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RAISING YOUR OWN CATTLE

Raising your own beef for your family
For most homesteaders, the raising of livestock plays a crucial role in the home based economy. The types of livestock which you choose to include on your own place may be determined by your climate, the size of the homestead, food sources available, the available market (if you choose to sell some animals), and just your personal preference. It is sometimes argued that you can buy all of your meat—beef, chicken, pork, lamb, rabbit, etc.—far cheaper than you can raise it. While this may be true when speaking in terms of money alone, other factors must be considered when referring to meat raised for homestead use.
These days, red meat in general, and beef in particular, is continually maligned as one of the greatest detriments to our health and well-being. I’m here to tell you that you can raise some mighty tasty and nutritious beef on your own place, and do so without a lot of the fat and chemicals which lace most commercially raised beef. Our own beef is raised mainly on grass and hay, with little grain or supplement. Free access to trace mineral and high-magnesium blocks, water, and pasture all help to turn out fine beef, much leaner than “store-bought” and at a competitive cost. MORE INFORMATION

Hand Lotion

1/8 cup any type oil {I like olive oil} 1 cup goats milk or cows milk
In a bowl, combine ings. and mix well, you can keep it in the fridge, or you can add 1/8 teaspoon vinegar or ascorbic acid or citric acid, to preserve it.
You can also make hand lotion with 1/4 cup mineral oil 1/4 olive oil 1/2 tsp. cod-liver oil 1 Tsp.lecitin powder 1 tsp. plain unflavored gelatin
No harsh chemicles, simply place oils and lecthin powder in a blender, You can get most of the products at a health food store or pharmacy, mix gelatin in 1/8 cup of cold water, add 1/2 cup boiling water and let set until cool, add all ings. to blender and blend until smooth, this helps restore your rough dry skin with it's own natural oils.

Goat's Milk Soap

Step One ... Very Important!

Step one is to get your oils ready and set aside since this is a very quick way of making 100% goat milk soap, even easier than using half water, half goat milk ... Use your own favorite soap recipe. You can add goat milk for water straight across but I drop a few ounces from the goat milk compared to what the water would be. My water amount is 25 oz., I use 23 oz. of goat milk but I've successfully used 25 also. Since I'm fortunate to have access to Nubian goat milk with a high butterfat content, I usually drop my super-fatting to around 3-4%.

Step Two

OK, get your favorite recipe out and determine the quantity of goat milk you want to use, pour it in a ziplock and lay it flat in the freezer to totally freeze solid. Flat is important. When that's done (I usually do a bunch at once) take out the frozen 'frisbee' of goat milk, hit it on a hard surface until it breaks up in or hit it with a hammer or however you choose to break it into chunks that will fit into your container. (I drop the bag flat on cement a few times and the pieces seem to shatter nicely and about the right size.) Fairly small pieces but not too small. 2-3' pieces work well. I use one of those large gallon size sun tea/olive jars, but you can use a stainless steel bowl or even a plastic pitcher. Pour all the frozen pieces in the jar, which is sitting in your sink, then just measure the lye and dump it all in at once. YES, at once ... Take the nylon (or wooden) spoon and stir all the lye and milk chunks to coat them all.
Then you keep moving the pieces around with a nylon spoon and they will slowly dissolve and you will absolutely not burn the milk and in fact, it will probably be cool when the milk is completely dissolved. DO NOT warm it, use it as is in oils that have cooled. If you decide to warm it, be aware that it WILL turn yellow or lt. orange. If that's okay with you, go ahead. The melting time is probably less than ten minutes, certainly no more, so don't leave and be ready to make soap. IF you let it sit, it continue to warm and become yellow ... I use it as soon as it's melted, even though it's cool.

Note; You can compensate for the coolness of the milk by making the oils a little bit warmer, perhaps around 110-115 degrees if the low milk temp bothers you but I don't. I use it as is.

Step Three

Since your oils are all ready, you put the dissolved goat milk in them right away and continue with normal soap-making process. This method keeps your soap nice and light colored. I know, the milk is cooler than it should traditionally be but trust me, it really works. I've made many, many batches of soap this way. Another plus is, it has little to none of the unpleasant smell that goat milk soap can have for a few days and if it does, it dissipates quickly. One thing is, you DO add just a bit more fragrance with goat milk soap than lye water soap but that's the same no matter how you make goat milk soap.

How To Make Your Own Hand Cream

Put beeswax, about 1/2 pound into a double boiler and let it melt. Add olive oil, I use about 1 1/2 cup to start and reheat. Now, add some essential oils for smell if you want to. Let this cool and check to see if its to hard. If it is, reheat it and add more olive oil. Pour into a jar and put a lid on it. We milk all year around. Goats, by hand and our skin doesn't chap or peel. It's cheap and easy to make.

