Setting Up A Sick Room in Your Home, by G.A. (RN)

The time may come when normal medical facilities are not available for any number of reasons. If a family member were sick or injured, would you have the supplies and skills to care for them in your home? After 26 years as a registered nurse (RN) working in a hospital setting with a multitude of different types of patients, I have learned the procedures, tips, and tricks for making patient care easier. I will not attempt to teach you about specific injuries and diseases or their treatments. There are many resources for learning these skills, and I suggest that you take advantage of them while they are available. What I can teach you is how to set up a sick room in your home to care for a sick, injured, or quarantined patient. The first thing on the list of things to know is that organization– both before and during care– is very important in making a caregiver’s job both possible and easy. If you stock the supplies that I have listed below and made a plan, then you will be able to make a challenging situation doable.

Let’s discuss choosing a room in your home that can function as a sick room. A bedroom furthest from the rest of the home’s rooms and occupants would be best. If it has an attached bathroom, your job will be much easier. It is always best not to have to transport contaminated body fluids (urine, feces, vomit, and blood) thru an uncontaminated area in order to dispose of them. If an attached bathroom is not available, then one as close as possible will do. I suggest removing all furniture except the bed, rolling table, shelves, or bureau, and a chair from the room in order to increase your working area and decrease the number of items that can be contaminated. It makes sense to also remove all rugs from the room for the same reason–less to contaminate. I believe that a single/twin bed is easier to work with because you can reach over it in order to move your patient without constantly having to walk around to the other side. It would also be back-saving for you to elevate the bed to a comfortable working level. There are bed raisers available or you can improvise with anything you have as long as it results in a stable bed. There are easily detachable side rails available which will protect a confused patient from falling out of bed. I am a big fan of side rails and suggest their use even with a patient who seems unlikely to fall. A rolling table will provide both a surface on which to place clean items that you are using to give care and the usual function of providing a dining surface for a patient who is taking food by mouth. A bureau or set of shelves can serve as a place to store all those things that you will need in order to care for the patient–linens, clothing, bath supplies, gloves, etc. It will be so much easier if you gather all these supplies and place them in the room in an organized manner before you try taking care of your patient. You will wear yourself out if you have to leave the room every time you need to go get something you forgot. You will also risk carrying germs to the healthy members of your family if you make frequent trips from the sickroom to the clean parts of your home. You will need a light source in the room– electric lights, if they are still working or another light source if necessary. Windows for light and fresh air (if the patient is not under quarantine) are nice to have for both the patient and the caregiver.

All of these things will make your job possible and easier, but what else is needed if the problem is one of infectious disease? I suggest setting up a vestibule outside the sick room door. This can be a simple frame made of PVC pipe– the height of the door and two feet wider on each side. This will give you enough room to prepare to enter the sick room or exit into your “clean” home. If you hang heavy, clear plastic sheeting on the sides, top and the front (nearest your clean hallway) you can produce an area that can hold you and supplies, which you don’t wish to leave in the sick room. The entry plastic sheet can be split down the middle, from top to bottom so you can pass through it easily. If you fold up the bottom edge of all the plastic walls of the vestibule, you can place heavy washers or drapery weights in this edge in order to keep the sheet hanging down. Place heavy plastic sheeting, which can be cleaned with antibacterial solution on a regular basis to decrease possibility of tracking contaminants thru your home, on the floor of the vestibule. If you duct tape the long edges of the sides of the vestibule to the walls on either side of the sick room door you will have one more barrier to escaping contaminants. In the vestibule you should have a box of plastic garbage bags because all bagged trash, laundry, and body waste, which you have to transport for cleaning or disposal, should be bagged in a clean trash bag. Before you leave the sick room, the following sequence of actions can help reduce the chance of spreading germs: 1) gather all your plastic bagged items, 2) set them near the door, 3) remove your dirty gloves, 4) put on clean gloves, 5) open the door, 6) go into the vestibule, 7) open and place on the floor a clean plastic bag 8) place a filled plastic bag into the clean bag 9) remove your gloves and dispose of them 10) gather the top and close the clean bag that contains your contaminated items, without touching the dirty bag. Just a note to explain how to best remove dirty gloves without touching them with your clean hands–grasp your left glove near the wrist with your right thumb and forefinger and peel the left glove off, turning it inside out as you do so. Then you can slip the now bare fingers of your left hand under the cuff of the right glove and peel it off, also turning it inside out. This keeps the contaminated surface of the gloves away from your skin. You might want to consider having a large garbage can with lid and wheels outside the vestibule into which you can place bags for transport. This would be easier than juggling multiple bags. Make sure that you have gloves in any place you will need to remove contaminated items in order to clean or dump them. Try to remember that anything coming out of the contaminated sick room is a hazard to you and your family. Place as many barriers as possible between the sick and the healthy. You, as caregiver, are one of the healthy ones, so you should also protect yourself with gowns, hair covers, shoe covers, masks, and gloves as well as constant awareness of your risk. Plan all your actions beforehand and move carefully and deliberately in order to minimize those risks. Now that we have set up the sick room and all our supplies are installed and ready to use, what should we do next? Let’s talk about the linens needed to make the bed and how we go about putting them to best use. I think the first thing to do is to encase the mattress in a zippered plastic mattress cover. This will protect it from being ruined by body fluids. A replacement mattress may be hard to come by in challenging times. The bed can then be made with the following layers of linens: a fitted sheet, a “draw” sheet (one folded to cover the area from the patient’s upper back to thigh area for lifting the patient), a fluid-proof pad positioned in the center, a top flat sheet, and a blanket. The fluid-proof pads can be commercial disposable ones or home-made ones. I have made them from inexpensive flannel-backed plastic table cloths and a fabric topping, such as old, soft toweling or heavy flannel. If you decide to make them, cut them out in a size large enough to cover the bed from side to side and about 24 inches wide. Sew them together like a pillowcase with the toweling facing the plastic, then turn them right-side out so that the plastic is on one side (the bottom) and the toweling is on the other side (next to the patient’s skin). Then sew the open end closed. These pads wash well but I would hang them to dry, as the plastic may melt in a dryer. A “draw” sheet may be made from cutting a flat twin sheet in half crossways then hemming the raw edges. This sheet is placed across the center of the bed with its ends tucked in on each side. This is a very useful piece of bed linen as it can be used to pull your patient up in bed or to roll them from side to side by untucking the ends and grasping them for the movement instead of grabbing the patient to move them. It becomes more comfortable for the patient and provides better body mechanics for the caregiver. The flat top sheet and blanket are placed on the bed next, just as you would do normally. The only thing I would suggest that you change from your usual bed-making is forgoing tucking the sheet and blanket under the end of the mattress. A tightly tucked covering is uncomfortable for the patient and can cause a problem called “foot drop” in patients who are unable to reposition their feet themselves. As far as pillows are concerned, you need lots of them and they should be encased in plastic protectors for the same reason as you protected the mattress. Multiple pillows have a lot of uses in the sick room. They can be used to raise the patient’s head and upper body for easier breathing. They can be used to elevate injured extremities, placed under knees or feet, and tucked behind the patient to keep them in a side-lying position. It was a rule when I worked in the hospital that the nurse with the most pillows “won”.

