Covid Passport, no thanks

     In Nazi Germany they made the Jews have a large red J printed on their passports thus not only identifying them but limiting them.   It was a us against them.  This passport is eerily similar to what was going on then.

   We do not make TB patients have a app telling people they have TB.  We do not make Hepatitis C patients, MRSA patients, or anyone other people who have far more contagious diseases do this.   This is strictly a bill to see who is or isn't complainant.   It is a control measure on our freedoms of travel and it is wrong.  I know there are some Karin's who would love to see it.  Good little comrades.   Well here is my opinion.

    I am not going to get this vaccine right now.   It is an experimental vaccine still in the clinical trial period.  In the 4th stage of a clinical trial is where they test it on humans.  That is what they are doing now.  Testing it on the population without them even being informed they are participating in a clinical trial.  But they are.   The vaccine is having more and more adverse affects popping up.  Blood clotting disorders, spontaneous abortions, Guillain-Barre among some.

    There is a possibility with the way this vaccine has been engineered that when you get some other infection your bodies new artificial defense will go into hyperdrive and could cause fatalities.  So I am waiting along with several of my other medical friends to see what happens this fall.  We shouldn't be punished for refusing to take part in this research study.  They aren't even giving you real informed consent because they have no idea what this will do in the long run.  Once you have the vaccine already and these deadly complications turn up it is too late.  So I will wait.  I am healthy and know they have a very effective treatment now for it.   Which I don't understand why they aren't pushing instead of this untried vaccine.   I feel like we are in the middle of living 1984 or reliving history from Nazi times.  Those who don't study history, those who don't do research are bound to repeat it.  

    So I am ranting today.   Taxing you on how far you drive.  This passport.  Our government is overreaching their authority and our very freedom is being taken from us.  If that doesn't worry you that worries me, the passive will be the end of our country.

Mustards and yard work

    Yesterday it was nice and in the 70's, today cold in the 30's.   However, yesterday I got my planters ready to go.   I do mostly container gardening and this year I am going to try potatoes in a bucket.  I hear you get a huge yield.   I did plant my seeds, mostly tomatoes and have them in the greenhouse since it is suppose to be cold for 2 more days, then sunshine, glorious sunshine.  I am so ready for it.   The deer are also.

    I made 3 different mustards.   A beer mustard made with a porter, a horseradish mustard which turned out amazing and a herb mustard I need to work on.  I am not happy with it so doctored it today and will see how it tastes tomorrow.  I then started mustard seeds soaking in a pineapple jalapeno IPA.  Sweet and hot.  Should taste good in a mustard.  I brought a sample of the horseradish to where I am going to sell them and have orders already so I might need to make another batch of that.

   I organized my spare room into a larger pantry.  My herbs, tinctures and stored pasta and flower are in there where it is cool. 

   Here is another site I find really informative for preparing.  She has the same mindset as do.  Better to be prepared especially the way things are going.   There is a lot of great information on this site so check it out if anyone reads this.  My counter says people are reading but no one ever comments.  Drop a comment.  https://prepschooldaily.blogspot.com/

   So that is all I have been up to in the last few days.  You can also see some of my infused oils and tinctures I have made.

      Today my peppers were done so they are in a jar with a desiccant and in the pantry.  I also made my mustard today, one beer mustard and one herb mustard which is really good.  Tomorrow I am making horseradish mustard and a honey mustard.

      I went to lunch with my old co-workers today.  I am so happy to be retired.   I also started a huge pot of diet cabbage soup.    I have gained back 13 pounds and this is a fairly easy way to lose 10 pounds.  It gets old eating it twice again but it won't kill me and hopefully will kickstart my weight loss again.  After keeping that 100 pounds off for over a year these last 2 surgeries and not exercising regularly I back slid.  Won't last long since I know I can get it off.   So thats all today.

Prep of the day

 

   Today I diced 5 pounds of assorted bell peppers and have them in the dehydrator.    I was seriously low and they had them on sale.    I also worked on my garden soil mixing in some compost and getting my barrels ready for when I can start planting.  I am itching to get my plants in the ground.

   Tonight I have camera club.  I am going to be made the secretary/treasurer which I didn't want but got pressured into.   Should be an interesting class though.  My mustard never arrived so didn't make my mustard.

   I hate when I order something and they say it will be there on a certain day and it isn't.   Since it is going to be a beer mustard we went and tasted some small samples of beer to see which would be better.  Going to do a nice porter and I am thinking a pale ale would be good in one.  

   Well that's all.   Next I have to bulk buy some onions and get them in the dehydrator as we are almost out.   I would like to do about 10 pounds.

   No particular reason for the bird shot except I took that last year and won some awards for it.    The bird is the Lesser Yellowlegs.

   So I got my potatoes and strawberries finished but not the oatmeal.   Instead of making up bags today we went to one of our local breweries.  On Sunday a bunch of brewers get together and share their latest drinks and critique them.  I brought one of my 3 year old meads called a methleglin.  I had cinnamon, clove and madagasgar bourbon vanilla beans in it.   Now I tried it when it was a year old and although it was pretty good when I tried some Sunday it had aged to perfection so I decided it was time to get the experts opinion on it since it was the 2nd mead I made.   Everyone loved it.  One guy whose opinion I really respect said it was the best thing he had tasted that day.  So I feel pretty good about that.  When you put a lot of thought and work into a product it is great when it turns out.  

