Letter Re: Some Woodstove Experience

Mr. Rawles:
I would recommend that your readers get a copy of the book, Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day by Jeff Hertzberg and Zoe Francois.  Many of the breads in the book use a high-quality, half-inch thick baking stone, much like the types used for pizza.  Also shown is a pizza peel. The book has many recipes using many types of grains to make  peasant loaves, rolls, baguettes, flatbreads and pizzas.   

Another suggestion from an outdoor cookbook is to use a large Dutch oven and put small stones or nails in the bottom, then set your baking pan on the stones, and then cover.  This way you create a more controlled heat for your baking pan.   

As for the pot holder issue, many online kitchen supply stores sell high heat gloves and mitts.  I believe Chef Depot has some mitts that will withstand 700 degrees.  Also at this time of year it is easy to find high heat gloves in the Barbeque section of most stores.    Hope this helps. – Yvonne

Economics and Investing:

Reader Scott M. sent us this: “No Way Out” of Debt Trap, Gross Says: U.S. Living Standards Doomed to Fall

Welfare State: Handouts Make Up One-Third of U.S. Wages. (Thanks to Pierre M. for the link.)

Will China’s ‘Have-Nots’ Be Next to Rebel?

Items from The Economatrix:

US Wants To Take Your Dollars And Replace With Coins

Financial Dismantling Of The American Middle Class  

Physical Silver is Really $50 Per Ounce  

People Of Earth:  Prepare For Economic Disaster  

Bank Stocks Push Indexes Higher; Oil Prices Dip  

Beyond Libya, Oil Market Warily Eyes Saudi Arabia

Odds ‘n Sods:

Another Self Reliance Expo is planned for April 8-9, 2011 National Western Events Complex, in Denver, Colorado. There will be a number of panel discussions and many exhibitors putting on product demonstrations. Topics will include aquaponics,canning and food dehydrating, ham radio, solar ovens, and much more. Admission is $9 at the door or you can get a 20% discount on tickets by registering online (click on the “Admission” tab.) Another Expo will be held in Salt Lake City, Utah, October 7-8.

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Paul Farrell: The 2008 crash isn’t over, only covered up

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File under Z Division: ABC News reports: North Korea Nears Completion of Electromagnetic Pulse Bomb. (Thanks to Larry M. for the link.)

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After some temporary production problems, the WaterBob is again available! These make a great short term water supply for homeowners whenever there are power failures or other potential water supply disruptions expected.

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Jim B. sent this from New Scientist: The Internet is a Tyrant’s Friend. Jim B. notes: “I look at the Internet as neutral. We need to be aware that while the Internet can be a Freedom Fighter’s best friend, it can also be the Tyrant’s best friend as well.”

Jim’s Quote of the Day:

“1. Human societies are problem-solving organizations.
2. Sociopolitical systems require energy for their maintenance.
3. Increased complexity carries with it increased costs per capita.
4. Investment in sociopolitical complexity as a problem-solving response reaches a point of declining marginal returns.” – Joseph Tainter, The Collapse of Complex Societies

Note from JWR:

Today we present another entry for Round 33 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for this round include:

First Prize: A.) 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, and B.) Two cases of Alpine Aire freeze dried assorted entrees in #10 cans, courtesy of Ready Made Resources. (A $400 value.) C.) A 9-Tray Excalibur Food Dehydrator from Safecastle.com (a $275 value), D.) A 250 round case of 12 Gauge Hornady TAP FPD 2-3/4″ OO buckshot ammo, courtesy of Sunflower Ammo (a $240 value), and E.) An M17 medical kit from JRH Enterprises (a $179.95 value).

Second Prize: A.) A Glock form factor SIRT laser training pistol. It is a $439 value courtesy of Next Level Training. B.) A “grab bag” of preparedness gear and books from Jim’s Amazing Secret Bunker of Redundant Redundancy (JASBORR) with a retail value of at least $300, C.) A $250 gift card from Emergency Essentials, and D.) two cases of Meals, Ready to Eat (MREs), courtesy of CampingSurvival.com (a $180 value).