CAMPING SAFETY

Survive Outdoors will address a generic camping safety. This will apply to rustic backpacking into any high-country area as well as your local state parks and populated areas to camp.For all tent campers, please be advised of where you are placing your tent or shelter. This is crucial in terms of the following:
Weather and rain - do not place your tent in a low-lying area for flooding purposes. If you absolutely have to, then dig a trench out around the sides. It does not have to be very deep. Three to four inches is helpful to detour the water around your shelter. If this is a state park area and you cannot do that, please respect their rules. Fill in these areas after you are done camping.
Beware of trail areas and animals - Many animals, especially hoofed animals such as elk and deer will move at night. If you are in the middle of a heavily traveled path, you may be trampled in your tent or shelter in the middle of the night.
If you are in a territory where there are bears - Clearly you want to have all your pans clean. Hang food and perishables as well as pots and pans you cook in at least 200 yards away from your campsite. You do not want to hang them 20 or 30 yards away from your tent area.
Do not place your tent under a tree - Sometimes this is impossible. If you are going to place your tent under a tree, please check and make sure that the tree is not dead, aging, or dead or loose limbs above. It has not been uncommon for limbs to fall from a tree onto campers’ tents, and injuring them in the middle of the night.
As far as concerns of getting lost or one of your childern or fellow campers getting lost, please refer to “Getting Lost and Getting Found” section on Survive Outdoors. You will see a varitety of tips and hints that we strongly advise you carry with you when camping.
Always carry a medical kit of some degree with you. Please see our medical kit area for a helpful guide. Band-Aids, topical antibiotics are helpful. Make sure everyone has their tetanus updates that are going camping. Depending on the length of time that you are spending camping, antibiotics may not be necessary. These are just a variety of medicines that you should have in your kit. We will be more specific in our medical kit section. Over the counter Imodium AD is always good to carry with you. It is very uncomfortable to get diarrhea on a camping trip. Flashlights are crucially important. We have a difficult time seeing in the dark. We are not nocturnal animals. Flashlights that work should be checked and double-checked. Extra batteries would be helpful to have on-hand. The LED flashlights have been a huge innovation in lights and they can burn anywhere from two weeks to a month on the batteries that are put in there and are extremely resilient.
Water is crucial, while water purification is even more crucial. Currently, there is no safe water to drink in North America or Canada. Water filtration as well as purification tablets and boiling are effective means to take out all organisms for drinking purposes. Make sure you bring enough water. Dehydration is not an enjoyable ailment and can lead to death in severe situations.
Last, please remember that you are not in your home but in nature’s home. If you take care of her, she will take care of you. Please pick up all litter. In certain areas now, specifically in the boundary waters, you have to carry out your excrement. This area is not usually addressed. If you are in areas where it is not necessary to do that, please dig a hole far enough away from any water sources. Pick up all your litter. After you have packed up, turn around and look where you have camped and cooked and see that it is clean. Look at it as if you are staying in someone’s house, and how you would like that bedroom or that area to be just as well picked up. Please treat nature the same way.

COUNTRY LIVING: CANNING MEAT

COUNTRY LIVING: CANNING MEAT

COUNTRY LIVING: HOW TO HARVEST & STORE HERBS

COUNTRY LIVING: HOW TO HARVEST & STORE HERBS

COUNTRY LIVING

COUNTRY LIVING

COUNTRY LIVING

COUNTRY LIVING

COUNTRY LIVING: MORE KNIFE CARE TIPS

COUNTRY LIVING: MORE KNIFE CARE TIPS

COUNTRY LIVING: MORE KNIFE CARE TIPS

COUNTRY LIVING: MORE KNIFE CARE TIPS: "MORE KNIFE CARE TIPS "

COUNTRY LIVING: MORE KNIFE CARE TIPS

COUNTRY LIVING: MORE KNIFE CARE TIPS

COUNTRY LIVING: MORE KNIFE CARE TIPS

COUNTRY LIVING: MORE KNIFE CARE TIPS: "Many knife enthusiasts prefer blades of high carbon content. These alloys have small grain size and will temper to a high Rockwell index of about R60. They take a superior edge - and stay sharp longer than the high-chromium alloys. "

COUNTRY LIVING: HOW TO HARVEST & STORE HERBS

COUNTRY LIVING: HOW TO HARVEST & STORE HERBS: "The tops and leaves can be picked off heavy-stemmed herbs like basil. This practice shortens the drying time and gives better flavor and color."

COUNTRY LIVING: HOW TO HARVEST & STORE HERBS

COUNTRY LIVING: HOW TO HARVEST & STORE HERBS: "The oils are the strongest in the plants at this time."