Let’s discuss those wonderful disposable plastic basins and “body fluid catchers” that will make your job so much easier. We all have friends and family who have been hospitalized (unfortunately) and return home with a collection of pink plastic “stuff”. Don’t let them throw them away. Offer to take them off their hands. A collection of rectangular bath basins, emesis basins, urinals, regular bedpans, and flat fracture bedpans will be treasures if you have to care for a sick family member. Just give them a good cleaning and disinfecting and pack them away with all your other sickroom preps. If you can’t get them for free, they are available fairly reasonably in medical supply stores. What purpose do these plastic wonders serve? The rectangular basins can be filled with warm soapy water for a bath. The kidney shaped small emesis basins are easy to position under the chin of a vomiting patient. The urinal is fairly self-explanatory as it is positioned to catch the urine flow of a male patient. I would just warn you to make sure that it is tilted with the opening up slightly or you will be changing the sheets. Also be careful to place it gently between your patient’s legs to avoid injuring “delicate” parts. The regular bedpan is used for bowel movements for both sexes and urination for female patients. It can be positioned in two ways. If the patient is awake and able to move, they can bend their knees and lift their bottom to allow you to place the bedpan underneath them. If you dust the top edges of the pan with talc first it will slide into place easier. Removal should be done the same way, except carefully so as not to soil the sheets. If the patient is unable to move, you can use the draw sheet to roll them onto their side and place the pan in position before rolling them onto their back again. Obviously the laws of fluid mechanics won’t allow you to roll patient and pan for removal; just roll the patient while holding the pan flat. The pan can then be set aside on that handy rolling table while you clean the patient’s bottom, straighten the sheets, and reposition them for comfort. Baby wipes are wonderful for the cleaning chores and diaper cream applied to the bottom will help avoid skin irritation. Diaper cream is especially important for those patients who are incontinent and unable to use bedpans or urinals. The fracture bedpan being flatter and smaller is useful with those patients who have lower extremity, back, or pelvis injuries and for whom movement causes pain. This pan can be powdered and gently worked under their bottoms with less pain than the full-size bedpan.

One of the other procedures that can seem daunting to a novice care giver but brings so much comfort to the patient is bathing. If you gather all your equipment first and proceed logically, it can be a pleasant experience for both of you. You will need to assemble: a basin with hot, lightly soapy water, wash cloths, towels, talc, lotion, diaper cream, and a light-weight flannel blanket. If you proceed from one part of the body to the next while keeping everything else covered with the thin blanket, the patient will not get too chilled. I usually start with the head, face, and neck, then the chest, abdomen, and arms. When these areas are washed, dried, and powdered, you can cover then with the blanket and do the lower front part of the body. Use a separate wash cloth for the genitals. After the front of the body is done, you can turn the patient on their side and do the back half. I like to gently rub lotion onto their back before I reposition them again. This relaxes tired muscles as well as stimulates blood flow to the skin, helping to avoid pressure issues. A reminder–every time you have access to any part of your patient’s skin, you should make sure it is clean, dry, and either powdered or lotioned. Look for any signs of impending pressure sores–especially over bony areas like shoulder blades, hips, tailbone, elbows, and heels. If you see any redness or whitening of skin, as well as any blistering or skin breakdown, you need to address it immediately and frequently. Make sure the area is clean and dry. If the skin is intact you can apply cushioning pads (available in medical supply stores) and position the area to take pressure off of it. Patients who are unable to move and roll in bed on their own should be repositioned every two hours around the clock. It is much easier to prevent skin breakdown than it is to heal it.

If you plan to change the linen on the bed, it is easy to do after the patient’s bath. After finishing bathing the back of the patient and while they are still lying on their side, you can loosen all the linen under the patient and roll it in a long roll toward the patient’s back. Then remake that side of the bed with fresh linen–rolling the extra again into a long roll close to the patient’s back. Reposition the patient onto their back (they will be lying in a long lump of old and new linen for a few seconds) and then onto their other side. Remove all soiled linen–place it in dirty linen bag–then pull the clean linen through and tuck as needed. Try not to leave folds and creases of linen under the patient; it is uncomfortable and damaging to skin.

Something I have not addressed is talking to your patient. It is a good thing to talk with and listen to your patient during the times you are providing care. They are probably frightened and need to express their fears, be reassured, and be updated on the situation outside their sickroom, especially if they have a contagious disease and have been isolated from family and friends. Being sick brings a strong sense of helplessness and you will be doing a service to your patient if you let them make choices and decisions where it is possible. Even if the patient is unconscious and unresponsive, talk to them; they just may be able to hear you.

Another item of caregiving that should be mentioned is record keeping. I am not talking about a detailed chart such as is seen in hospitals. I am referring to a simple record that lists pertinent information such as name, age, medical history, onset of illness, symptoms, treatment given, and results observed. This information will allow another caregiver to step in and take over care if you must leave the bedside. The last, and possibly least planned for, but most important part of the home sick room is taking care of the caregiver. Nursing a very ill or injured person, especially if it is a friend or family member, is physically, mentally, and emotionally draining. Make sure that you, as the caregiver, get enough food, liquid, rest, and time away from the sick room to maintain your strength and health.

This article contains the basics that you need to know in order to care for a patient in your home. It certainly is not a comprehensive nursing course. Please use the extensive online resources available to extend you knowledge in this area. I hope that this information has been useful and would welcome questions and comments.

Things to Stock For Setting Up A Home Sick Room

  • Single bed (possibly hospital bed or raised bed)
  • Plastic mattress cover
  • Pillows (6)
  • Plastic pillow covers
  • Fitted sheets, flat sheets, blankets, pillow cases, draw sheets, waterproof pads
  • Side rails
  • Towels/washcloths
  • Plastic basin, emesis basin bedpan, fracture bedpan, urinal
  • Hospital gowns
  • Rolling table
  • Chair
  • Bureau or shelves
  • Bedside commode
  • Walker, cane, crutches
  • Plastic garbage bags–large & small
  • Plastic garbage cans (2)
  • Toilet tissue and paper towels
  • Tissues
  • Baby wipes
  • Body wash, talcum powder, lotion, diaper cream, waterless
  • Cotton swabs
  • Disposable exam gloves
  • Thermometer with holder
  • Clipboard, paper, pens
  • Bleach, hand sanitizer, air freshener, surface cleaner
  • Tape

ADDITIONAL SUPPLIES FOR CONTAGIOUS DISEASE

  • Several large, heavy sheets of clear plastic (for vestibule)
  • Heavy washers or drapery weights
  • Duct tape
  • Heavy duty stapler
  • PVC pipe
  • Shelves or table for vestibule
  • Disposable paper gowns, hair covers, shoe covers, masks
  • Large tub for soaking contaminated linens
  • Tarps for wrapping bodies

Letter: What Skills to Have

Dear Editor,

I find myself often not knowing what skills I should have. As a former Boy Scout, I have thought about getting a stack of the merit badge pamphlets, but which ones should I get? I think this website may be of interest to some of your readers, especially those interested in the Newbie section. It is a list of all the requirements for each Boy Scout merit badge, and each one includes a bibliography for those requirements. Sincerely, – S.K.

