Veggie Soup

Yesterday I made a great pot of Veggie soup, with polish Kielbasha. Turned out great, and we end up with 2 quarts and a pint that we canned. Here is the recipe that I used, my friend HossBoss on APN... http://americanpreppersnetwork.com/ shared with me. Here it is if you are interested in a great soup...
1 package of Polish Kielbasha

1 Jar of Spaghetti Sause... (keep the jar)

1 can of Tomato Paste

1 can/fresh veggies (corn, peas, carrots, green beans, potatoes, celery)

2 tsp of mined garlic

1 1/2 tsp of dried chives

2 bay leaves

little bit of orgeano

salt and pepper to taste.. we used sea salt.



Take the Kielbasha and slice it up and then cut in half. In a frying pan add a little olive oil and heat it up on medium heat. Now that the oil is heated brown the Kielbasha, and celery.

In a soup pot pour in the Speghetti sause, and then fill the jar half way with water and pull in as well. Once the kielbasha and celery are brown and tender drop into the soup pot. Now add everything else to the pot. Bring thepot to a nice boil, then turn down the temp and let it simmer for about hour. Maybe less depended the taste...

Now everyone enjoy the fruit of you labor.

"If anyone ministers, let him do it as with the ability which God supplies, that in all things God may be glorified." 1 Peter 4-11

Plans.... Do you have them?

Snowing outside is very peaceful to watch. It helps to drift away to a BOL that I keep dreaming about. I will be working this winter to learn more and know more about my castle. This is a great time to start those plans for the spring and summer. I know what you are thinking Spring.... Summer.... we haven't even really started winter yet. We can't get where we are going if we don't know where we are headed.

Do you have a plan to get out of your house if there is a fire?

Do you have a plan to meet up if you family can't make it home because of natural emergancy?

Do you have a plan to survive if you lose your job?

Do you have a plan for the up coming week?

Now that you understand we need plans, let me share some of mine with you. I want to get my HAM license this coming year. I also want to learn more about sprouts and how to use them. I am scoping out the yard in the off season to plan for my SFG, (square foot garden). I will be investing in my castle with a nice wood stove at some in the next year. I plan to have a solar clothes dryer installed in the near future.

I now have what I like to call my man cave. I am still working on it. It is a nice place for me to tinker around with stuff and break stuff. I plan to make a night when it is done where me and the boy stay in the man cave to test it out.

I have been sitting and talking with the wife and kids about a long term plan to get to a place in the country. We are in the window shopping stages right now. We are not talking in a year or so.. but more like 3-5 year plan.

I want to get the wife to start to post on here as well. I know that my wife as some truly great ideas and plans to share with other preppers. So keep it preparing to enjoy the good life.

"God is.... greater than we can understand! No one knows how old he is. Job 36:26

Rook

It is dark, where are the lights.

Well yesterday was a great day for prepping. I went to Acme and found this nice hand crank light in a quick sale basket. I grab one for 3.00. This light has 9 LED's you can use 3 or all 9. I took it back to work and cranked it up to test it at work. Well the light stayed on for at least a hour. This nice little find also has a radio, and a port to plug in your IPOD to listen through it.

I made some more weeds out of the garden. This is hard work cause I have a lot of roots in the area. I just keep working at it. This is just a small update on the castle. Keep working at your prep's.

Down the Hatch...

This past weekend the wife and I made our first major SHTF purchase. We got a great deal on a 1999 Viking Pop Up. This model even has a bathroom/shower in it. I will be picking it up this coming weekend and pulling it to the castle. Then we will be packing the baby with supplies for the the many test runs to locale camp grounds and getting set up and take down to a breeze.

I do have to work on getting some small rust stains off the canvas. I don't know what to use on that. I will have to keep researching it. There is one spot of mild mildew on it. I will have to order or make some killz if I can find a great way of doing it. The fun part is going to be learning how to pull it in and out of spots. I have never pulled anything before, but there is always a way to get things done. There will be pic's of the mobile castle soon.

The garden, well that is going great, which I am amazed about. The area we are trying to grow our food is full of roots. I keep working at the soil and pulling out roots. So we will have to wait to see what comes from the labor. Right now I have some lima beans, peas, tomatos, peppers, and cukes planted in the garden.

Security at the castle is getting better. We did invest in a nice puppy named Duke. He is a English Springer Spaniel and wonderful at alerting us. I have made breaker bars for the windows so I can keep them open to a certain amount and not have to wonder about sheeple climbing looking to loot.

Don't Tread on Me...

This is a great motto, it is a shame that the schools do not truly teach history to the true accounts. Now we can't take one step out our front door without someone treading on our liberties or principles. On a side note, if you have not seen the HBO mini series John Adams "buy it or rent it" it is a great watch.

Now we have the none Constitution reading idiots taking more of our liberties from us with this whole garden bill. Well there is on thing they need to realize, when they have ran this country into the ground we will be here to rebuild it back, and they will want the veggie's we have in our gardens, pantries, and the like to help our fellow man. Well I will be taking care of my neck of the woods, and the people I can. We need to hold ourselves to the principles that Christ commands us to do. I know I don't have all the answers the only one that does went to prepare a place for me. Wow, check that out Christ is a prepper too.

I can say this while I am here I will con't to garden, hunt and fish, and stock up on what my family deems fit. This will be ready for the times to come or the disaster around the corner. Take the time to sit back with your family pray and read the bible, and talk about life. Prepping can't be just a one man's job, unless he is the only one there or that is awake to the constant troubles around us. When you have the time this week sit back and talk with the family about what is going on around us and let them speak and don't shut them down.

