Survival 4 (No watering required)

Zed had been growing pumpkin plants without anyone knowing it. It was going to be a fall surprise for Marge and Penny. Zed and his daughter Penny had always carved a pumpkin each year for Halloween. It was one of those family traditions that seemed to be gone since the closing of all supermarkets. With a little blessing, however, thing were going to change for Zed's family. Changes that included large pumpkins for Halloween.

Unbeknownst to his family Zed had been growing secretly two large types of pumpkins from some seeds he had found. He had two plants. He was growing a  Howden and a Gold Rush. He now planned on growing them in the wild where his family would not see them. 

PLAN OF ATTACK

He found a large level spot in the grass field with direct sunlight. He dug a trench and lined it with a piece of water bed tubing that he had cut open.

The middle of the trench he made a little larger. He added two homemade small bales with  planting holes and placed them at each end of the trench. He also found garbage that he added to his spoiled hay bales when he made them. He used the garbage of paper towels, napkins, paper plates, and tissue paper. He added anything white but no dyed or printed paper. The garbage paper products had to readily absorb moisture. 

He made the bales in a wooden box with a planting hole in the middle of each bale. He tied the bale with twine and made sure it was not going to fall apart. He then made a water trap like they do for survival in the middle of his two hay/paper bales. It looked funny but it just might work.

http://www.foodstorageguys.com/articles/water-trap-survival-tip

Before he added the two sheets of plastic on the top he also placed cut up vegetation in the trench to help create moisture under the plastic enclosure. On the first sheet of plastic he placed a small rock on top of the plastic in the middle to create a funnel for moisture to drip back down. The moisture would run on top of the bottom water bed tubing and saturate the two hay/paper bales. 

Zed hurried back to his survival shelter before his family could miss him. 

"What was you up to? asked Martha. 

"Not much. I was just testing out some theories on how we might be able to grow more food with less water."

"Sounds interesting. Will your theory work?"

"Only time will tell," replied Zed. "Only time will tell."

I Love to Eat 5/31

It was harvest time for one of my four cauliflower plants. I harvested a small at 6" cauliflower head. They grow from 6-8". Hot weather is coming and I wanted it tender after enduring a week of cool rain.

The head was perfect like it was grown in Heaven. Nothing I did, God gets all the credit. No cabbage worms or insects was on the plant . 

There is no secret in growing cabbage or cauliflower in Missouri. You try to grow it early but then you might get a late frost that kills back your plants. You want sunshine but not too much heat. If it get late in the growing season the insects will come and devour your plants. You can have a colony of worms eating most of your plants over night. What can I say, this year had perfect conditions for organically growing rassicaceae (also called Cruciferae). 

I put half of my cauliflower in my steamer. I didn't even clean it. There was no dirt or bugs. Whatever is on the cauliflower would be steamed cleaned. I steamed it for 12 minutes. It is recommended to steam cauliflower for about 7 minutes. Not this fresh crunchy head it needed more time.

I added a little salt and added one more ingredient. I added cheese. There is nothing better than a sprinkle of cheddar cheese on cauliflower.

This year eating is getting better and better. I don't mean to brag. I just love to eat.

Those Onions Are Tall

These tall onions were from last year. It is perfectly normal for onions to seed when they go through a cold spell. The cold triggers them to seed in order to grow more onions before they die. Onions I planted this year are not seeding and hopefully will grow bulbs.

There are many uses for seeds. I plan to use them for sprouts and growing more onions. You probably could grind them and add them to your flour products like buns or rolls. Did you know that you can grind beans and add them to your bread?

I got all these plants for $2.04 at the mennonite store. Two pumpkins and three melon plants. The melons have aphids and was missing one. However, I made a deal and got a steal. 

Keep reading my survival posts, I am going to reveal how to grow pumpkins with little water and no constant care.  It will be a test. No one has done it and I will be the first.

Survival 3

Zed placed his box cutter into his pocket.  As he reached back into his pocket he had a big surprise. He had left the cutter blade opened and it sliced the top of his hand.

He immediately rinsed his cut with clean water. At least as clean as he could find without wasting valuable drinking water.

