole and sliced potatoes and carrots.

Another time we got Wolf Brand chili without beans for $0.59 and laid in at least a 5 year supply. My daughter refuses to serve her family from a can or a box with an expired date, but properly canned foods have been found to maintain their nutrition for years longer than we’ve been led to believe, and my personal experience bears that out.

What we have stopped doing is buying our beans of various kinds, wheat, barley, corn meal, rice and several additional items either in large bags from supermarkets or in 5 gallon pails from the suppliers we all know so well. While those are economical ways to prepare, we have decided that, for the two of us, those are quantities that are likely to deteriorate to some degree before we can use the entire large bag or 5 gallon pail. We still have some beans and wheat in 5 gallon pails, unopened, so they’ll last until we need them, and if a disaster ever happens and we have to feed more than the 2 of us they’ll come in handy.

The major change in our method has been to purchase what is available in #10 cans and we are storing and using from these cans for the above mentioned items, as well as pasta, rolled oats, noodles and granola. I know that the cost to purchase in this size containers is a bit more expensive, especially compared to buying your pinto beans at Walmart, but we take comfort in knowing that the things we need are here and will last indefinitely and that comfort and security is part of what you pay for.

Our diet is supplemented extensively with the regular canned vegetables in our stockpile, as well as canned hams, salmon, chicken, tuna and some other meat products for protein. Again, all a part of our everyday diet. And, all things considered, since I purchase most of our supermarket food ONLY when it is on sale, my overall cost, even when purchasing rice in a #10 can, is lower.

We are on sort of a paleo diet, and we’re not big consumers of wheat, especially, and use almost no processed products, most of which are not packaged for long term storage. Our meals also rely heavily on our garden during our long growing season. We end up eating most of what we grow and share with friends and family so we don’t do a lot of canning or freezing.

So, the rest of the story? Finally, after 30 years of prepping, the last 20 of which have been ‘serious’ prepping, we’ve all but eliminated the waste from our food storage. The advantage I feel we enjoy is switching to #10 cans for the mainstays, and buying in bulk at the local supermarket when they have a crazy sale (and don’t worry too much about those expiration dates).