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12-28-2012, 05:29 PM
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#26
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Location: Left Coast
Join Date: May 2002
Posts: 4,339
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Re: Financial self-protection
Quote:
Keith Larman wrote:
If by refining grain you mean creating alcohol, no, it's not difficult at all. Water, a source of carbs (sugar, corn, etc.), and yeast..
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Obtain local, unheated honey. Add water. Shake. Shake twice daily. When it starts bubbling like mad, start tasting it. When it is "done" enough, refrigerate it. Couldn't be easier :-)
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Janet Rosen
http://www.zanshinart.com
"peace will enter when hate is gone"--percy mayfield
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12-28-2012, 05:37 PM
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#27
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Location: Left Coast
Join Date: May 2002
Posts: 4,339
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Re: Financial self-protection
We are used to living pretty cheaply by American standards because we are not into buying "toys" or shopping as a pastime. Have some retirement savings, not enough by most people's reckoning but more than most of my good friends who are artists or otherwise "underemployed."
Funny that my sister, who has worked and saved her butt off in order to have a comfortable retirement is way more frightened than I am about reductions in standards of living. I lived in squats, shivering with cold, and made soup from dumpster-dived produce in my early adulthood, so poverty per se just doesn't scare me.
We have plenty of room for growing food, assuming there is water for it ... There are enough seed savers in the local area for us to share resources with if need be. I told Stu years ago, if/when we can't fuel our cars we are getting a goat. Goat can eat the plentiful brush out back and get harnessed to a small cart to get us the couple of miles into town and back. :-)
I can sew pretty much anything we need to wear and have enough fabric on hand to keep us clad for years if as of tomorrow there was no possibility of buying clothes either new or used (and at least half our clothes are bought used).
I half expect environmental collapse before I reach old age and basically tell myself I've been incredibly fortunate to have lived this far in such a privileged, comfortable condition in terms of food and shelter so had better not be too churlish if it stops before my last breath. Frankly I'm not that attached to life for the sake of life and would at least consider opting out by my own hand if things got too bad.
Last edited by Janet Rosen : 12-28-2012 at 05:42 PM.
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Janet Rosen
http://www.zanshinart.com
"peace will enter when hate is gone"--percy mayfield
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12-28-2012, 06:13 PM
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#28
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Dojo: Tsubaki Kannagara Jinja Aikidojo; Himeji Shodokan Dojo
Location: Renton
Join Date: Feb 2005
Posts: 2,276
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Re: Financial self-protection
Quote:
Janet Rosen wrote:
Obtain local, unheated honey. Add water. Shake. Shake twice daily. When it starts bubbling like mad, start tasting it. When it is "done" enough, refrigerate it. Couldn't be easier :-)
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Sweet! (Of course pun intended!) Even I can do that! ...and I know a couple bee keepers, woot!
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Gambarimashyo!
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12-28-2012, 08:10 PM
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#29
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Location: Left Coast
Join Date: May 2002
Posts: 4,339
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Re: Financial self-protection
Quote:
Matthew Gano wrote:
Sweet! (Of course pun intended!) Even I can do that! ...and I know a couple bee keepers, woot!
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OK: proportion is one part honey to four parts warm water in a wide mouthed jar. Shake or stir well. Put cheesecloth or paper towel over the mouth to keep bugs out or anything from falling in. Stir very aggressively a couple of times a day - reversing direction to make vortices.
When the yeast starts turning sugar into alcohol and carbon dioxide, stirring will make it foam up like crazy so don't fill the jar more than halfway!
I tend to refrigerate it pretty young, when still very sweet, and let is slowly age more in the fridge.
You can get creative too with flavorings - in the summer I added backyard feral blackberries and then filtered them out before refrigerating - YUM! - I like a little ginger or a little rosewater sometimes too.
