Items to stock up on for bartering ?

[amy31416]

say.. when you're done.. pictures please? I need ideas for mine. sadly.. no basement here - water table too high

I'd love to, I just don't know if I'll still be online. Do you want pics of the pantry or the root cellar? All I'm doing for the pantry is taking a small room that would have been the laundry room, painting it and putting PVC shelving in. It's actually going to be a combination mud room and pantry, since you can enter from the garage.

The root cellar is framed out and walled, but the basement window needs to be replaced first. My intent is to also use PVC shelving there because I don't want anything that can rot or attract insects. I need to research what flooring, environmental conditions are best before I really start putting it together. I may not do that until winter because I don't have anything to store there yet anyways.

 

[amy31416]

Traditional "Sunday Sauce" is my most favorite home canning...

What is traditional "Sunday Sauce?"

 

[CaptainAmerica]

malleable metals,trade skills , tools(these you might want to try to keep if you don't have spare), ham radios,short wave radios, copper,lead,spent brass shells could be traded for a small amount of ammo(gun ranges dont let you collect your brass for a reason)

 

[amy31416]

Oh, and Tod--I saw that you responded to my thread about going offline, but I can't even read that thread now. I can't figure out why some threads will open just fine and others do the gibberish thing--I suspect it may have to do with cookies or something along those lines.

 

[Carlybee]

You're right in scope though. I kind of feel sorry for the city folks. If it ever does hit the fan and folks must survive they probably won't. Doesn't matter how one "prepares". :

That guy who blogged about surviving Argentina when the SHTF is a good read for urban dwellers.

 

[Steven Douglas]

I'm going to start canning next summer--and after an incident at work with a giant pressure cooker blowing out on me I'm a little gun shy. Any advice on equipment/methods? I canned with my grandma when I was little, but haven't done it since.

A traditional water bath, as already stated, is more than adequate for most canning (all but low acid foods). For low acid foods only a pressure cooker will provide the 240 deg. temp required to kill the bacteria that cause botulism. My advice is to get back on that pressure cooker horse! The new second generation small canning pressure cookers can withstand incredible pressures and are pretty much fool proof, 100% safe (as they must be for home usage), with automatic escape valves for steam when pressures get too high.

 

[tod evans]

What is traditional "Sunday Sauce?"

A base Italian sauce that can be used for everything from pizza and lasagna to spaghetti.

 

[matt0611]

I would say gold, silver (make sure to get small denominations too), guns and ammo, tobacco, alcohol, water, food.

 

[amy31416]

A base Italian sauce that can be used for everything from pizza and lasagna to spaghetti.

That's what I figured, I generally make mine with pork spareribs and ground beef/veal meatballs. Good stuff--have some in the fridge now.

 

[jbauer]

I'm going to try and not rain on the parade here, but if the economy takes a massive #2 there will be a crisis for a little while concentrated in dense population areas. But people will continue to live just not at anywhere near the standard they do today.

So stock up 10 years of beans if you feel you need to do so. I'd rather learn how to grow that bean so I don't have to.

Someone said the #1 thing earlier on: Knowledge is key.

 

[jbauer]

I go back to:

A philips screwdriver, A flathead...

or get the f... off my farm.

Had my wife's cousin down for the summer. I asked her to get my drywall square. Told here where it was and that it was big and blue. She went looking for a "square" (4 equal sides). Told her she couldn't come back without passing a 20 question tool test and that her dad had to teach it to her.

Fyi, her dad grew up on a farm as did just about the entire family

 

[jbauer]

I'm going to start canning next summer--and after an incident at work with a giant pressure cooker blowing out on me I'm a little gun shy. Any advice on equipment/methods? I canned with my grandma when I was little, but haven't done it since.

Buy an American Canner, the 921 will do 18 pints. If you plan on doing quarts get the next larger. (no rubber seal to break, psi gauge etc) The book inside it has all kinds of ideas for things to do. The internet has the rest. I got my jars at dollar general they were the cheapest there.

I do mine on a turkey fryer/propane thing outside so I don't heat the house up.

