Alright, so it's not nearly as sexy as a new rifle, but it's taken me a long time to convince the wife we needed one. Largely, I did so by keeping the kitchen freezer so full we couldn't find anything. ;^) However, her friends helped by organizing a cow buy - we have 1/8 of a free range, grass fed, organic, no hormone, no antibiotic hippie cow coming our way in the near future; hopefully vacuum sealed in serving size portions! Next step is to get a dedicated outlet in place to make it cold now, and then the generator to keep it cold.

I also picked up a pair of glove liners, and a set of sling swivels for my bolt gun... I'm going to stick my 3-point sling on there for hunting this weekend. I expect some funny looks from the folks I'll be hunting with - they're a bit traditional!

I stopped at the big warehouse store on my way home today. Wandering down the rice isle, I was in the land of plenty. Clearly, the reported rice shortages of last month have resolved themselves, or people have forgotten all about their fear now that the next American Idol is soon to be revealed. Perhaps this would be a good time to grab a few hundred pounds more, hmmmm?

Speaking of food, I took a walk through the garden this afternoon. Sprouts have come up where I expect broccoli, green beans, and corn. I've got freshly harvested spinach in the kitchen just waiting for dinnertime. My seedlings are still on the windowsill, longing to make the move outside. The annual herbs have returned to life with surprising vitality. So far, so good.

As promised, I took some time to prepare some food for long term storage - sealed in Mylar protected by Homer buckets.

I started my stopping by BJ's on the way home from the office. Their stock of rice was low, but not gone - maybe 2000 pounds available, not including Minute Rice and the sort. There were no signs indicating limits or rationing. Cost was $20.99 / 50# sack. I stocked up on a couple of other items and headed home.

Once home, I filled up all the bags, threw in some oxygen absorbers, and sealed them up with the Foodsaver. As expected, it was not able to vacuum seal the bags, but it did seal them nicely. The oxygen absorbers will do a good job of creating a slight vacuum.

It's not a whole lot - 50# rice, 25# sugar, 8# pasta, 5# salt - but it's a start, and I already feel better for having it.

All photos in the gallery.

This is really just a hint of what's to come next weekend... Today I purchased several 5 gallon buckets, and a Foodsaver V2460. Several Mylar bags and O₂ absorbers arrived earlier in the week. Stay tuned... (Hint.)

I also trimmed some .308 brass, hopefully also for next weekend.

Things are moving along for the garden. The seeds have mostly sprouted, and the early spinach is up. (It's the grassy looking stuff.)

I've had this post bouncing around in my head, slowly forming for the better part of a week. It's not quite complete yet, but here goes. This was inspired in part by Hermit's post on "assault weapon" style guns flying off the shelf and Jennerson's posts about wanting a G20 and PTR-91; in part by discussion on the ARFCOM survival forum; and in part by recent re-readings of Lights Out and Deep Winter & Shatter. Those stories always leave me more worried than before I started reading.

I want to talk about my immediate survival wants vs. needs, and "how much is enough". Some could say "You need air, water, food and shelter. Anything else is a want." I'm thinking a little broader than that.

In terms of guns, I'm nervous about the November elections. As of now, it appears we'll have Hillary, Obama, or McCain as the next president. None of these candidates are pro-gun, period. Even assuming a positive Heller outcome, I expect to see a rash of anti-gun legislation popping up once the next Congress rolls around. I won't be surprised to see an AWB2 come to life, especially if there's any wiggle-room in Heller.

With that in mind, I feel that I need to have any potentially banned guns that I may want before November, lest I risk the chance of never having them at "reasonable" prices. I also feel that I need to have ample magazines to feed these guns, potentially a lifetime supply if "high-capacity" magazines end up prohibited again. But, as it stands now I have suitable long guns and sidearms for my wife and I (although she doesn't yet shoot), more magazines than we could reasonably carry afoot, and a couple AR receivers waiting to be built. Thus, right now I consider any new guns wants. I've got some select spare parts in stock, but need more. For want of a firing pin, right?