I will be mapping our my new land this day for the up coming growing season. I will be spending time with the family and giving the kids reasons to stay home and hang out with mom & dad. I will be taking care of the wife as she doesn't feel well. Now get busy........

And a new closing thought for each post will be a great random verse:

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. 1st John 1:9

Rook

Winter Planning - Ramblings

I keep watching the talks of this massive bail out and keep wondering how it will affect me. Well I have came to the conclusion we all will have to pay for these idiots. I say let them come down, let the market corrected it self. We have seen and heard enough on this bailout, so on to another subject.

Are your walls to your castle strong and fortified? There has been nice time of working around the castle. I tell you this I am not completely prepared, but I am much better prepared then when I started this blog.

I would suggest all prepper's check out www.freecycle.org it is a great way to get prep supplies for free. It is basically a network of people in your area that give away different stuff to keep items from going to the landfill. Sometimes there are great finds others well they just need to go to the landfill.

Compost - As I sit here to write my blog I have to keep dealing with a squirrel that keeps using my antlers from a deer to sharpen its teeth. Does anyone have a great way to get away from my compost pile and off my antlers?

I was going to shot it with a BB gun that I have, but it needs to be repaired. I think I will contact Crossman and see if they can repair it. It is one that I have had since I was kid. I don't want to give it up just yet. If anyone has info on repairing of BB guns or where to find it please drop me a line.

Now that it is fall don't forget to put all those nice leafies piles and grass clippings into the compost pile and have good soil for next years planting season.

Winter - Who is ready for it? I am starting to prepare for my winter time strategy. We are looking to cut down on heating cost, so we are investing in a kerosene heater. We have started going through our blankets and seeing if any need to be replaced. We need to get all the good stuff to make my bean & ham soup. It is awesome, just ask the Wife. Time to whip out your winter plan, if you don't have one put it down on paper.

Today- I will be going over my B.O.B for and making sure they are ready and complete to be used when need be. I need to have two different sets for... the wife & kids and one for me. I will bring the list of things in there later today.

On a side note, Sorry for not posting in such a long time, but had to deal with my family issues. The ones that know what I am talking about everything is now fine.

Working on the moat...

Rook

When Reality Slaps You In The Face

Here’s a rare treat for you Foraging Prepper regular readers. “The Wife” is going to share her thoughts today.

Hello, I’m Rook’s wife, affectionately referred to as simply “The Wife”.

I’m going to start by saying that my husband has always been an “out of the box” kind of thinker. He has always gone against the grain of “normalcy”. I, on the other hand, have always tried to blend into the woodwork. However, that’s not an easy thing to do when you marry someone like Rook. He is a different kind of thinker, indeed. So when he speaks about a “new idea”, I usually just shrug my shoulders and half tune him out. This prepping business was no exception. However, shortly before he did his post with me canning, I started actually taking the blinders off and started listening to what the politicians and media were saying about the economy and our future in this country. I started taking notice of the banks and larger companies being sold to other companies or filing for bankruptcy. I started taking notice to the rising concerns about oil and environmental issues. And I started realizing that my husband may not be as crazy as I once thought.

There are many books in the Bible that instruct us on how to live. But there is one book in particular, the book of Revelation, which refers specifically to living in “end times” and watching for God’s wrath to cover this earth. It talks about being aware of what’s around us and not just believing in what we see or think we see. There are plenty of people who feel that Christians are crazy just like many people believe that those who are prepping are crazy. I was once one of those people who didn’t believe in God and I also didn’t believe that life as we know it could ever end. However, in light of recent news reports of large companies like AIG and Lehman Bros declaring bankruptcy and/or being sold to larger companies just to survive, one has to wonder about the state of life as we know it. What will things look like in 10 years? What kind of environment are our children going to grow up under? Did we have it so easy, then carelessly let it slip through our fingers? The answer is a resounding YES.

We have two children, both of which are very smart, funny, imaginative and loving. Parents always want better for their kids. In the near future, our kids will wind up having it much worse than we’ve ever imagined unless we start doing things differently now. People need to ignore the norms of society. We need to work to ensure an adequate future for our families no matter how crazy that may look to others!

We prepare for so many other things without a second thought, weddings, graduations, birthday parties, retirement, buying first homes, college, the list is endless. So why are we so willing to laugh off the idea of preparing for a future without modern conveniences at our fingertips or a collapsing economic structure that could leave us virtually paralyzed! We must start the process of growing and canning our own food, learning how to sew our own clothing, having a stock pile of various items on hand in case stores are no longer operating for whatever reason.
It is those very reasons listed, that I now support my husband’s efforts to prep because I can’t afford not to. Life as we have been so accustomed to is inevitably changing. No matter who is elected President this November, the world is changing. We can’t go back to a “simpler” time. We can only look toward the future. Do you want to go on living life with the blinders on and pretending that the Government is going to fix our problems and we’ll return to “normalcy” soon? Wake up and realize that certain systems are failing and something has got to change. There are some things even the Government can’t fix. The changes that occur in the future may not bring about the kind of change everyone is hoping for!

Is your family prepared for the worst of times? If it isn’t, you’d better start prepping now. You don’t have to go into debt and hide in a cave tomorrow. But every small step you take today can help your family comfortably live through a crisis that is inevitably on the horizon. As for Rook’s family, we will be in comfort with those we love, who choose to link arms with us and work together to make our children’s futures something they can look forward to instead of looking to in fear and trepidation.

Linking arms with Rook to dig that moat….
-The Wife