HJL Replies: The Boy Scout merit badge pamphlets are a good place to start, but you should be careful. The point of merit badges is to introduce the boys to possible careers and/or skills that are traditional to Boy Scouts. They are not designed to be used alone as a comprehensive guide. Rather, they are designed to give the boy a general idea about that particular skill in concert with a person who is supposed to be an expert in the skill. The teaching comes from the expert. The guide merely helps the expert teach the skills as well as list the requirements necessary for the badge. However, your idea of using the bibliography may lead you to excellent material.

Letter: Human Powered Tools and Appliances

Hi,

I have been thinking about trying to start a business of making treadle or pedal power appliances and tools, but I was wondering what your view point is on what would be most wanted, and if you think that someone could make a living that way. I would like to make kitchen appliances that use one power unit, and I think that the food processor, blender, and mixer would be the most wanted kitchen appliances. House tools would be a washing machine, vacuum, and generator. For the shop, I think a grinder, saw, and drill are the most useful and would therefore be the most wanted. If you would please offer your thoughts I would be very thankful. – D.H.

JWR Replies: To minimize shipping costs, your best bet would be to adapt an existing (current production, with longevity) brand of bicycle or a stationary exercise bicycle. That way you could just supply the adapter parts, as a bolt-together kit. For the greatest versatility, it should have a rear shaft with BOTH a cogged sprocket and a V-belt (fan belt) plate.

Letter Re: Cast Iron

Dear Friends,

I read the submissions regarding seasoning cast iron with interest.

Many years ago I was fortunate to buy a new Wagner Dutch oven that must have sat on the shelf for an appreciable amount of time; the price was under $20. Inside it had the instructions from Wagner for seasoning. The instructions called for the use of peanut oil in an oven at 375 degrees F. for one to two hours.

The only reason there is peanut oil in our house is for seasoning cast iron. Seasoning is not a once-and-done procedure, rather it needs to be built up over time and be renewed to protect the cast iron and produce the original non-stick cooking surface. There are times that everything needs to be stripped down to clean metal, and then re-seasoned.

Using fat from meat products has the potential to taint food cooked afterwards if handled improperly, especially if not rendered. Also, non-food products should never be used to season cast iron.

All cast iron cookware is made using sand molds and is porous. More or larger porosities in cast iron indicate poorer quality. Small imperfections are not unusual and can be troublesome, especially when exposing a pan to a high heat environment. Overly porous cast iron will be difficult to clean and season properly. Dropping cast iron, especially when hot, may be the end of that pan. Foreign cast iron tends to be junk, with exceptions from the Scandinavian countries.

For cleaning, never put cast iron in a dishwasher with modern soaps. Porosities in the surface tend to hold soap and contaminate whatever is cooked next in the pan. It is imperative to rinse all cast iron when using abrasive cleaners, like Comet, or scrubbing with steel wool, before seasoning. I place my cleaned cast iron upside-down in a pre-heated oven to prevent thick build-ups of oil flowing into the bottom of the pan.

I have tried many methods for bringing old cast iron back to life and prefer media blasting to remove old seasoning, followed by cleaning thoroughly with boiling hot water, then seasoning using Wagner’s instructions.

When I begin to see silver in the pan, small black flakes in cooked food, or worse (rust), I scrub my cast iron using boiling water without soap, and then I re-season.

Good cast iron which receives care should last more than one lifetime. – D.

Economics and Investing:

America’s make-work sectors have run out of oxygen – P.S.

Gold and U.S. Bonds the New Great Trade? – C.S.

Items from The Economatrix:

221 Percent Increase In One Year? Why Are So Many People Renouncing American Citizenship?

U.S. Economy Adds 113,000 Jobs In January

It’s ‘As If 100,000 Service-Sector Jobs Went Missing,’ Rosenberg Says

The Shackles Of Consumer Credit In A Low Rate Environment– Banks Would Rather Leverage Low Rates From The Fed Than Lend Money To Cash Strapped American Households. 15 Percent Average Rate On Credit Cards And Typical Savings Account Rate Near 0 Percent.

Odds ‘n Sods:

Serving Down Under: Australia offers military jobs to US troops facing separation

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Cleta Mitchell to Congress: DOJ IRS Investigation Is a Sham, Non-Existent – YouTube – B.R.

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In a fit of irony: Gun control activist swears he forgot he was carrying gun while visiting school – JBG

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This really peaked my interest when I saw it: This Diesel-Powered Scooter Packs More Utility Than a Swiss Army Knife – FJR

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P.M. found this post in a forum. Once again the TSA humiliates someone: DH was humiliated by TSA

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The initial recording of the EMPact is up. Be sure to watch through the Q&A with Cruz. – R.H.

Hugh’s Quote of the Day:

“A person who is not inwardly prepared for the use of violence against him, is always weaker than the person committing the violence.” – Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, The Gulag Archipelago, 1974

Notes from HJL:

Today we present another entry for Round 51 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The $11,000+ worth of prizes for this round include:

First Prize:

  1. Gunsite Academy Three Day Course Certificate, good for any one, two, or three course (a $1,195 value),
  2. A course certificate from onPoint Tactical. This certificate will be for the prize winner’s choice of three-day civilian courses. (Excluding those restricted for military or government teams.) Three day onPoint courses normally cost $795,
  3. Two cases of Mountain House freeze dried assorted entrees in #10 cans, courtesy of Ready Made Resources (a $350 value),
  4. A $300 gift certificate from CJL Enterprize, for any of their military surplus gear,
  5. A 9-Tray Excalibur Food Dehydrator from Safecastle.com (a $300 value),
  6. A $300 Gift Certificate from Freeze Dry Guy,
  7. A $250 gift certificate from Sunflower Ammo,
  8. A roll of $10 face value in pre-1965 U.S. 90% silver quarters, courtesy of GoldAndSilverOnline.com, (currently valued at around $180 postpaid),
  9. Both VPN tunnel and DigitalSafe annual subscriptions from Privacy Abroad (a combined value of $195),
  10. KellyKettleUSA.com is donating both an AquaBrick water filtration kit and a Stainless Medium Scout Kelly Kettle Complete Kit with a combined retail value of $304,
  11. APEX Gun Parts is donating a $250 purchase credit, and
  12. TexasgiBrass.com is providing a $300 gift certificate.