Third Prize: A.) A Royal Berkey water filter, courtesy of Directive 21. (This filter system is a $275 value.) , and B.) Expanded sets of both washable feminine pads and liners, donated by Naturally Cozy. This is a $185 retail value.

Round 33 ends on March 31st, so get busy writing and e-mail us your entry. Remember that articles that relate practical “how to” skills for survival have an advantage in the judging.

Some Woodstove Experience, by C.V.Z.

Being without electricity in the middle winter is cold. We didn’t have any heat during an ice storm. With that winter in mind, we finally purchased a wood stove for heat and cooking opportunities.

As the wife and mother, I had this horrible image of an old black pot bellied stove belching smoke and catching the roof on fire. I could hear the neighbors complaining about the smell and my kids going to school smelling like they had just burned down the house. Images of black walls and ceilings and truck loads of firewood haunted me with every winter wind. I finally relented after four years of planning and saving.

The first thing in purchasing and planning our wood stove was to check with our local city government to make sure there were no permits or codes that had to be met.
The second thing was many years of research on the internet and attending trade shows.
The third step was saving what money we could spare and finding a stove that would fit into our allotted room space and budget.
We finally purchased a stand alone Lopi cast iron wood stove.
This Lopi stove is 79% efficient, burning the smoke before it leaves the stove. Thus no complaining neighbors or smoke smell in our home. When loaded with wood it can burn up to eight hours and warm a 1000 square foot home. It is lined with firebricks and will hold heat after the wood has burned. We did purchase the optional electric fan, but the stove will warm up the house without the fan running.

For the mother in me, it does not smell up the house, it is clean burning, sealed, and with the clearances recommended by the manufacturer, and following the installation instructions, we hope it won’t burn down our house. (For my further comfort I made the men of our house pull all the insulation away from the chimney in the attic.)
For the wife in me, it is stylish and functional. It looks great in the corner. The stove is matte black with matte black accessories. It does have a glass window.
For new chimney installers I would recommend the double walled chimney. This allows you to set your stove closer to the wall and also gives the wife and mother a larger piece of mind.
We purchased our chimney with our stove and the owner of the business talked us through the entire installation. Each box of the chimney, and there were six, had its’ own instructions. The telescoping inside black pipe was the best and most expensive part of the chimney. This pipe allows you to place your stove in your room and not have to cut, fold or bend the inside pipe to the correct length. It telescopes up to a box collar on your ceiling and then the attic part attaches to that box. Or, you don’t have to be exactly precise when measuring how much inside pipe you need. The brand we purchased was Metal-Fab. The inside telescoping pipe is black and very stylish with the stove.
My son and husband were able to install the chimney and stove in one day.  They did have to find more sheet metal screws.
This stove does allow you to cook on the top.

Cooking on a Woodstove

After learning how to light and burn the wood in the stove, I decided it was time to learn how to cook on the stove. I was amazed at how small the top of the stove was compared to the look of the stove. My cast iron skillet was too big for any area on the top of stove. I had to purchase a smaller skillet and lid. You do want to use a lid as you don’t want any grease or food build up on your stove.

We found that purchasing a small, inexpensive, oven temperature gage helped in knowing when the stove was hot enough to cook on and with a cast iron skillet, we can start cooking around 200 degrees. It is very warm standing in front of the stove while cooking, but you must have a very hot fire to cook. I have cooked many meals on this stove for practice. This practice has led us to some new and different realities of food storage and preparation.

We have found that we use more oils, and starch foods such as potatoes, corn and beans. Having pre-canned cooked foods such a vegetables and meat shortens the cooking time. We will probably eat more popcorn than we are used to. Coffee should be started as soon as you start cooking a meal.  Smaller but deeper skillets and Dutch ovens work better and stay hot longer. Baking on the inside of the stove takes time and patience. Using breads with the least amount of moistures helps in complete baking. Cast iron cookware will burn off its season when left on the inside of the stove too long and cast iron is the only pan to use when cooking on the inside. Cast iron will also continue to cook after you pull it out of the stove.  Metal bread pans will warp and can get a burn hole in them. (Only experience on my part.) We can not use our canner on this stove. We have no way of heat control and not enough space. (Nor would I want a wood fire in our home in the summer.) We will be building an outdoor fire pit for summer cooking and canning.