He then went over to his medical supplies where he had an aloe vera plant growing in a pot. He was a firm believer in duct tape and aloe vera.

http://www.cappersfarmer.com/farm-and-home/health-aloe-vera-heals-wounds-naturally.aspx

Zed cut a piece the size of his wound. He also cut it again exposing the inside of the plant.

It perfectly fit his cut. The juicy part of the plant would go on his wound.

He shaved it down a bit more so it would fit evenly on his wound with little bulge.

It looked more like a tire patch but usable. He applied it to his injury and added more tape.

Zed thought to himself,  I'm going to have to be more careful. He filtered some rainwater and sat down drinking it while contemplating his next project: How to grow pumpkins in the field without constantly watering them. It can be done, I know it can.

Shoot Those Cherry Pits (For hay bale revolutionaries only)

 Another bad year for sour cherries. I took what the trees gave me and it wasn't much. I went outdoor with my centrifugal juicer and was eager to get my cherries ready for cooking.

There are more uses for a juicer other than juicing vegetables like carrots, celery, and cucumber. I plan on shooting out the pits of my cherries.

All I had to do was drop a handful of cherries down the mouth of the juicer. The pits popped out like corn kernels on a hot fire. All that is left is the skins in the strainer basket. I wanted some so I scooped some out of the basket and added it to the juice.

Have you ever bought a cherry pit remover. They are pathetic. I can do more juice for jellies in a minute than a person can do in hours by removing the pits by hand.   

I cooked the juice with some skins and added starch to thicken it up. I took a spoonful and added it to my ice cream with sprinkles on top.

This is my family secret of removing seeds and pits from cherries, and all kinds of berries. Don't be telling too many people about this secret or you will not be able to find this juicer cheap like I did on Ebay. This is an exclusive secret to all my hay bale revolutionary friends. Why are we special? We are of the few that know we can grow in hay or leaves without buying expensive straw bales.  

  

I Love to Eat 5/29/15

I sliced some nopales in strips. They now look more like string beans.

• Nopales are one of very low calorie vegetables. 100 g of fresh leaves carry just 16 calories. Nonetheless, its modified leaves (paddles) have many vital phytochemicals, fiber, anti-oxidants, vitamins, and minerals that can immensely benefit health.

I made scrambled eggs with them and made a beautiful dish with lettuce.

I drizzled some ranch dressing on the lettuce and even added croutons.

Survival Part 2

WORM STEW

"It's time to eat," Marge cried out to Zed as he worked trying to rebuild part of the house demolished by the earthquake.

Zed washed his hands readying himself to eat.  He didn't use a pale of water to wash his hands but wet clover. He brushed the clover over his hands as the moisture from the clover cleansed the dirt from off his fingers. There was no need to waste water when you have wet clover.

"Now I'm ready to eat. What do you have cooking, sweetie?"

"I have our favorite earthworm stew. I used to hate those worms until you brought home some seasoning. I don't think I could handle eating plain worms."

"I see you found some chickweed and added it to our stew," inquired Zed.

"You're right. I only use highly nutritious foods."

"You do and I found some more worms today while planting my pepper plant. I put them in a pale of wet straw so we wouldn't run out."

"Great,  now let's enjoy our stew before it get's cold."

Zed remembered the days of spaghetti and meatballs and imagined that he was eating a bowl of it. The worms are really not that bad with chili seasoning, Jed thought as he reminisced of the good ol' days.

DRINKS FOR EVERYONE

Penny entered the outdoor dining area where the rest of her family was sitting. The outdoor dining area was sheltered from the elements with a thatched roof made of tall grasses.

"I finished juicing the grass. I found a little bit of everything: alfalfa, clover, timothy grass, and some over grown mint." I juiced it all.

Penny used a stainless steel wheatgrass juicer to make her green juice. It was a vital elixir of precious juice with minerals and vitamins that would keep them all healthy.

"Great!" answered her Mom. Would you all mind if I use some rain water to wash it all down?