Second Prize:

  1. A gift certificate worth $1,000, courtesy of Spec Ops Brand,
  2. A Glock form factor SIRT laser training pistol and a SIRT AR-15/M4 Laser Training Bolt, courtesy of Next Level Training. Together, these have a retail value of $589.
  3. A FloJak EarthStraw “Code Red” 100 foot well pump system (a $500 value), courtesy of FloJak.com,
  4. $300 worth of ammo from Patriot Firearms and Munitions. (They also offer a 10% discount for all SurvivalBlog readers with coupon code SVB10P .),
  5. A $250 gift card from Emergency Essentials,
  6. A full set of all 26 books published by PrepperPress.com (a $270 value),
  7. Two cases of Meals, Ready to Eat (MREs), courtesy of CampingSurvival.com (a $180 value),
  8. EP Lowers, makers of 80% complete fiber composite polymer lowers for the AR-15 rifles, is donating a $250 gift certificate,
  9. Autrey’s Armory — specialists in AR-15, M4s, parts, and accessories is donating a $250 gift certificate,
  10. Dri-Harvestfoods.com in Bozeman, Montana is providing a prize bundle with Beans, Buttermilk Powder, Montana Hard Red Wheat, Drink Mixes, and White Rice, valued at $333,
  11. TexasgiBrass.com is providing a $150 gift certificate, and
  12. Organized Prepperis providing a $500 gift certificate.

Third Prize:

  1. A Royal Berkey water filter, courtesy of Directive 21 (a $275 value), F
  2. A large handmade clothes drying rack, a washboard, and a Homesteading for Beginners DVD, all courtesy of The Homestead Store, with a combined value of $206,
  3. Expanded sets of both washable feminine pads and liners, donated by Naturally Cozy (a $185 retail value),
  4. Two Super Survival Pack seed collections, a $150 value, courtesy of Seed for Security,
  5. A MURS Dakota Alert Base Station Kit with a retail value of $240 from JRH Enterprises,
  6. Mayflower Trading is donating a $200 gift certificate for homesteading appliances, and
  7. Ambra Le Roy Medical Products in North Carolina is donating a bundle of their traditional wound care and first aid supplies, with a value of $208.

Round 51 ends on March 31st, so get busy writing and e-mail us your entry. Remember that there is a 1,500-word minimum, and that articles on practical “how to” skills for survival have an advantage in the judging.

Growing Without Pests And Without Pesticides, by T.D.

Chemical free gardening for organic food and ornamentals is no harder or more expensive than conventional growing. Remineralization by adding rock powder is perhaps the most important component, bringing the soil back up to the balance of trace elements the plants require to naturally resist pests on their own.

Long before there was agriculture, there were plants that managed to grow, thrive, reproduce, and survive to the end of their natural life. They lived and died, and anything that ate them lived and died, all in the same neighborhood. This pattern continued until the last hundred years or so. The trace minerals taken from the soil by the plants were returned to the soil through decomposition.

A potato, with help from its ecosystem, refines and carries out of the soil, potassium, iron, phoshporus, magnesium, calcium, zinc, copper, and many more minerals that we know, and likely much we don’t yet know of. When modern gardeners and agriculturalists haul that potato away, with it goes a wealth of minerals, which are permanently removed from that patch of soil. The story is pretty much the same if it is broccoli, beef, or begonias. When the plant or animal is hauled away, the minerals go with it.

Readily available for replenishment of some departed elements is the air. Containing 78% nitrogen, 21% oxygen, 1% argon, 0.04% carbon dioxide, and smaller amounts of other gases. Ma Nature has many strategies for extracting those into organic forms to fuel more plant life. I’ll discuss some of those a bit more later. The point here is that the heavy stuff those plants collected is now gone. Do this very often and subsequent generations of plants simply don’t have enough of some minerals to live as designed.

Early refined-additive agriculture discovered that supplemental nitrogen pumped the plants up. Later they found phosphorus to be helpful too. Then along came added potassium, followed by calcium, magnesium, and sulfur. Recently the soil chemists have discovered advantages of adding boron, iron, molybdenum, and zinc. You might notice that nearly all of these are heavy elements neither commonly found in the air, nor coming back to the land of its own accord when what grew there is hauled away.

There are two really big problems with this method of feeding the soil. One is the egotistical assumption that today’s soil scientists know for certain every mineral needed and in the right balance, as if it has all been discovered at this date NOW, and nothing new will be discovered tomorrow. (If so, shall we shut down the universities and put research scientists out to pasture?) Secondly, we know quite clearly that these individual refined elements are poisonous at certain levels and must be applied in carefully metered quantities. Get the balance wrong and everything dies.

A bit more subtle, because they have no lobby, the plants and microbes of the soil don’t like this system at all. “No balance” they complain. “We need gold, silver, antimony, cuprite, malachite, stibnite, halite, and so much more. You ignorant, pompous, foolish humans. How do you expect us to resist pests when we don’t have the minerals we need to make ourselves complete– the materials we use to fabricate our shields?”

They cannot be in balance because their soil is not in balance. It, in turn, has no hope no matter how long you leave it alone because the trace mineral balance has been permanently altered. So these imbalanced plants cannot be all they could be; they succumb to pests, die young, and don’t deliver to their consumers all the nutrition they could have in a better world– in a whole soil.

Ah, but the scientists have an answer. We’ll prop them up on life support systems and cover their earth in chemicals to kill off anything that attacks our staggering, malnourished plants. “Cool beans” they say. “We got these things to market looking very much like the product people expected.” Wash any chemical residue off the surface of the plant, and it’s all good, right? 96% of the farmers agree. I have long-ago outgrown arguing against the vast majority. However, I do continue to follow my own path.

That path brought remineralization, rock powder, rock dust, and a couple of other names for it to my attention. This is not new and not mine, but also not common knowledge. At the time, I was a provider of custom tractor work for gardeners, farmers, and homeowners. I provided rock powder along with my tillage and cover crop planting; this was a great match. The problem was there were no commercial sources in my area.

Thus began an interesting journey of forming a California corporation, selling stock, building production equipment, leasing a facility, establishing, and servicing a new rock powder market. In the next several years I produced and sold hundreds of tons in pails, bags, and bulk throughout an 11-county area of Northern California. I directly and indirectly converted gardens, vinyards, and orchards to healthy, pest-free, and pesticide-free growing.