After having a melt down in knowing we had wheat stored, had purchased a grain grinder and then not being able to make bread in the new stove, I finally found a way to bake. A Dutch oven with lid and low burning coals is the only way this stove will bake bread. If your Dutch oven is seasoned well, don’t grease the Dutch oven. Greasing the Dutch oven will cause the bread to burn on the outside of the bread.  Don’t expect a loaf of bread to come out of this kind of stove looking like it came out of an electric oven.

Things we would have done differently:
1. Saved more money and bought a larger stove, we need a larger cooking surface. Think about the kitchen stove you have now, four burners, you use the oven and the microwave when cooking a meal. Think about no electricity, you now have maybe two spots to cook with. A larger stove would have allowed us to have more room to cook, to use larger firewood and have a longer burn at night.
2. Installed the stove on an inside wall. Inside wall installation makes for better heating. You are not heating up an outside wall. We could have used less wall protection in the way of ceramic tile.
3. If money would have allowed, we would have bought a real wood cook stove and installed it in our kitchen with a water heater attached.
4. Built a higher platform for the stove so we don’t have to get on our knees to clean and load the stove.

Our stove was our most expensive prepraedness purchase. I am thankful that I have time to learn to cook and heat with this stove.  We have “survival night” once a week and only cook with this wood stove. It brings up a lot of different scenarios that we thought we had taken care of. We need another hand can opener. We also need a moveable table near the stove when cooking and much thicker potholders. We need more first-aid items for burns. We need to purchase more and longer metal spatulas and spoons. We also need to stock up more pre-cooked items when we home can during the summer and we need truckloads of firewood.

Letter Re: Lakeside Foods Outlet Store

Mr. Rawles;  

My family lives in southeast Minnesota.  We are fortunate to have a Lakeside Foods processing plant and distribution center nerby in Plainview , Minnesota.  Lakeside Foods is a private label food processor.  Its Plainview operation is quite diversified.

Their operation at Plainview has an interesting program for people looking to stock-up and save money on vegetables.  It has an outlet store that sells damaged cans of vegetables inexpensively.  These cans range in size from family size to one gallon.   For example, a case of 24 cans of corn, in family sized cans, sells for $6 and peas sells for $5.  Another example, a case of six, one gallon, cans of corn is $8 and peas $7.  We recently purchased 240 family-size cans of creamed corn, peas, French-styled beans, sweet corn, peas & carrots and mixed vegetables for $52.  

I have observed three types of damage to the cans.  These are 1) dents, 2) removed labeling and 3) surface rust.  Since my family began purchasing vegetables from Lakeview Foods, this damage has never resulted in spoiled food.  In my opinion, the canned vegetables are of the highest quality.  

Here are a few things customers need to know about this outlet store.  This outlet store is open on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 7:00 AM to 3:30 PM at the 900 Warehouse building.  It is a cash and carry operation.  Small bills seem to be appreciated.  Lakeside Foods will loan you a dolly.  The availability of vegetables varies.  The outlet store will temporarily close after March 17th and will open again in May.  

Lakeside Foods has 14 facilities in Minnesota and Wisconsin.  It is unclear to me if any of these operations have an outlet store, as well.  With My Regards, – Minnesota Bill

Letter Re: Pomona Universal Pectin

Mr. Rawles,

I recently discovered Pomonas Universal Pectin, for home canning. It stores indefinitely. It’s also very versatile: it makes regular, low-, or no-sugar jams, jellies, fruit spreads, gelatins, freezer jams, etc. (The other pectins I researched have about a 1-year shelf-life. It will work with sugar, artificial sugar, honey, stevia, or fruit juice as a sweetener. It will also gel things that don’t have any natural pectin, to make things like hot pepper jelly.

