SURVIVAL - RECIPES & More…

[Rinse & rePeat]

“Sweet Potatoes are one of NC's biggest crops and yet, most of us have never tried eating the greens. Sweet potato greens are the edible leaves of the sweet potato vine. Though widely eaten throughout Asia & Africa, they are less well known to most of us in the U.S. The good news is they’re edible and delicious, high in Vitamin C and B6, and they thrive in the summer heat, unlike all the other leafy greens we crave.

Cook them up just like you would chard or water spinach (they're tender, so don't take long at all to cook) in a stir-fry, stew, omelet, or simply sauteed alone with some garlic. Be sure not to include the larger stems, since they’re tough. Saute them with garlic or onions in olive oil until tender, braise them in coconut milk with ginger & turmeric, or use them in place of spinach in saag paneer (I will often use feta if I can't find Indian paneer).

STORAGE: Store sweet potato greens wrapped in a dry paper towel inside an open bag in your fridge for several days. If they wilt a little, don't worry. They wilt easily, but will cook up just fine. NOTE: like water spinach, they don't keep for long, so eat them right away.”

Sweet Potato Greens - Transplanting Traditions Community Farm

Sweet Potato Greens. Connecting Cultures Through Farming and Food

www.transplantingtraditions.org

 

[Greyfox]

I did buy a bow a while back. There's a lot of squirrels and rabbits around but I just can't bring myself to kill things since it's unneccesary at the moment. I accidentally hit a rabbit with my car and felt pretty guilty for a good few days. I'm sure true hunger will quickly harden my heart to it all though. Softness is a luxury of abundance. I've also been interested in bushcraft for a while. So I've learned to enjoy knives, campfires and the outdoors.

 

[Rinse & rePeat]

I did buy a bow a while back. There's a lot of squirrels and rabbits around but I just can't bring myself to kill things since it's unneccesary at the moment. I accidentally hit a rabbit with my car and felt pretty guilty for a good few days. I'm sure true hunger will quickly harden my heart to it all though. Softness is a luxury of abundance. I've also been interested in bushcraft for a while. So I've learned to enjoy knives, campfires and the outdoors.

I am the same as you, it is unnecessary and doesn’t sound too tasty, after gutting and skinning them. I took archery lessons, and may buy a bow. My dad made a blow gun with a piece of paper and tape and shot a nail, with a head on it, out of it, and it came out with such impressive force, imbedding itself, across the yard, into my palm tree, that I think it would be the most effective way of hunting.

 

[Greyfox]

I am the same as you, it is unnecessary and doesn’t sound too tasty, after gutting and skinning them. I took archery lessons, and may buy a bow. My dad made a blow gun with a piece of paper and tape and shot a nail, with a head on it, out of it, and it came out with such impressive force, imbedding itself, across the yard, into my palm tree, that I think it would be the most effective way of hunting.

I tried skinning a bird my brother killed I managed the skinning just fine but could not bring myself to gut it. My brother is as opposite to me as he can get. He's more physical based and full of muscle and I'm more cerebral. He's naturally a good hunter from years of enthusiasm for it. He even has dogs that do all the work and really good pellet guns.
Interesting about your father's makeshift blowdart gun. I suppose a slingshot could be pretty effective for small game if you're accurate enough as well. Does kung fu work on animals? I've seen a few jackie chan films.

 

[Rinse & rePeat]

I tried skinning a bird my brother killed I managed the skinning just fine but could not bring myself to gut it. My brother is as opposite to me as he can get. He's more physical based and full of muscle and I'm more cerebral. He's naturally a good hunter from years of enthusiasm for it. He even has dogs that do all the work and really good pellet guns.
Interesting about your father's makeshift blowdart gun. I suppose a slingshot could be pretty effective for small game if you're accurate enough as well. Does kung fu work on animals? I've seen a few jackie chan films.

Ha! Ha! Ha! I’d like to see some karate moves on a squirrel! That is really funny thought!

 

[Jennifer]

Hi @Rinse & rePeat, I’ve been harvesting wild blackberries from the bushes near my back deck and I thought of you. Back in 2021, I mentioned to a member in your jackfruit thread how I was experimenting with a foliar spray/fertilizer made from raw milk and blackstrap molasses in an attempt to raise the plants’ Brix, but deer got to the berries before I could test them, and last year I was dealing with my mum’s passing so I forgot to test them. I tested them this year and the foliar spray worked—the berries are much sweeter with a far greater depth of flavor—so I thought I would mention it to you. :) Just in case, here’s where I originally talked about it:

Jackfruit - The Protein Surprise!