With a severely limited budget, establishing a market for an unknown product of fantastic claims was probably my best trick. (Keep in mind this was pre-Internet). I went and talked to every nursery owner in the 11 counties. “Will you run an experiment growing some plants with and others without rock powder?” Those willing to do a side-by-side experiment were given a free 50-pound bag of my rock powder, a brochure, price list, and my contact information.

My reasoning was that I couldn’t be there to sell it to their customers, but they would IF they believed in it. I was right. The orders came in for an unlikely, unknown product with rather incredible claims.

I want to stop right here to point out this is exactly what I want you to do. Run a side-by-side experiment on whatever you are growing. Do not believe me. Believe what you can see and prove for yourself. Trust me and this essay only enough to try it for yourself. Then and only then will you KNOW.

I personally ran, assisted in, and supplied rock powder growing experiments all with similar results. The rock powder soil quite clearly had bigger, healthier plants that did not suffer pest problems like their counterparts did.

Luana’s home was in the middle of an old, decrepit apple orchard. She hired me to mow the weeds down at the beginning of “fire season”. As I putted the acreage I grabbed apples off the trees one after another. Not particularly squeemish about such, all I needed was a belmish-free mouthful regardless of the rest of the apple. I could not find ONE BITE in the whole orchard. She hired me to fix it.

Ten tons of rock powder per acre, radical pruning, rip, disc, and cover crop were the core of my prescription. Two years later I was hard-pressed to find ONE BLEMISHED APPLE in the entire orchard.

“Dad, what’s wrong with this broccoli?” I knelt down to see the plant at the end of my 100-foot row completely white with a coating of aphids. Close inspection found it kinked horizontal like an old garden hose at ground level, then curving back towards the sun. Nutrients couldn’t properly flow through the defective stalk. Nature sent the aphids to return the plant’s components to the soil. Neither the adjacent broccoli nor any others in that row had a single aphid on them. The one had been stepped on early in its life. The rest had no problem defending themselves in spite of the presence of a reproducing swarm of aphids… not to mention total absence of interference in this dance of nature’s elements.

I have a great number of examples from a 20-acre cemetery-prep lawn, grandma’s rose garden, an organic high-end Sonoma County vineyard, 100-cubic-yards of amazing compost, a berry farm, and many more. I’ll close with a great one:

A University of California research scientist wanted to run an experiment. I met him in a massive Central Valley commercial tomato field. Upon arrival I immediately regretted the trip. The soil was so depleted there could be nothing left alive in it to digest the minerals and grow healthy plants. I gamely spread 50 pounds in the area he had marked off for this trial. I heard nothing from him ever again in spite of his promises to keep me appraised of the progress and conclusions.

Curiousity compelled me to call him late in the summer. “Oh there was a definite improvement; significant superiority in the rock powder treated plants, but we have no way to determine WHICH ELEMENT in the rock powder was responsible for it. Therefore we gained no useful information from this experiment.” Sigh.

I first began screening raw rock powder down to the finest particles in my yard. Every time it rained, I had to put a lot of time and effort into drying my pile back out before I could bag it or spread it in bulk. In that process, throughout the moist rock powder, I found lots of big, fat earthworms loving it.

This is a crucial bit of information. Try that with a pile of any refined soil additive; it will be death to earthworms and most other soil inhabitants. The rock powder has a huge variety of mineral elements in a non-toxic, harmonic balance. You cannot put too much on any soil. In practical terms there simply isn’t a toxic amount.

Before I move on, I need to mention sources of rock powder. I went to every rock crushing operation within a reasonable distance and got 5-gallon samples of what quarry operators consider to be mostly a waste product they usually call “crusher fines”. The more surface area (smaller pieces) the better.

It has to be crushed rock rather than screened river sand. The river dissolved and carried away all the softer minerals leaving behind mostly silica and a few hard minerals with very little microscopic surface area. Sand is cheap, plentiful, and nearly useless as a source of trace minerals. Rock powder is harder to find, but still cheap and plentiful. You just have to find someone crushing rock for gravel roads, cement plants, and such.

Get what you can get within reasonable travel distance. Try it on your plants. Make a grid with rows of plants going one direction and marked rows of rock powder enriched zones going the other. If you pay close attention, you will be surprised that you can see differences quite early in the plant growth, and it just gets better after that.

I know some will be curious. Three years into my growing rock powder business a man stopped by claiming to have multi-million dollars behind him to enter the rock powder market I had established. I had no way to judge his credibility, but was put off by his love for claiming that their rock’s cosmic, geo-magnetic energies from this special place near Las Vegas made it much more magical than ordinary rock powders. I figured you couldn’t ask for better performance than my plain old local minerals, and he felt like a snake-oil salesman to me. I soon found my share of the market I built too small to support my operation. Oops.

Remineralization is the key difference between my growing methods and those of many chemical-free growers. The rest of the life in the soil is extremely important and cannot be neglected. I was about to write this next bit, but found it already composed and much more thorough. North Carolina State University has done an excellent job using the same exact lead-off sentence I was going to write, so I’ll post it here.

There is more life below the soil surface than there is above. This includes the burrowing animals such as moles and earthworms. Many soil creatures are not much bigger than the head of a pin. They include mites, springtails, nematodes, virus, algae, bacteria, yeast, actinomyetes, and protozoa. There are about 50 billion microbes in 1 tablespoon of soil. A typical soil may contain the following estimated number of organisms in each gram of soil:

Bacteria 3,000,000 to 500,000,000
Actinnomycetes 1,000,000 to 20,000,000
Fungi 5,000 to 1,000,000
Yeast 1,000 to 1,000,000
Protozoa 1,000 to 500,000
Algae 1,000 to 500,000
Nematodes 10 to 5,000

1 gram of soil is the approximate weight of a standard paper clip.

As soil life forms move through the soil they create channels that improve aeration and drainage. Nematodes and protozoa swim in the film of water around soil particles and feed on bacteria. Mites eat fungi; fungi decompose soil organic matter. The microorganisms’ primary role is to break down organic matter to obtain energy. They help release essential nutrients and carbon dioxide, perform key roles in nitrogen fixation, the nitrogen and phosphorus cycles, denitrification, immobilization, and mineralization. Microbes must have a constant supply of organic matter or their numbers will decline. Conditions that favor soil life also promotes plant growth.

When the soil is tilled and left bare, soil life can be injured by high temperatures. To promote soil organisms; incorporate organic matter, till as little as possible, minimize soil compaction, maintain favorable soil pH and fertility, and use an organic mulch on the soil surface.

Don’t treat your soil like dirt.

Healthy soil is dark with organic carbon, soft when dry, spongy when wet, very easy to push a shovel deep down into, and absolutely teeming with life. Your soil is your bank account. Properly tend the soil and the plants will take care of themselves.