Their web site is PomonaPectin.com. It’s also available on Amazon. I’m not affiliated with them in any way. – Texas Sunflower

Odds ‘n Sods:

John R. sent this from Peter Schiff: A Little Understanding Goes a Long Way

Billionaire Carl Icahn returns $1.76 Billion to investors. The article begins: “On the eve of the bull market’s second anniversary, billionaire investor Carl Icahn had an unsettling message for his investors: Take your money back. Icahn told investors in his hedge funds that he didn’t want to be responsible to them for “another possible market crisis…” (Out thanks to “Air Force Dad” for sending the link.)

Kevin S. suggested this from over at Sovereign Man: The market is telling us that the dollar is finished

Items from The Economatrix:

More Record Prices In Gold, Silver And Oil Ahead  

Silver Outweighs Gold  

Inflation And The Value Of Gold Explained  

Gallup Reports Underemployment Surges to 19.9%, February “Jobs Situation Deteriorates” 

You Call This An Economic Recovery?  

Odds ‘n Sods:

Please pray for the people of the fledgling nation of South Sudan. Following a well-monitored landslide vote, the south (primarily populated by Christians and pagan animists) is seceding from the predominantly Muslim northern half of the country. Independence Day is scheduled for July 9, 2011. May God grant them peace and liberty. I am hopeful that an international group will be formed to help direct aid to the new nation, and to help arm its citizenry so that they can defend themselves from Muslim aggression. (The recent genocide in the adjoining Darfur region is still fresh in our minds.)

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Reader Rick M. sent this little gem: Intruder Calls 911, Afraid Homeowner May Have Gun

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Brian G. sent us this: Scientists warn of ‘dangerous over-reliance’ on GPS

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Speaking of GPS, Bert K. forwarded this: GPS chaos: How a $30 box can jam your life.

Note from JWR:

Today we present another entry for Round 33 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for this round include:

First Prize: A.) 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, and B.) Two cases of Alpine Aire freeze dried assorted entrees in #10 cans, courtesy of Ready Made Resources. (A $400 value.) C.) A 9-Tray Excalibur Food Dehydrator from Safecastle.com (a $275 value), D.) A 250 round case of 12 Gauge Hornady TAP FPD 2-3/4″ OO buckshot ammo, courtesy of Sunflower Ammo (a $240 value), and E.) An M17 medical kit from JRH Enterprises (a $179.95 value).

Second Prize: A.) A Glock form factor SIRT laser training pistol. It is a $439 value courtesy of Next Level Training. B.) A “grab bag” of preparedness gear and books from Jim’s Amazing Secret Bunker of Redundant Redundancy (JASBORR) with a retail value of at least $300, C.) A $250 gift card from Emergency Essentials, and D.) two cases of Meals, Ready to Eat (MREs), courtesy of CampingSurvival.com (a $180 value).

Third Prize: A.) A Royal Berkey water filter, courtesy of Directive 21. (This filter system is a $275 value.) , and B.) Expanded sets of both washable feminine pads and liners, donated by Naturally Cozy. This is a $185 retail value.

Round 33 ends on March 31st, so get busy writing and e-mail us your entry. Remember that articles that relate practical “how to” skills for survival have an advantage in the judging.

You’re Ready for the Outlaws, But What About the In-Laws?, by Ellie Mae

I’ve been a daily visitor to SurvivalBlog for nearly three years now.  I really can’t believe it has been that long since that desperate day when anxiety from losing my job took over and compelled me to search for survival information on the Internet.   You see, I was a 20 year mortgage originator.  Not only had I lost my job when my company folded, it was clear to me that I and millions of others had lost any ability to make a living in that crumbling industry.  The music stopped while I was chasing the dollars and it was game over.  At first, I was sneaking around learning how to store water and food.  Next, a budding interest in gardening blossomed into a permaculture addiction.  And all the while, I was reading and becoming acutely aware of how fragile the whole system is and how we had been lulled into such a vulnerable state. By now my self-sufficiency agenda was becoming clear to my husband and although well employed, he too feared the house of cards could collapse and take with it the dollar. Collecting that fiat paper had been all we knew to do to prepare for the future or an emergency.  We were out of the closet with each other and now prepping together instead of worrying and toiling alone.  Together we took the plunge into guns and target practice, skill learning and resource gathering.  Each step helped relieve some of the uncontrolled anxiety we were feeling and prayer still works on the rest.