I’ll be impressed if they carry pawpaw there. It’s hard to find, at least it is for me, and I’m in an area where it grows wild. I order it online, but when I can buy property near the coast and start my fruit forest, it’s one of the first I’ll be planting. That and pink muscat/muscatel grapes. I...

raypeatforum.com

 

[Rinse & rePeat]

Hi @Rinse & rePeat, I’ve been harvesting wild blackberries from the bushes near my back deck and I thought of you. Back in 2021, I mentioned to a member in your jackfruit thread how I was experimenting with a foliar spray/fertilizer made from raw milk and blackstrap molasses in an attempt to raise the plants’ Brix, but deer got to the berries before I could test them, and last year I was dealing with my mum’s passing so I forgot to test them. I tested them this year and the foliar spray worked—the berries are much sweeter with a far greater depth of flavor—so I thought I would mention it to you. :) Just in case, here’s where I originally talked about it:

Jackfruit - The Protein Surprise!

I’ll be impressed if they carry pawpaw there. It’s hard to find, at least it is for me, and I’m in an area where it grows wild. I order it online, but when I can buy property near the coast and start my fruit forest, it’s one of the first I’ll be planting. That and pink muscat/muscatel grapes. I...

raypeatforum.com

Hi Jennifer!

So you spray the berries at the end of the ripening? I have several kinds of blueberries and several kinds of raspberries and boysenberries. I am excited that I am getting raspberries already, since I planted them 4 months ago as small plants. What are the measurements for your concoction?

 

[Jennifer]

@Rinse & rePeat, I do 2 tablespoons of molasses for every 1 liter of raw milk and sprayed it on the leaves and the soil at the base of the plant. I make sure to water the bush and soil afterward, just enough so that all the milk has sunk in because the animals love dairy and tear up the yard to get it. They will not only eat the plant but even the soil if any of the milk remains. Milk and molasses has been such an effective fertilizer I was curious if any other gardeners use it and did a quick search and came across this:

Milk and Molasses – Magic for Your Garden

Do you know the magic of milk and molasses in improving your garden? Plain old milk is a miracle for plants, soil and compost. Molasses boosts the benefits!

underwoodgardens.com

 

[Rinse & rePeat]

@Rinse & rePeat, I do 2 tablespoons of molasses for every 1 liter of raw milk and sprayed it on the leaves and the soil at the base of the plant. I make sure to water the bush and soil afterward, just enough so that all the milk has sunk in because the animals love dairy and tear up the yard to get it. They will not only eat the plant but even the soil if any of the milk remains. Milk and molasses has been such an effective fertilizer I was curious if any other gardeners use it and did a quick search and came across this:

Milk and Molasses – Magic for Your Garden

Do you know the magic of milk and molasses in improving your garden? Plain old milk is a miracle for plants, soil and compost. Molasses boosts the benefits!

underwoodgardens.com

“Milk is a research-proven fungicide and soft bodied insecticide – insects have no pancreas to digest the milk sugars. Dr. Wagner Bettiol, a Brazilian research scientist, found that milk was effective in the treatment of powdery mildew on zucchini. His research was subsequently replicated by New Zealand melon growers who tested it against the leading commercially available chemical fungicide and found that milk out-performed everything else. To their surprise, they also found that the milk worked as a foliar fertilizer, producing larger and tastier melons than the control group.“

This is really interesting @Jennifer. I would be worried that the sugars, especially in the molasses would attract ants, no? For any ants I see I use my own mix of boiled orange peels which I add fresh mint stalks to and a little, all natural, Zum laundry soap. It works great.

 

[Jennifer]

@Rinse & rePeat, it doesn’t attract any more ants than the berries already do. I just wait for them to get off as I’m picking the berries. It’s really just the animals that are an issue. The deer got to quite a few berries, but I’ve still been able to harvest a lot. There’s one vine that crept out far past the bush and surprisingly, they haven’t touched it. I’ve been able to let the blackberries ripen until fully black so they’ve been *chef’s kiss*. They’re tiny—about half the size of conventional blackberries—but intensely sweet:

 

[Rinse & rePeat]

@Rinse & rePeat, it doesn’t attract any more ants than the berries already do. I just wait for them to get off as I’m picking the berries. It’s really just the animals that are an issue. The deer got to quite a few berries, but I’ve still been able to harvest a lot. There’s one vine that crept out far past the bush and surprisingly, they haven’t touched it. I’ve been able to let the blackberries ripen until fully black so they’ve been *chef’s kiss*. They’re tiny—about half the size of conventional blackberries—but intensely sweet:

View attachment 54621 View attachment 54622

I haven’t had a sweet blackberry since picking them wild in my teens. The store bought ones have never come close to the wild ones. What a sweet reward! So do they get sweeter from the plant taking in the milk from the soil. I have the blackstrap molasses on hand, but is it really necessary?

 

[Jennifer]

I haven’t had a sweet blackberry since picking them wild in my teens. The store bought ones have never come close to the wild ones. What a sweet reward! So do they get sweeter from the plant taking in the milk from the soil. I have the blackstrap molasses on hand, but is it really necessary?