Its not hard to do with modern equipment. I'm not sure doing it on a woodstove would be any fun though. I can't imagine how anyone presure cooked anything prior to modern heat. I guess most the canning in the wild west was probably done via hot water bath.

 

[amy31416]

Buy an American Canner, the 921 will do 18 pints. If you plan on doing quarts get the next larger. (no rubber seal to break, psi gauge etc) The book inside it has all kinds of ideas for things to do. The internet has the rest. I got my jars at dollar general they were the cheapest there.

I do mine on a turkey fryer/propane thing outside so I don't heat the house up.

Its not hard to do with modern equipment. I'm not sure doing it on a woodstove would be any fun though. I can't imagine how anyone presure cooked anything prior to modern heat. I guess most the canning in the wild west was probably done via hot water bath.

I have a portable induction cooker that I could easily take out to the deck and can there. That thing's damn handy and quite efficient.

 

[Natural Citizen]

I have lived that. It is an amazing feeling most cannot relate to. But it's how much of this country began, and was the norm for much of the population once upon a time.

Yep. In fact, the Revolutionary War is how the property came to be. Is quite a story, really, considering the location and the history. But yes. It is how much of the country began.

 

[Natural Citizen]

That guy who blogged about surviving Argentina when the SHTF is a good read for urban dwellers.

I've never really looked into it. As I said, my retirement days will be back home in the hills ( just over the hill at 1:00 in the top photo )anyhow. That's been the plan since I was young. I was listening to a very informative radio discussion the other night while I was up getting some work done though. Some may find it useful.

Economy & Survivalism/ Insights & Inspirations I think it was on the 6th of this month. Many folks laugh at the platform itself but perhaps that's the beauty of it.

Probably on youtube some place....

 

[jbauer]

I have a portable induction cooker that I could easily take out to the deck and can there. That thing's damn handy and quite efficient.

Keeps the heat and mess (from steam) out of the house. Thats the best way to do it imo. Like I said the 1st time or 2 you'll be nervous about screwing up your hard work, but its not hard. Follow the times, you don't have to but I always boil my jars for 5 minutes at full heat. I also boil my lids at slow boil for 5 minutes before I seal them. This is more important for hot water bath but just a good practice in my opinion.

Start by doing things you'll get good bang for your buck. Do lots of green/yellow/purple beans. I like bush beans so I can rototill between the rows. Plus its easy to do heritage seed. (after the rush of beans wears off let the end of them seed out) Corn is land and resource intensive but really good. Tomatoes, carrots, apples, berries etc etc. Just have fun with it. We've been putting a good chunk of our own food up for a while now.

 

[presence]

Manure
Mulch
Topsoil
Rocks on pallet
pallets
straw bales
Land with sand, pea gravel, or dense clay
stocked ponds
waste vegetable oil
millings: lumber, steel, asphalt
hunting land w/ cabin
hard cider, wine, honey mead

 

[Carlybee]

I've never really looked into it. As I said, my retirement days will be back home in the hills ( just over the hill at 1:00 in the top photo )anyhow. That's been the plan since I was young. I was listening to a very informative radio discussion the other night while I was up getting some work done though. Some may find it useful.

Economy & Survivalism/ Insights & Inspirations I think it was on the 6th of this month. Many folks laugh at the platform itself but perhaps that's the beauty of it.

Probably on youtube some place....

Pretty country. Wish I had some land.

 

[presence]

Sugar.

Sugar keeps forever and can be bartered at incredible markup if artfully colored and flavored.

elderberry syrup, apple butter, strawberry jam, blueberry pie filling, apple pie filing, etc.

50 lb of white sugar and a little ingenuity becomes cases of elderberry syrup which could then become a large bag of vegetables at the local farmstand.

 

[Dr.3D]

Sugar.

Sugar keeps forever and can be bartered at incredible markup if artfully colored and flavored.

elderberry syrup, apple butter, strawberry jam, blueberry pie filling, apple pie filing, etc.

50 lb of white sugar and a little ingenuity becomes cases of elderberry syrup which could then become a large bag of vegetables at the local farmstand.

Not to mention with a bottle of CO2, and some of that syrup you can make soda pop with it.