My mentor would tell the class that he could turn a parking lot into a healthy garden. Not that I didn’t believe him, but it did seem like more of a long-term challenge than I would want. Since then I have literally done it several times, and in one season. The biggest problem is also the most common problem I faced when doing my custom farming: compacted soil.

Nature will eventually do the job starting with tough, spiney plants to break up the compaction, moving on through different tools decade-after-decade until finally whatever the climate allows could grow there. If it is your space, you can shortcut that process.

Mechanically break up the soil deep. Healthy plant roots, even annuals can go many feet deep. Help them get there with a ripper. This is the highest weight and horsepower requirement tool I had by far. Don’t buy a tractor to do this as you will never need to do it again. Just hire it done at least 2-feet deep; 3-feet is better. More is nice if it is affordable, but with a good head start, plants and soil organisms can do the rest in a few years.

Before any more tilling, spread 10 tons of rock powder per acre (15 pounds per 100 square feet). I always added 1,000 pounds of oyster shell flour too as an awesome source of additional calcium, but it isn’t crucial in most cases. Don’t let its absence stop you, but do stay away from calcium sources your local organic growers wouldn’t recommend.

Rare is the soil with plenty of organic matter. I add a 4″ to 6″ layer of it before pre-plant tilling. Yes, that’s a LOT. You can wait and grow your own, but adding a thick layer will make it happen this year. If you have more time than money or means, cultivate and plant a deep-rooting cover crop mix.

In Northern California I used 50% oats, 25% vetch and 25% bell beans. In my orchard the three plants would grow way-deep into the ground and over 7-feet tall above. I would mulch-mow it, leaving a thick mat on the surface. Windfall fruit would land unbrused on it to be collected ready-to-eat. The next spring I would till it in, plant again and repeat. The deep decomposing annual roots were an integral part of the soil ecosystem.

I’m going to skip the where to plant, what to plant, and how to plant parts. That is local information, can easily take years of experimentation to get right and fill multiple books.

My final important point is that you must NEVER leave your soil naked. It hates sun, wind, and erosion. If you don’t have a cover crop, find an affordable, local source of organic mulch. By “mulch” I mean shavings, chopped straw, compost, and such.

Stay away from tree leaves. They are mostly allelopathic; they like to keep plants from growing at the base of the tree and, thus, in your garden if used as mulch. Leaves are great for weed suppression, but the only functional difference between weeds and your desired plants are your desires.

Cover crops are a great answer. I have had vegetable gardens where I simply ‘mowed whatever growed’ in between my crop rows. Never naked, never muddy and quite good looking. My mentor used shortened-blade scythes to great effect keeping the cover crop plants nature put there slightly lower and disadvantaged when compared to his money crop. Organic vineyards went from dead dirt tilling to cover crops between the vines a decade or more ago.

The life of your soil is your real growers bank account.

Pat’s Product Review: Silver Fire Rocket Stove

I’ve stressed, in previous articles, the importance of having safe drinking water for your survival. Also, you have to have some type of food to feed your calorie-burning body. We can go a long time without food, but let’s be honest, we’d rather have a good hot meal to eat.

I’ve reviewed several different types of small, compact camp stoves that easily fold up and fit inside your bug out bag (BOB). I reviewed a rocket stove, and was impressed with how easy it was to cook on. I’ve made a few “hobo” stoves in the past; this is a really poor man’s rocket stove of sorts. Now, while you can cook your food a number of different ways, some methods of cooking are easier than others. Cooking a meal on your stove in your kitchen is the way to go. However, in a SHTF scenario, we might not have access to our kitchen stove. The power could be out, your gas line broke, or the gas cut off for whatever reason. When this happens, you have to kick into a survival mindset and figure out a way to cook your meals. Sure, lots of foods can be eaten cold, but that’s no fun, to be sure.

Today we are looking at thh Silver Fire line of stoves. They manufacture many different models. Silver Fire’s founder, Todd Albi, provided me with their Silver Fire “Survivor” rocket stove model for testing, for SurvivalBlog readers. I’m here to tell you, right off the bat, if the “Survivor” model is any indication of the outstanding quality of the rest of their stoves, I’m totally blown away. The quality, manufacture, and materials used in this stove is the best of the best. It’s simple as that.

Just a short note about Albi is in order. He was the former founder of StoveTec rocket stoves, and (for reasons that I won’t go into) left StoveTec and worked to refine his rocket stove idea into a high-quality rocket cook stove. Silver Fire cook stoves require minimum fuel and produce little emissions or smoke. His stoves are designed for improved durability and efficiency, too. He challenges anyone to compare his line of rocket stoves to any other brand and draw your own conclusions. A very brave statement and challenge to be sure. The man has every confidence in his products!

When you take the “Survivor” rocket stove out of the box, you will immediately notice the fine workmanship. The round stove is covered with a polished stainless steel body, and the cook top is cast iron, with five spacers on the top, so your pot or pan will sit nicely and evenly distribute heat. The insulation isn’t clay, as is found in many commercially manufactured rocket stoves; instead, fiber insulation is used to reduce the weight. Some rocket stoves are heavy, real heavy. Not this one.

With the new designs incorporated into the “Survivor” rocket stove, in an emergency, very little fuel is required to bring a large volume of water to a boil or cook a pot of food. I like that this rocket stove only weighs 12.5 pounds– about half of what other commercially made rocket stoves weigh. The rectangle shape combustion chamber allows for uniform insertion of a wide variety of fuel, and the stove’s door improves efficiency in burning the biomass or wood fuel. Unlike other rocket stoves, this one is designed to operate with the fuel door closed. Yes, there is a feed “ramp” that attaches to the front of the stove, and you can keep your fuel loaded on it and ready to slide it in, as it is needed. There is also a fuel “gauge” on the front of the black fuel door. This gauge lets you know the size of wood that is best inserted and burned in the stove. Neat! Just keep in mind that this stove operates best with the fuel door closed!

The “Survivor” rocket stove also comes with two carry handles, which you must attach once you unpack the stove. They are easy enough to install with a screw driver. Complete instructions come with each stove. (Some other stoves come with NO instructions at all, and you are left on your own to figure out how to best utilize the stove.)

There is a lot of technical information on the Silver Fire website, and I won’t bore readers with it. You can go to their website and read it all for yourselves. Also, there are several videos on the website. Please take the time to watch them; they are educational and very useful. As mentioned, Silver Fire makes several different types of cook stoves, so check them all out before deciding which model is best for your needs. I personally like the “Survivor” model sent to me for testing, and it would be my first choice from all their different products for use in a SHTF scenario. I really like that very little fuel is needed to cook a meal, and the stove is very efficient in burning the fuel, leaving very little ash and very little smoke when you are cooking. As any outdoorsman can attest to, smoke can be seen for miles; in a SHTF scenario you may not want someone knowing your location.