Have you had wild black raspberries? They’re even sweeter. The blackberries get sweeter from the minerals in the milk, yes. I even confirmed with my refractometer that it raised their Brix. Milk is so rich in minerals, especially calcium, that it alone should work well. I think of milk as a structure food and it seems to be as great for a plant’s structure as it is for our structure/connective tissues—bones, teeth, nails, skin etc. The blackberries look perfect—no fungus, blemishes, rot or insect nibbles. lol

 

[Rinse & rePeat]

Have you had wild black raspberries? They’re even sweeter. The blackberries get sweeter from the minerals in the milk, yes. I even confirmed with my refractometer that it raised their Brix. Milk is so rich in minerals, especially calcium, that it alone should work well. I think of milk as a structure food and it seems to be as great for a plant’s structure as it is for our structure/connective tissues—bones, teeth, nails, skin etc. The blackberries look perfect—no fungus, blemishes, rot or insect nibbles. lol

I have only started gardening four months ago so “brix” is not a word I have heard of until now. Since I have no pest issues can I just give my watermelon and berries a little raw milk in the soil?

 

[Jennifer]

I have only started gardening four months ago so “brix” is not a word I have heard of until now. Since I have no pest issues can I just give my watermelon and berries a little raw milk in the soil?

Brix is a measurement of dissolved solids—sugars, vitamins, minerals, amino acids, proteins and other solids. The higher the Brix, the healthier and tastier, in this case, fruit. Here is a good site:

Brix — Bionutrient Food Association - Nutrient Density From the Ground Up

www.bionutrient.org

I learned about Brix while following RBTI. Just to show how healthy a plant can be when high Brix, Carey A. Reams, the agricultural engineer who developed RBTI, displayed on his desk a watermelon he grew, which won first place at the fair three years in a row. He said that healthy fruit does not rot in storage, it dehydrates.

Sure! I use the raw milk as a fertilizer, not for pest control. That’s just a bonus. :)

 

[Rinse & rePeat]

“Raw milk can be sprayed on the ground or the grass; either will work.

* Spraying milk on land causes grasshoppers to disappear. The theory is that insects do not bother healthy plants, which are defined by how much sugar is in the plants. Insects – including grasshoppers – do not have a pancreas so they cannot process sugar. Milk is a wonderful source of sugar and the grasshoppers cannot handle the sugar. They die or leave as fast as their little hoppers can take them.

* Theory why milk works. The air is 78% nitrogen. God did not put this in the air for us but rather the plants. Raw milk feeds microbes/bugs in the soil. What do microbes need for growth? Protein, sugar, water, heat. Raw milk has one of the most complete amino acid (protein) structures known in a food. Raw milk has one of the best sugar complexes known in a food, including the natural enzyme structure to utilize these sugars. For explosive microbe growth the microbes utilize vitamin B and enzymes. What do you give a cow when the cow’s rumen is not functioning on all cylinders (the microbes are not working)? Many will give a vitamin B shot – natural farmers will give a mouthful of raw milk yogurt. Vitamin B is a super duper microbe stimulant. There is not a food that is more potent in the complete vitamin B complex than raw milk – this complex is destroyed with pasteurization. Raw milk is one of the best sources for enzymes, which break down food into more usable forms for both plants and microbes. Again, pasteurization destroys enzyme systems.“

Raw Milk for Agriculture & The Garden

www.nourishingdays.com

 

[Rinse & rePeat]

This is crazy!



View: https://www.reddit.com/r/videos/comments/37cru9/have_a_gopher_problem_a_gallon_milk_jug_full_of/

 

[Rinse & rePeat]

I found this growing in my yard, and potted it, “Goodding’s Willow”. It is suppose to be a good substitute for aspirin, being high in salicin, which is similar to acacetylsalicylic acid. It is fascinating how birds bring these little gifts.

Goodding's willow (Plants of the Middle Rio Grande Bosque) · iNaturalist

www.inaturalist.org

 

[Rinse & rePeat]

View: https://youtu.be/2i6giJc97ws?si=LNDrCsLPiCzR_CY8

 

[Rinse & rePeat]

I am growing so much wild purslane. My son and I just tasted a leaf raw and it is mild and delicious, much much better than spinach. I am going to make a salad with it this weekend!

20 Purslane Recipes You Never Knew You Needed

Though it may look like a pesky weed, these purslane recipes are here to prove that this herbaceous plant deserves pride of place on your dinner table.

insanelygoodrecipes.com

“What a lot of these books don't tell you is that purslane, the "weed" in question, is being sold at farmers markets to chefs for $7 a pound!


Not only is it edible, something like crunchy, not-as-spicy watercress, but it is packed with vitamins, minerals, and even Omega 3.


In Mexico it is cultivated, between rows of corn in cornfields. Called "verdolaga" in Spanish, it is used in many dishes, in salads, or cooked with braised pork.”

Tomato, Cucumber, and Purslane Salad, a Forager's Favorite

Make a refreshing wild purslane salad with cucumbers, tomatoes, jalapeño chile, lemon juice, and salt.

www.simplyrecipes.com

 

[Rinse & rePeat]

View: https://youtu.be/oAzj0FSPpQw?si=Mj9jYRZK45jMTYcJ