COUNTRY LIVING: HOW TO HARVEST & STORE HERBS

COUNTRY LIVING: HOW TO HARVEST & STORE HERBS: "Most herbs for culinary use are ready to harvest just before flowers appear on the plant. If you harvest them after the flowers appear there will be a reduction in flavor."

COUNTRY LIVING: HOW TO HARVEST & STORE HERBS

COUNTRY LIVING: HOW TO HARVEST & STORE HERBS: "Adding herbs creates a spicy, tangy, and refreshing difference in a recipe. In addition to flavoring specific dishes, herbs add small amounts of vitamins and minerals."

COUNTRY LIVING: HOW TO HARVEST & STORE HERBS

COUNTRY LIVING: HOW TO HARVEST & STORE HERBS: "As soon as the herbs have been cut, waste no time in getting them ready for drying. If the foliage is dirty, wash the leaves, then shake off the excess water."

COUNTRY LIVING: HOW TO HARVEST & STORE HERBS

COUNTRY LIVING: HOW TO HARVEST & STORE HERBS: "Most herbs for culinary use are ready to harvest just before flowers appear on the plant. If you harvest them after the flowers appear there will be a reduction in flavor."

COUNTRY LIVING: CANNING MEAT

COUNTRY LIVING: CANNING MEAT: "If you don't raise your own animals as we do, but still would like the convenience of canned meat, you can simply pick out your favorite cuts from the store and start from there. Or, you might find one day that beef, pork or poultry is on sale for an astonishing price. Buy some now and can it for later use."

COUNTRY LIVING: CANNING MEAT

COUNTRY LIVING: CANNING MEAT: "Why can meat, when you can freeze it? I get asked this question quite often. Certainly you can freeze meat, either cooked or frozen and that is a convenience in itself."

COUNTRY LIVING: MORE KNIFE CARE TIPS

COUNTRY LIVING: MORE KNIFE CARE TIPS: "Knife tip: Spray knife hinges with WD-40, liquid wrench, or other lubricant, then open and close knife 10-15 times to work in oil. This will protect your knife parts from rust, corrosion, and damage resulting from parts scraping each other."

COUNTRY LIVING: MORE KNIFE CARE TIPS

COUNTRY LIVING: MORE KNIFE CARE TIPS: "Many knife enthusiasts prefer blades of high carbon content. These alloys have small grain size and will temper to a high Rockwell index of about R60."

HOW TO HARVEST & STORE HERBS

Most herbs for culinary use are ready to harvest just before flowers appear on the plant. If you harvest them after the flowers appear there will be a reduction in flavor.Do not cut the herbs too close to the ground, if you leave some lower foliage you may be able to get several cuttings during the growing season. The best time of day to harvest herbs is in the early morning, just as the sun dries the dew from the leaves. The oils are the strongest in the plants at this time. As soon as the herbs have been cut, waste no time in getting them ready for drying. If the foliage is dirty, wash the leaves, then shake off the excess water. The tops and leaves can be picked off heavy-stemmed herbs like basil. This practice shortens the drying time and gives better flavor and color. For herbs like parsley, leave most of the stems on until after drying. The most common method of drying herbs is also the most picturesque. The mention of herb drying inevitably conjures up images of colorful bunches of herbs hanging from a nail in someone's kitchen. To dry herbs this way, simply gather the herbs and tie them in small bunches. These should be hung in a warm, dark and airy place for about two weeks until they are dry. A variation of this would be to put each bunch in a perforated paper bag, then hang it up to dry. This method helps prevent the herbs from getting dusty, but will increase drying time by several days. This is a good way to dry the seed heads of coriander, dill and parsley. Gather seed heads in the early stages of ripening, just as seeds turn from green to gray or brown. Harvest them as soon as the dew dries in the morning for maximum flavor. Another variation of air drying is to take the herb plants apart and spread those parts on screens to dry. A clean old window screen works well. Prop it up to permit the air to freely circulate through the screen. Place it out of direct sun, but avoid damp locations. The fastest drying method is oven-drying. Heat oven to 150 degrees F or less. Place herbs on sheets of brown paper. Cut some slits in the paper to maximimze air flow through the herbs. Leave the oven door ajar to allow moisture to escape. In three to six hours the herbs should be crispy-crumbly. Store your dried herbs in an air-tight container, such as a glass jar. Herbs must be thoroughly dry before sealing in jars. Check after a few hours and again after a few days to make sure there is no evidence of moisture in the container. If condensation develops, remove the herbs and dry them further to prevent molding in storage. Leave the herb foliage whole for storage. The flavor is retained longer when whole leaves are stored. Crumble the leaves when you are ready to use them. Keep dried herbs in a dark place. This preserves the natural color. Remember to label all containers before storage, especially if you're a novice herb user. It's hard to tell all those grey-green leaves apart, and you'll have to rely upon knowing the different fragrances of herbs to identify them.