Another feature worth mentioning is that this stove has a temperature-reducing baffle plate on the bottom of the stove for safer handling and to decrease temperature on the cooking surface. Silver Fire claims their stove has the coolest surface temperature below the stove of any product on the market.

I tested the Silver Fire Survivor rocket stove and was totally blown away with how nicely it worked. It worked as advertised– something nice in this day and age of so much hype. I have a very small homestead, but it is heavily timbered. Using the “Survivor” for my cooking needs, I’d have more than enough fuel from my trees and shrubs to last me for a lifetime of cooking on the “Survivor.” It takes very little fuel, and this stove certainly does remind one of the fire that comes out of the back of a rocket engine. It gets hot, and it gets hot fast.

Boiling water was no chore, and cooking burgers in a pan was a piece of cake. I think I can cook a burger faster on the rocket stove than I can on my kitchen stove, which happens to be electric. Clean-up is fast and easy; just wipe the outside of the stainless steel body off with a rag, dump what little ash has accumulated, and you’re ready to go.

Silver Fire also sells some accessories for their stove that you might want to take a close look at, too. Once again, check them out on the website for complete information and pricing.

Seriously, I don’t care if you live in the city, on a farm, out in the boonies, or you are dead serious about your survival, you simply should have a rocket stove in your survival supplies. A city dweller could use the “Survivor” on their back porch, in their yard, or on their front deck. Of course, you shouldn’t use this stove inside your house for safety sake. However, you CAN find a place to do your cooking, no matter where you live. Silver Fire also sells a very nice carrying case for their rocket stove, and I would suggest buying one. It makes transport easier, and the padded carrying case helps prevent your stove from getting dented and dinged up.

The “Survivor” retails for $124.95 and is worth every penny of it. I was actually surprised it didn’t cost a lot more than that. Please, once again, take the time to check out their website at http://www.silverfire.us/ for complete information. There is a wealth of material there. Also, you will note that Todd Albi isn’t just selling these stoves to make a profit, he wants to get these stoves into the hands of folks in Third World countries, too. He has special pricing for that. He also has wholesale pricing, if your group wants to make a large purchase.

I test a lot of products each month but nothing quite like the Silver Fire Survivor rocket stove. It is everything Todd Albi claims it to be and more. It’s nice when I’m blown away by a product. This may well be the Rolls Royce of rocket stoves at Chevy prices! Silver Fire products are made right here in my neck of the woods– Eugene, OR. If you’re in the area, stop by their showroom and check out all their various stoves. – SurvivalBlog Field Gear Editor Pat Cascio

Pat’s Product Review: The Ultimate Knife – Karmabit

When we were all children and Christmas rolled around or our birthday, we would normally reach for the biggest present with our name on it. Of course, everyone just knew that the bigger the package, the better the present. Right? Well, not so fast

Did you ever hear that good things come in small packages? Well, quite often, the smaller the package, the better the item inside. I’m a big knife fan, and I don’t mean that I’m a big “knife” fan (although I am rather big). Instead, I like knives that are big. More often than not, a bigger knife can do more things better and quicker than a smaller knife. Not always, but most of the time that’s true.

Enter the Ultimate Knife and their interpretation of the folding Karmabit (pronounced “ka-rahm-bit”) self-defense knife. The Karmabit is based on an Indonesian fighting knife design. It is not a big knife; far from it. I received the 599 and 599 TK set from Lad Mandiola, who owns and operates The Ultimate Knife website and company. I’ll share more on Lad shortly. What we have is a Talon-style blade that is VERY wicked, but it’s only 2.25-inches long. That’s not big at all for a knife designed for self-defense. However, because of the curved talon-style blade, it is meant to rip, claw, and trap just about any part of a person’s body. Once again, these are designed for self-defense, not for opening letters or other utility chores.

The blade material on the Karambit is N690 Cobalt stainless steel, and it is black Teflon coated for that tactical/subdued look. The entire knife only weighs in at 3.5-ounces. Handle scales are super-tough G10 black composite material that’s almost bullet-proof! The blade locks open via liner locks– a proven locking design. You also get an orange handle “training” Karambit in this package; the blade is NOT sharpened and has a blunt point and holes in the blade, so you can’t confuse it with the sharpened version. I strongly suggest you buy the two-knife package, instead of just the sharpened Karambit alone.

There is a pocket clip that can be reversed from one side of the handle to the other for Southpaw users, and depending on how you carry the knife in your pocket, it will dictate which side of the handle scales you place the pocket clip. That’s something you have to decide for yourself. I choose strong side (right) pocket carry.

There is also a large ring on the butt of the handle scales. The ring aids not only in drawing the knife from your pocket, but is a place to put your pinky finger inside for a more secure grip, or (if using the knife in the reverse or ice pick-style hold) is a place for your index finger. The ring can be used several ways, depending upon how you hold a knife for self-defense. We also have an oblong hole in the blade for manually opening the blade, if you choose to do it that way. However, you’ll miss out on the neat little trick to the fastest opening folding knife in the world, and it’s NOT a “switchblade” either.

The Italian-made Karambit is made by FOX in Italy, and they produce some outstanding knives at great prices. FOX is something of a secret to many knife owners for some reason, but I’ve owned several of their knives and have not been disappointed in any of them. What the Ultimate Knife Karambit has is the Ernest Emerson, patented “Wave” feature on the top rear of the blade. Basically, when you start to draw the knife from your pocket, pull back slightly towards the side of your pocket and, when you have cleared your pocket, the blade will be open. Much easier done that said. There are several videos on the Ultimate Knife website that I strongly suggest you take the time to watch. If you’re not familiar with Ernest Emerson, Google his name. He’s a well-known custom knife maker and designer, who was in such demand that he opened his own shop, where his knives are carefully manufactured and precisely fitted by a highly skilled staff. I’ve written several articles in the past about some of Emerson’s knives.

I’ve talked to Lad Mandiola a couple times on the phone, and I’m here to tell you, Lad is totally excited about the Ultimate Knife Karambit that he is selling. He doesn’t hold back his excitement when you are talking to him, and for good reason; he has a great product that performs out of proportion to its size. I tested one of the Emerson Knives Karambits some years ago, and these Italian-made knives that Mandiola is selling are every bit as good. Mandiola went the extra mile and got Ernie Emerson’s approval to use his patented “Wave” feature.