My husband and I are in our late forties and this is a second marriage for both of us.  Between us we have six young adult children, two are married and there is one grandchild.  None of the children live with us and never have, since we were married only a short four years ago.  Aside from supporting the youngest who is in her last year of college, they are all employed, living on their own and generally great  kids.  Unfortunately, none of them seem to take this preparedness stuff too seriously.  They listen and even engage in conversation, but no real action.  They are busy living their life the way we taught them and they don’t seem to have time to be concerned.  In a way, I am envious of them. We both raised our children as Christians, in the suburbs, playing every sport available etc.  Suburbanites…. Now we have learned things we would like to introduce to our grown children and the teachable moments are few and far between.  So we try to prepare for everyone.  This is where things get difficult!

While all six children would be welcomed to our retreat with open arms, there are others that come along with them.  While only two are currently married, the others are involved in some lengthy relationships that may result in more in-laws. I am an optimist, a peace maker and a diplomatic person.  I believe that the significant others of our children would all add value to our group and be able to contribute something. My husband may disagree about the potential contributions of some but he is in complete agreement about their inclusion in the group.  This may seem an obvious conclusion to some, but I firmly believe these decisions need to be discussed in the open before a crisis to avoid any last minute disagreements. My nightmare begins when I consider the other familial bonds.  In particular, we have one daughter-in-law (official and also the mother of our only grandchild) who is dysfunctionally close to her dysfunctional family. These people are living breathing examples of everything wrong with our country.  While I believe them to be generally decent hearted people, they are card carrying members of The Ugly American Association.  Picture politically apathetic, fast food eating, video game playing (males), shopping mall wandering (both), Coach purse carrying (females), no life insurance or savings holding (neither), job hopping, baby-making, non-breast feeding, obese, insulin dependent, American Idol and Bachelor watching, gun loathing, lethargic and of no notable talent, skill set or physical ability group of five adults and currently four children.  Our son, who married into this tribe is their rock and his wife would never leave her family.  Of course, none of them will have prepared for even the most minor emergency, never mind the big Schumer.  They will be in need and our son who refuses to be alarmed will be unprepared. 

I don’t mean to sound harsh, but sitting in a room for a few hours with this group of people for birthday gatherings, ballet recitals and such is almost more than my husband and I can bear.  So it becomes obvious that there is no way we could accommodate this group at our retreat when the SHTF.   I have to assume that our son, his wife and our granddaughter will not bug out to our place without the rest of that clan.  They all live in two houses and spend most of their waking hours together.  We will have to make it very clear who is included on the retreat guest list. While it is difficult to accept, we will most likely not be joined by our oldest son, his wife and our only grandchild. After acceptance of our retreat limitations, our son’s leadership role in his wife’s family and refusal to prepare; we have embarked on Plan B to attempt to assist him with this daunting responsibility that he doesn’t even know he owns.

In addition to Plan A -the ongoing retreat preparations for the remainder of our family, we have compiled the following list of actions to help light the way for our son and his adopted clan.

  1. Present maps showing different routes to the retreat and explain that he, wife and daughter are of course on the guest list…but it’s invitation only and limited resources and space availability. OPSEC explained.
  2. Create a basic bug out bag for him (highlighting the importance for the safety of his baby girl) and suggest he has the others follow suit. We will highlight their need to include maps to wherever they intend to bug out.
  3. Attempt to get him to the shooting range. We have tried this twice and failed…we will continue to reach out to him.
  4. We will give the gift of “Patriots” the next gift giving season.
  5. We will share fresh fruits and vegetables from our garden to attempt to develop an interest in nutrition and sustainable gardening. We do this, but usually at our home- This time we will deliver.
  6. We will deliver storage food as well.
  7. We will ask him to tag along when we purchase a generator in the next few months. 
  8. We will play Wii with him to express interest in something he likes and hoping for reciprocity. (Think shooting range)
  9. We will stop spamming him with articles and blogs that he never reads and doesn’t seem to appreciate.

Instead we will make a notebook of useful information available during an emergency.