The flavoring strength of a dried herb declines with time and exposure to air and light. Properly stored dried herbs should retain their flavor about a year_just in time for replacement with your new harvest! Using herbs in the kitchen can transform an everyday, ordinary meal into an exotic experience for your taste buds. Adding herbs creates a spicy, tangy, and refreshing difference in a recipe. In addition to flavoring specific dishes, herbs add small amounts of vitamins and minerals.

MORE INFORMATION

MORE KNIFE CARE TIPS

Many knife enthusiasts prefer blades of high carbon content. These alloys have small grain size and will temper to a high Rockwell index of about R60. They take a superior edge - and stay sharp longer than the high-chromium alloys. But high-carbon alloy blades tarnish quickly. Here's how to keep these blades shiny without hard-rubbing or using abrasives to remove tarnish.
Go to the hardware store and look for tarnish-removing chemicals with OXALIC ACID as the active ingredient (Tarnite is one commercial brand name). Just wipe it on and wipe it off. Several cycles will remove tarnish from even heavily-stained blades. A 9-ounce container is probably a lifetime supply.
If you get rust on your knife a S.O.S. pad and some alcohol will take the rust right off.
Knife tip: Spray knife hinges with WD-40, liquid wrench, or other lubricant, then open and close knife 10-15 times to work in oil. This will protect your knife parts from rust, corrosion, and damage resulting from parts scraping each other. It will also make it easier to open and close, as well as extend its life. VERY WORTHWHILE!!!
It is important to close a folding knife slowly and carefully, since snapping it shut will force the blade to hit the internal parts, thus dulling the edge.
Here is something for you: Most diving knives are of 420 stainless steel. But a few are 440c,which rust in the ocean easily, just a few hours! I am a SCUBA diver-I use one of my 440c diving knife for SCUBA DIVING, but never get rust.
The secret is : WD-40 only! That's enough!This way: I put a thick layer of WD-40 on the blade each time after one dive trip(not just one dive), after I rinse the knife in the tape water thoroughly, and let it dry then just let the WD-40 dried up. You put the knife back to the sheath,that's all! never rust, because you seldom need a knife for diving, a diving knife is not a weapon, just a tool, especially for getting away tangling( seaweed, or fishing net, or something else.) so you keep the
WD-40 on the blade when you dive, that's enough for protection.I have used this way for many years. It works. You don't need anything more.
So it is the same for taking care of any your knife:WD-40, let it dry,that's all! Simple?
Some comments and suggestions about sharpening methods, tools and results from my own experience:
After trying many stones, I've settled on the excellent ceramic stones offered by Spyderco. I use two Spyderco stones:
1. A 'bench' stone of medium grit for shaping the edge, and;
2. A small 2-sided combination stone for final finish, lightly removing the wire-edge, and routine touch-ups.
After I've formed and finished the edge to my satisfaction, I use a couple of leather strops to put a really fine finished edge on the blade. My strops are belt-leather cemented (or stapled, etc.) to a wooden paddle or board. I impregnate the leather with light oil and make a soft abrasive strop by applying a grit compound. You can control the degree of abrasiveness by using various grit compounds (the most commonly available would be jeweler's red rouge). If you lack confidence in your ability to maintain a constant sharpening angel, I highly recommend the Lansky system. I's really difficult to screw up with this tool.
I test for edge-sharpness and edge-uniformity by slicing ordinary newspaper pages. Hold one edge, slice slowly away from you, and move the blade from hilt to tip. A really sharp blade will 'whisper' through the page. A duller blade will sound harsher, as you can hear the fibers tear. Using the newsprint test, you will very easily detect any blade nicks or uneven edge sections.
I'm intrigued about a dry honing (stropping) system that uses two stropping surfaces:
1. A smooth dry strop for final polish, and;2. A rough dry strop that will hold abrasive powders. You control the abrasion by changing powder grit size. I'll try this system soon.
I hope this helps some knife enthusiast!

OUTDOORS, ETC

OUTDOORS, ETC: "Remember to keep your knife sharpened -- a dull blade can be more dangerous than a properly maintained one."

OUTDOORS, ETC

OUTDOORS, ETC: "Do not store knives in their sheaths. The leather collects moisture and creates pits on the blade."

OUTDOORS, ETC

OUTDOORS, ETC: "Modern knife steel is very high quality material, but all metal will corrode through time. "