What we have with the “wave” is a part of the knife blade that is machined in the shape of, well, a wave coming off the ocean. When you pull back on the knife a little bit, as you are drawing it, the “wave” catches the edge of your pocket and pulls the blade out of the handle scales. Once again, easier done than said. It opens just “that” fast, and there is no worry about the blade cutting you as it opens, either. In speaking with Lad Mandiola (in a long conversation the first time we talked), he directed me to his website where he has comments from a number of very happy customers. Everyone loves the “wave” feature. It doesn’t take any real training to whip the Karambit out of your pocket, and it is open. I know. I know that a lot of people think that an automatic folder is fast opening, and they are, sorta! First, you have to draw the automatic folder from your pocket, and then find the release button to open the blade. On the Karambit, you simply draw the knife out of your pocket, and when it has cleared the pocket, the blade is open. You do it with one smooth motion; it’s almost like magic!

Now, you might say, “What good is a 2.25-inch knife blade for self-defense?” Glad you asked. Let’s go back to the Talon blade design, and I’ve mentioned a number of times in my knife articles that most knife fights involve slashing rather than stabbing moves. If you slash at a person’s arms, legs, or wrists and cut a tendon, that body part is useless. If you slash at someone’s face and the Talon catches an eye, they can’t see you to continue their attack. If you happen to catch an artery in the neck, a person will bleed out in very short order. The Talon designed blade, although short, can reach tendons, arteries, eyes, and many other body parts. The Talon’s claw shape not only cuts, it also tends to pull the body part into the blade, doing more damage. Think of an Eagle’s claw. That is what the Karambit’s Talon blade is shaped like. It’s very, very wicked!

Also, if you are forced to use the Karambit for self-defense, the police would look at the short blade and wouldn’t think of this knife as a wicked self-defense weapon in the least. It would look better for you when you used this little bladed knife for self-defense as opposed to a larger knife or something that screams “tactical” because of it’s large shape or design.

The orange-handled training knife can be used for practicing your attack/self-defense moves against a cardboard dummy (or whatever you want to use as a training aid) without fear of harming yourself with a sharp blade. Also, the training knife can be used, quite effectively, as a pressure point weapon– a non-lethal weapon that can cause a person to break-off an attack. I originally trained in Judo as my first martial art, and then I moved on to Karate and Kung-Fu. We learned the importance of using pressure points and strikes to break-off an attack. Believe me, if you struck someone on a pressure point with the blunted blade of the training knife, they would break-off the attack. If an attacker has you in a deadly hold of some type, you could rapidly draw the training knife and apply pressure to cause them to release you. I honestly don’t know any place, other than an airport security check point, where the blunted tip training knife would be illegal to own and carry in your pocket. To be sure, it’s not a “knife” per se. It can’t stab or cut anything. However, with a little practice, it could easily be used as a self-defense weapon against an attacker. Think about it.

The Karambit comes in two sizes– medium and large. For most of us, the medium size will fit our hands nicely. If you have bear paws for hands, then you’d want to look at the large Karambit. Mandiola is running a special; if you buy the sharpened Karambit with the training knife, it is only $244.95, even though the regular price is $319.90. That’s almost a $75 savings. You can also purchase a Kramabit by itself or even a training knife separately. Check out the website for the various packages and prices. Be sure to take the time to watch the education videos before you decide which Karambit you want to purchase. There is a lot of information there that will help you. Also, if you have any questions about the Ultimate Knife Karambit, give Lad a call. His number is on the website, and he will be more than happy to help you any way he can. I honestly don’t recall when I’ve last talked to someone like Lad Mandiola, who was so “up” about his products. It was a pleasure talking to someone who has such faith in his products. He’s “good people”, too. – SurvivalBlog Field Gear Editor Pat Cascio

Recipe of the Week: Soup in a Jar, by Lin H.

A few years ago I spent months experimenting with various online recipes for “Soup in a Jar,” wanting to perfect something for holiday gifting. I think I was entirely successful with the following recipe. It fits in a pint jar, serves four people, doesn’t require much more in the way of ingredients to have on-hand, and is pretty tasty!

I now make a point of doing up a batch of these jars every fall for our home pantry. I “dry can” them (look for instructions online) and seal them with an oxygen absorber packet inside. I have every confidence that my jars would be viable for several years, though I haven’t been able to personally test this since we end up eating them, or giving them away as little gifts or barter items, well before I can see how long they might last.

For holiday gifting, I call them “Hearty Holiday Soup in a Jar”.

In clean sterilized pint canning jars, layer in order given, then seal:

  • ¼ cup Pearl Barley
  • 3 Tbsp. Beef Bouillon granules or 8 unwrapped beef bouillon cubes
  • 2 heaping Tbsp. Dehydrated Carrot Slices (I dehydrate my own; if not available, omit)
  • ¼ cup Lentils (any variety)
  • 1 Tbsp. plus 1 tsp. Dried Onion Flakes
  • ½ tsp. Dried Minced Garlic
  • 1 Tbsp. plus 1 tsp. Italian Seasoning
  • ½ tsp. Hot Red Pepper Flakes
  • 1 Bay Leaf
  • ¼ cup Split Peas
  • ¼ cup Long Grain White Rice
  • ¼ cup Small Pasta, wrapped separately in a bit of plastic wrap

The gift tag (directions) should read: You will need 1 lb. ground beef, 1 can (14.5 oz.) undrained diced tomatoes, and 8 c. water. Remove pasta packet and set aside; remove and discard oxygen absorber. In soup pot brown and crumble ground beef till done; drain grease. Add tomatoes, water, and contents of jar. Bring to boil then cover, reduce heat to low, and simmer 45 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add pasta and simmer 15 more minutes. Remove bay leaf before serving. Makes 4-6 servings.

Letter Re: American Liberty

Hugh,

While I absolutely agree with Mr. Rawles’ statement, he left out the year 1913. That is the year States Rights were finally obliterated for good. While the War Between the States made the Federal Government supreme, the year 1913 legalized the concept.

The 16th and 17th Amendments provided for direct income tax and popular elections for Senators. Previously money for Federal operations were apportioned among the states, giving the States power over the Federal. Senators were the representatives of State governments while House Representatives were elected by and represented the individuals.

Using a reliable, and still successful technique, the income tax was passed by assuring everyone that only the wealthy would ever be taxed and then only by 1 per cent. Sound familiar? Social Security was voluntary and would never exceed 2 per cent. If you like your health insurance plan… in God we trust, Molone Labe, – T.V.

Letter Re: Using Canola Oil on Cast Iron

Referencing Three Letters Re: A Science Based Technique for Seasoning Cast Iron

Dear HJL,

As a grower of canola, I would like to point out the “ola” in its name is for oil. It was bred the old fashioned way in the 1970’s, long before genetic modification, at the university of Manitoba. Outside of North America, it’s called Rape, Oilseed Rape, or Rapeseed. Now, as to whether or not the Canola oil you buy at the store is GMO or not? I would say, just like corn and soybean products, it’s 95% likely to be GMO. However, I have no doubt that there are still non-GMO Canola products, if you know where to look. Of course, readers in countries that do not permit GMO crops need not worry. – J.D.