  1. We will pick up our granddaughter at least twice a month and attempt to foster a love of knitting, cooking, gardening and general love of outdoors activities.  No television!
  2. We will love them and accept that they are God’s children and know that we have done everything within our means. Pray.

We must consider the possibility that our wishes will not be respected with regard to our son’s in-laws.  When the SHTF I can imagine he may be unable to behave “cold-heartedly” enough to leave them behind.  I can see him asking us “What was I supposed to do, leave them there to die?”  Of course the answer is “You were supposed to tell them to prepare.”  However, a single “I told you so” is enough.  In the event we are faced with this circumstance, we will have extra rations and gear to temporarily help.  We can be charitable, but we cannot be responsible. Since most of these adults are dependent on insulin or high blood pressure medication etc, I assume they will need to move on rather quickly to a location where meds might be available.  We currently have no need to attempt stockpiling those types of medications.

While our other children may present similar challenges, at this time there is none so apparent as the above mentioned.  I cannot tell you how many hours I have spent evaluating our options.  It is heartbreaking to think of our son, daughter-in-law and granddaughter being somewhere else during a collapse. There just isn’t any other alternative without compromising the safety and security of the rest of our family. I will continue to pray for my son to prepare and for the flock to follow suit. Take inventory of your people and their connections.  Make decisions now while you are calm of mind because in a crisis situation you may not have the capacity to make a rational decision.  Know who you can count on and let others know to what degree they can count on you. Survival plans should not be vague nor should they leave room for misunderstandings.

JWR Adds: I’ve found that the best way to keep kids and visiting relatives from wasting their time watching television is to not own one.

Update on the SurvivalBlog Archive CD-ROM Project

We were planning to release the SurvivalBlog 2005-2010 Archives CD in late January but this was seriously delayed. Unfortunately, the production team at Cafe Press inadvertently produced blank CD-ROMs and mailed them them to the 27 beta testers. It took more than three weeks and countless phone calls for Cafe Press to admit their mistake and to issue refunds. We are now in the process of starting another beta test, using a different company for production order and fulfillment, Lulu.com. The production version (v.1.0) should be ready for ordering by late March. Many thanks for your patience! (In the meantime, the Kindle archive for 2005-2010 is available for $9, via the Amazon.com store.)

Letter Re: Coastal Southwestern Oregon as a Retreat Locale

Howdy Mr. Rawles;
I live up on the south coast of Oregon, I live close to adjoining Del Norte County, California.

These areas are very low in population density, lot’s of good fresh water, good fishing and hunting, lot’s of agricultural land good grazing land and a decent climate/ (There are few freezes, no snow, and very little ice.)

Del Norte is a little better than southern Oregon because there is more farm and grazing land and it’s far far away from large  cities, railroads and major freeways and a slightly better climate. But on the down side, it’s still in California! The south Oregon coast is even more isolated than Del Norte. The one major road to it is narrow and prone to landslides to the north. The road to the Rogue valley is narrow, twisting, long and also prone to slides. Because of this, the south Oregon coast will be easy to keep isolated as there are few bridges over the rivers and they can be easily blocked as can that road from the Rogue Valley.

One thing you forgot to remember is that WTSHTF, oil [and all oil-derived products] will be scarce or unavailable! You cannot depend upon a internal combustion engine to be reliable transportation.You will need to settle in a area that’s not up on top of some hill, too exposed, too far from town, no agricultural land or grazing, worse climate. A little elevation on a south slope is desirable if there is good agricultural land nearby.

You may end up on “shank’s mare” or a bicycle for transportation.

Go to Google Earth to get a close look at these areas and see for yourself.

For light, I would not depend upon a battery flashlight, a shake or crank flashlight, lamp and radio would be far better. Know how to make fire without matches!

Don’t depend only on a rifle to get game, learn to make traps, snares and “primitive” weapons like bows, arrows and spears. The are also much quieter. Learn to knap stone and to heat treat the right kind of stone to make it easier to knap.

Ammo will be limited or even unavailable WTSHTF!

The book Survival Skills of Native California is a good one to acquire. There is lots to learn there on how to live off the land from north to south.

There is much to learn and too little time left to learn it, the sooner you start the better. – Sheila from the South Coast of Oregon