I've got a good bit of ammo, but not enough I think. Same for reloading supplies, not enough. Realistically though, odds are against my being in any extended gun battles, so more ammo gets bumped to the wants column. Reloading components are higher on the list, but still a want. Of course, if I'm miscalculating, and I need more ammo, I will need it very badly.

I've still got this little niggling fear about bird flu, or some mutation, tickling the back of my mind. I feel that I've neglected "bandaids" - my medical supplies. While I've got a healthy amount of trauma supplies, and some good training and experience, I'm lacking sufficient PPE for an extended outbreak of contagious disease. Largely I think the whole H5N1 thing has been blown out of proportion, but I agree there is a threat potential. Still, I'm putting this into the need category.

The economy scares me a little right now. Dollar down, precious metals up. Foreclosures. Bankruptcies. Stimulus checks. Cutting interest rates. Bad credit everywhere. And the government meddling with it, trying to keep things afloat. They will lose whatever control they have over it eventually, with ugly results. At the moment, this doesn't fall under want or need, just worry.

Finally, we're facing the rising cost of food and fuel. Rumors are starting about flour shortages, soaring rice prices, and LDS canneries running out of food. I feel the "need" to lay in a good deal of food for the long term, much more than what I've already got put up. It's not enough. I'll likely feel better once the garden is going. I know it doesn't provide 10% of our diet, but I'll feel better. I'll also be filling some 5 gallon buckets with staples in a couple of weeks (stay tuned for photos). I would feel much better with a little more land, a bigger garden, a couple of chickens, and maybe a dairy goat. That, however, isn't in the cards at the moment.

I'm trying to find the right balance between Beans, Bullets & Band-Aids.

(I'll likely edit this later. I don't think I'm done writing on this topic, but I'll open it for comments now.)

I had a few pictures lingering on the camera that I decided to put up... First, a small harvest that I collected to take to my mother-in-law's house:

Those are Red Zebra & Brandywine tomatoes, an Anaheim pepper, cucumbers, and the first of the Nantes and Purple Haze carrots.

I also have a few shots from canning take two: tomatoes to sauce.
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Had a very busy Labor Day weekend. Went to a wedding on Friday, a Broadway show on Saturday (entirely too much musical theater for my taste, but made the wife happy), the US Open on Sunday (Stubbs/Peschke def. Hingis/Hantuchova - great match), and finally bought the wife's new furniture on Monday (three cheers for 0% financing!), plus a little more work on that lingering shed project. I'm almost looking forward to returning to work, if only to slow down a little.

I just fired up my canner for the first time this evening. So far, it looks like a success.

I had 5.25 pounds of tomatoes cluttering the kitchen, so I blanched and skinned them. They filled two quart jars, which I processed under pressure.

I'm looking forward to cracking these open to see how they have stored.

All pictures are in the gallery.

From Backwoods Home - posted here for my future reference.

I can guarantee that when you can your venison it won’t be at all dry. I’ve done two deer so far this fall and have another to do next week. My sons, Bill and David both got deer, so we are fortunate this year.

First of all, I cut up my meat, removing any fat, bloody meat or gristle. Then I lightly fry or roast it. The stewing meat, I fry one large frying pan at a time, using very little grease. When the meat shrinks down and lightly browns, I add water and a teaspoon of powdered beef soup stock. Then I pour it into a large roasting pan. The roasts, I braise in the roaster and then add a little water and cover until the meat shrinks down and is a bit browned. Don’t completely cook the meat. Canning does that.

Pack the hot meat into jars, then add broth to within an inch of the top of the jar. Make sure you wipe the jar rims well because any grease or meat pieces on the rim will result in seals that fail.

Process pints and half pints for 75 minutes at 10 pounds pressure and quarts for 90 minutes, unless you live at an altitude above 1,000 feet and must adjust your pressure to suit your altitude; see your canning manual for directions.

I used to pack all my meat raw and process it with no added liquid. But I’ve switched to the above method because the meat is more tender and looks nicer in the jars. I think you’ll like the results too.

Canningpantry.com has some great documents posted on canning & food preservation. I think this topic requires a new category...