   Then I went to another brewery in town to talk to the brewer about the mustard I am making for the bock fest.  I am going to make a beer mustard and wanted to see if he had any beer he wanted me to use but I would like a porter so I guess I will just buy one.   I am going to make a hot mustard, a herb mustard and horseradish mustard.

   Today so far I have only made another Echinacea tincture since I am low.  Echinacea is good for colds and also just to boost the immune system.   I am going to start another purple cone flower bed this year since my old one got choked out by the wild orange lilies and my catnip.  Word of warning.  Plant your catnip somewhere where you can contain it.  It is hard to get rid of.   I also made a Calendula tincture.   Here is good video on the benefits of it and it is a great plant to put in your garden for pest control https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ALeT9mLuJ7o

   We are expected rain for most of the week.  I really wanted some warmer weather for my composter.  I have duel barrel composter and one side is close to being ready to add to my planting soil but some warm weather would help finish it off.   Can't hurry mother nature though.   It is now officially Spring.   Soon I be hitting the woods in search of moral mushrooms and hope no one has found my favorite spots to gather them. Today I really need the old guy to clean out on of our gutters is blocked.  So that is my plan today except getting our pork loin ready to be cooked for supper.

     Remember, being prepared is the smartest thing you can do.

Filling up big Bertha

     It's a cool frosty day so I am spending it inside doing some food prep.   As soon as I finish my coffee.  I bought 5 pounds of apples and some strawberries since I am running low and am going to slice them up and put them in the dehydrator.   We use them a lot in oatmeal and I am making up several bags of instant oatmeal with cinnamon, apple and strawberry pieces in them.  It is so much cheaper to make your own individual bags then buy the boughten ones and that way you don't have all the chemicals and unnecessary sugars.  I just take instant oats, my fruit and cinnamon and some powdered organic whole milk and mix in a large bowl and then divide into bags with a desiccant and then store them in a mylar bag for when we want them.  A little bit of prep time but so worth it.

    Yesterday we went shopping.  I got some great deals on pasta so bought up a bunch to store in my long term storage.   My kids save me their liter pop bottles since I don't drink pop.   Watch the video to see how to do it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NcFwFOB5t58 

   When you prep on a fixed income it doesn't have to be expensive.  Just look for sales and tips like this.  We recycle as much as we can.  All jars get washed and can be used for storing stable things.  The bottles work great for pasta and rice and beans.  To prevent bugs which are naturally in most foods I used to freeze my flour, rice and beans first but using this method with the bottles and starving it of oxygen it saves me a step.   

    In Sweden prepping is encouraged and the government expects you to.  I wish it was encouraged here in the states.  Sure fema and the red cross tell you you should have 2 months of food and water but they don't really put their heart in it and you have to search their sites to find information.   I think a lot of people in Texas have now found out the value of being prepared.   I bet they are doing it now.  In flooding situations where you may be trapped in your top floor for awhile until help comes being prepared can make a difference.  In a big blizzard or ice storm like we get it is important to have what you need already so you don't have to try and travel.

    After I get my apples and strawberries loaded I am off in search of quart canning jars.   I have plenty of pint but want some qallon jars.   They hold so much more.  I also bought some cans of soup that we had used and rotated my old ones up front.  Don't prep things you don't like to eat and always replace what you use.

Always test your prepping supplies

    Last year the ole guy bought a new firestarter.  It looked good and they are cheap but it never worked.  The metal was so hard it wasn't magnesium and wouldn't flake off.  China makes a lot of fake ones which is really terrible.  How would you like to be in an emergency situation and think you had something to start a fire with and it wouldn't work.   In an emergency being able to start a fire and stay warm is of top priority because most people die from hypothermia.  Especially day hikers who don't carry anything with them not intending to get lost, but do.

    So I did some research and bought a good one. And we tested it out.  I don't want to just think it works, I want to know it works, and it did, well.   I also wouldn't depend on just one method of starting a fire.  Bic lighters are cheap and even when out of fuel you can start a fire with the spark, waterproof matches dyer lint.    I keep all that for my fires. 

   These are the 2 side by side.   The junk was bought in our local Fleet farm store.  The other I bought from the manufacturer.   The China junk ones are really shiny.   Now the thing about the junk one is I really like the saw type blade on it so put that with the good fire stick.

 No matter what type of things you buy for your emergency prep bag please make sure you test them out before you ever need them.   It would just suck to find out they don't work as promised.  Try your little solar battery charger, your little camp rocket stove, try them all out first before you pack them away and periodically get them out and make sure they still work.   

    Most of the places we hike in our neck of the woods it would be impossible to be lost for long.   Still I do carry a little pack that has a reflective mirror type surface, a whistle, something to light a fire and a rain poncho.  You could fall and injure a leg and be unable to hike out, it could rain and getting wet and cold would be a bad thing.  We tend not to hike when it is really hot so if we had to be out overnight we would be cold.  Dress in layers.  

   I always told my kids to think about the worse case thing that could happen and prepare for it, but also prepare to have a great time, if the risks outweight the benefits don't do it.

  So that is my prep tip of the day.  I plan on getting groceries today and as usual getting a couple cans of things to add to my prep pantry as we rotated some out this week.  The new cans go in the back and the old cans move forward.   Have a great day if anyone is reading this.