"You can," replied Zed. "We got a good supply of water today. We might as well use it up before it becomes stagnant. If only we had bleach. We could add it to our water for long keeping. If I remember correctly, it only takes 8-16 drops of regular household bleach (visually about 1/4 of a teaspoon) to treat a Gallon of water. It disinfects the water and keeps it drinkable."

"Why don't we visit our neighbors down the road and see if they will barter" asked Penny?

Zed look seriously and said, "I don't know. People who survived the quake become desperate like a drowning victim. If they see we are healthy and surviving the elements, hunger and thirst, they might demand at gun point more than we can give. I think we should wait a few more weeks before checking on them. I hate to say it, it takes three weeks for someone to die of hunger and a few days if they don't get water. The worse scenario is that they are sick or have become cannibals. We would be taking a risk to visit them. I used to like to barter at the grocery store until those weird strangers arrived examining us like we were cattle for their feast."

Marge got in on the conversation, "What can we do. We need supplies."  

"We will wait a few more weeks and then check up on our neighbors. If they are surviving, at least they might be too weak to do us harm. It doesn't sound like a good thing, to wait for our neighbors to die. But I 'd rather have them die than one of us." 

"A neighbor is a friend until desperate times." --Larry Zoro

Obert Skye —"Desperate times call for desperate measures."

Survival Part 1

EARTHQUAKE

An earthquake of global impact strikes our planet. The infrastructure is now demolished. The grocery stores once filled with customers have been ransacked with nothing left in them but a few mice feces. The country store has now become a meeting place for many of the survivors, but now things were about to change even more for a little family living in America after the "Great Quake."

"It's getting stranger by the minute." Zed spoke to his daughter after they had mingled with the survivors at Grocery Mart.

"I know what you mean dad. People are asking me weird questions like, 'How much do you weigh?' And then whether or not I have local family in the area. They look very sinister when asking me their questions."

"I had the same questions put to me," Zed replied. "I answered this guy, 'why do you want to know?' He replied, 'We're planning a feast and we want to know who to invite.' There was laughter in the room coming from his friends after he made his remark.

I suspect they're cannibals, I've heard of cannibalism happening in the large cities but now I tend to wonder if they're coming to our neck of the woods. I think we better head home before things get violent."

As they prepared to leave for home, Zed found what looked like to be a small pepper plant in a container left on the side of the old store's parking lot. It looked half dead. They decided to take it home and hoped they could revive it.

They took out of their travel bags their golf shoes. Their spiked golf shoes came in handy for the trip home. There were no pathways through the woods and the fallen trees and brush had made it nearly impossible to travel. Their spiked shoes enabled them to quickly move on the fallen trees and brush.

"It's starting to rain," said Zed. "We better hurry home and get our buckets out to catch the rain water."

Even though they hurried,  Zed and his daughter Penny carefully made it home. It was an hazardous trip traveling to and fro from home to town. One slip on a fallen log could break a leg or cause significant injury.

HOME SWEET HOME 

"Hi! Mom." Spoke Penny. "Daddy found a plant."

"That's good new, honey, but did you find more buckets?"

"No!" Spoke Jed. "But I did find some two liter bottles. We could cut the tops off and use them to collect water. Why don't you two ladies prepare them while I plant my pepper plant. This rain ought to do my plant some good."

Jed prepared a hole in the ground the size of a bucket.

If only I had a post hole digger that would sure help, Zed thought to himself. Zed hit a huge rock and nearly broke his homemade shovel handle that he made from a branch of wood.

He used an old PVC pipe and placed it in the hole. He put dead grass and leaves around the PVC and filled the pipe with soil as he slowly removed it from the planting hole. He then planted his pepper.

Zed was not in the habit of talking to himself or to plants, but he spoke to the little pepper plant. "Someday when you grow up and produce fruit we are going to save your seeds and grow more peppers. We could also sell your seeds. You might not know it little pepper, but you could become very profitable to many hungry survivors like ourselves. So grow little pepper. Please grow."

5/28 Poppy /Mushrooms

I brought a little California to Missouri. It's a California poppy.

I'm happy to have one flower. They have fields of them in California.

