Comments on: Episode-201- Survival Podcast Listener Calls 5-18-09

By: flagtag

flagtag — Tue, 19 May 2009 00:45:02 +0000

Oops! It seems I can’t spell. Granddaughter is not spelled with an “e” in “grand”. Sorry.

By: flagtag

flagtag — Tue, 19 May 2009 00:43:07 +0000

A couple weeks ago we went without power/cable/internet for 4 days. I missed my TV and internet, but I had some books to read and actually got to bed early. I did have a radio and batteries but could run it by crank.

I was fine, (except when I had to get ready for work. Hard to put makeup on by lamplight.) But my son and greanddaughter went “nuts”. (giggle)
We survived.

On the money thing: when I got my tax refund in, I went to the bank and took out $5,000.oo in cash. I had no trouble getting it, BUT I had not considered the “bulk” that that much cash created. I had only my purse with me. When I saw the huge pile of bills ($20.oo bills) I became VERY paranoid! I made it home safely, but I learned a lesson. BE PREPARED!

By: Dylboz

Dylboz — Mon, 18 May 2009 23:23:13 +0000

I’m living in the desert, where the Zuni used to live. Down in Tucson, Arizona. Are there anymore desert specific means I can employ to turn my 1/3 acre suburban lot into a food forest, or at least make me more self sufficient? I have done a lot, but it only makes me realize how far short of self-sufficiency I am. I’m building a chicken coop and tilling an area that collects water for more vegetable production. With all the sun, I can grow crops almost year round. I am removing an old hot tub to replace it with a greenhouse on the pad, but this water harvesting stuff is important to get set up before the monsoon in a couple months. I’ll get literally hundreds, if not thousands of gallons of water from the sky in a couple months. Anyway, thanks for all the info!

By: Jetta

Jetta — Mon, 18 May 2009 22:34:47 +0000

Will do.
I also saw a while ago while looking into this was to put the berries in a crock pot and turn it on and mash them up some with a potato masher. Then dump the juice into the must with the other stuff put in a grain bag like thing for beer and then heat it in the must to get the most out of it.

By: Modern Survival

Modern Survival — Mon, 18 May 2009 17:25:11 +0000

@Jetta thanks for the question! By the way I forgot one important thing, you should freeze the blackberries even if you want to use it them right away. Freezing

1. Helps to kill any critters, not all but some, the heat will get anything that survives.

2. More important ruptures the cells in the berries so you get a lot more of the berry juice to just sort of flow when you add it to the must.

Most berries benefit from a freeze before you make mead, it doesn’t have to be a long freeze once they are hard the deed is done. Probst!

By: Jetta

Jetta — Mon, 18 May 2009 16:50:13 +0000

Thanks for the answer. I am going to make a plum melomel from what you said. I would like a sweet melomel with a light carbonation. I have been using honey and maple syrup of late to carbonate my beer. Great stuff and I might make up test batch this weekend with some plums from the store.

By: SteveO

SteveO — Mon, 18 May 2009 14:55:48 +0000

I can barely wait until it’s blackberry time! Thanks for the recipe!