I can admit I'm wrong. I told gardeners that nothing grows in hay bales unless you have soil. However, you can grow mushrooms in nothing but hay. Technically mushrooms are not plants but are fungi. Nevertheless, something can grow in mulch alone without soil. 

http://www.gmushrooms.com/info.htm

This beefsteak tomato is growing in a leaf bale. It is really hard to tell from the overhanging alfalfa that it is in a trench.

I planted watermelon seeds in a bucket. I waited weeks for them to come up but no plants. I finally dug around in the soil and looked for signs of germination. I found no seeds and no sprouts. After a few days, look what now appears. It is a watermelon plant. 

Wheat grass does grow very fast.

I see peppers in my future. What I mean is, do you see the flower?

I would like to see what you are doing. Invite me to your google plus circle. I don't want to invade a family circle so let me know if you would like me to view your growing talents. My email is aaahomebaler@gmail.com

Misc 5/27

Swallows are messy birds. They make their muddy nest around the upper window frame. This box did the trick and forced them to find somewhere else to build their nest.

There is a lot you can do with your butane stick lighter. I use mine indoors to burn ticks. There is not a day that I don't have one crawling on me. Place the tick on the tin and let them have it. It is better than wasting paper and water by flushing them down the toilet or sink. Ticks have been known to crawl out of sink and find a new victim. 

Even a few strawberries are better than none.

These berries are holey. When the growth is fast, the middle can't keep up with the rest of the berry. 

Clematis is a flower that grows on a vine. Evolution didn't plant it or trimmed the dead stuff off the vine. I did. 

"And the Lord God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it" Genesis 2:15

Man was created to be a gardener. It is in our genetics.

Jesus knew a lot about gardening. Read Matthew 13.

5/27/15 Strawberries/Torrential rain/ Cupcakes

If this was not my mother plant, I would sale it. Look how the strawberries juts out of the plant. The only problems is I don't know the name of this strawberry plant. I thought it was alpine but it is not. Whatever it is, at least I can propagate it for next year. Try different plants. If it looks like this one does in a bucket, it is a keeper.

While I slept last night we had a torrential rain. It plastered down my lettuce.

It was time to thin out my oldest patch of lettuce. I got quite a pile of this green treasure.

It took some work but I was able to wash and dry some to place in zip lock bags. It was easier growing the lettuce than harvesting and preparing it.

Hunger gripped hold and I made this salad. I use an avocado that my brother sent me from California. It's nice to have family in California. Especially one that grow avocados and lemons. 

These avocados are the kind you get from specialty grocery stores. In this part of Missouri they sell only the small Mexican grown avocados. Most of these in this plate are bacon avocados. They are delicious. 

Learn the types of Avocado grown in California: http://www.californiaavocado.com/how-tos/avocado-varieties.aspx

The rain filled up my growing trenches. Water will help compost my leaf bales and give my plants needed moisture for the days to come.

This looks more like square foot gardening. I planted my cauliflower 24" apart and yet I should have given them more space. One of those plants already has a 3" cauliflower head. I closed it up with clothespins and I'm going to check back in a few days.

My last years onions are seeding. I'm going to save the seeds and use them for sprouts or growing onions next year. Always remember to save seed for next year. My book, "Honey Bee Baler," shows how to mass collect seeds by using a grain grinder.  

After all this work, I am going to treat myself with a cupcake. There is one thing I cannot do is eat the frosting. I not sure what it is made of, but it cannot be good. I would like to think it is made of butter, but I think it is hydrogenated vegetable oil.  http://www.livestrong.com/article/362698-is-vegetable-shortening-a-trans-fat/

If you are like me, you do not want to take a chance of globing up your system with trans fat. At least you want to lessen your chance.

Rub some of the frosting or icing on your hands. Now rinse it in water. It is hard to wash off. I don't want something in body that takes soap to cleanse it from my system.

"If thy icing offends you, cut it off your cupcake" Larry Zoro. 

Now that's better. I think I can live by eating this. That frosting was nasty stuff. I wouldn't even put it in my garden's compost pile. I would burn it.