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Janet Rosen
http://www.zanshinart.com
"peace will enter when hate is gone"--percy mayfield
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12-28-2012, 09:29 PM
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#30
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Location: Phoenix, Oregon
Join Date: Jun 2004
Posts: 407
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Re: Financial self-protection
Quote:
Keith Larman wrote:
If by refining grain you mean creating alcohol, no, it's not difficult at all. Water, a source of carbs (sugar, corn, etc.), and yeast. Given enough time the stuff ferments creating alcohol. Heck, if you've ever made real sourdough bread from a starter the clear liquid that forms on top over time is actually alcohol (hence the name "hooch"). Distillation can be a bit involved, but it ain't rocket science. And done correctly it can go in to some gas tanks or in to highball glass... Done correctly being the critical point here.
Of course in the US it is illegal to distill alcohol for consumption, even if it is only for personal consumption in small amounts. So any knowledge I have of the topic is based on reading and *purely* hypothetical discussions. Or by making it for cleaning purposes. Or for disinfectant purposes... Yeah, that's it... High proof alcohol is great for cleaning old oil off swords...
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My final presentation project for thermodynamics was teaching the engineering first years how to make a still out of common dorm room items.
Creating ethanol is perfectly legal in the US. I do it all the time. Separating ethanol from the base in which it is created (distilling it) is illegal but common enough that one of the local homebrew stores will carry the occasional still for water purification purposes only yeah right.
I know of a couple folk who are hootching it up in the hills around here. Just another cottage industry, gotta do something with all those leftover tomatos. Keep it small scale, nobody really cares. And it takes no time at all to break down a still into a bowl, a jar, a brick, and a stock pot. Just separate the first bit, it'll really mess you up in a not fun oh shit my eyes no longer work forever way. Use it for making biodiesel, the process is a bit better with methanol anyhow.
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12-28-2012, 09:43 PM
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#31
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Location: Left Coast
Join Date: May 2002
Posts: 4,339
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Re: Financial self-protection
Hey, Krystal, apropos of of kitchen science, I know I owe you info on kimchee...I will post publicly on open forums in case others are curious...sometime over this long holiday wkend.
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Janet Rosen
http://www.zanshinart.com
"peace will enter when hate is gone"--percy mayfield
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12-29-2012, 05:30 AM
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#32
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Dojo: Wherever I am.
Location: New Zealand
Join Date: Jun 2004
Posts: 1,013
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Re: Financial self-protection
Personally, I think financial 'self-defence' or perhaps, financial self-organisation, to be pretty important. I have to say I have ignored it most of my life and wish I knew what I know now when I were younger. Still, better late than never. If you're keen, check out the potential for silver in the markets - the real in-the-hand stuff for long term or paper ETFs for the short term. I think it is a better long term risk than gold, especially for the poorer of us. Other than that - just keep on training.
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12-30-2012, 09:38 AM
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#33
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Location: Phoenix, Oregon
Join Date: Jun 2004
Posts: 407
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Re: Financial self-protection
Quote:
Janet Rosen wrote:
Hey, Krystal, apropos of of kitchen science, I know I owe you info on kimchee...I will post publicly on open forums in case others are curious...sometime over this long holiday wkend.
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You certainly owe me nothing, but I appreciate the information. I enjoy the heck out of growing much of my food, on several levels. And I hate to see those cute petits choux go to waste when all I have to do is put the extras in a crock. GF lurves sauerkraut, I bet kimchee would fly nicely, too.
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12-30-2012, 01:14 PM
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#34
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Dojo: AIA, Los Angeles, CA
Location: California
Join Date: Apr 2005
Posts: 1,604
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Re: Financial self-protection
On the self-preservation via self-pickling... Recently there was a story here in So Cal about some guy arrested for something non-related and they found a small still in his garage. The police and DA didn't know what to do about it and had to call ATF to ask them if it was legal or not. It is that rare out here. And last I heard they were trying to decide whether to bother charging him or not. Best I could tell from the story he was just distilling his own booze to save money.
But you can brew all the wine and beer you want legally.
And hey, I use a *lot* of distilled water when I'm polishing. So one of those water distillers is a necessary part of my work!
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12-30-2012, 02:04 PM
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#35
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Location: Phoenix, Oregon
Join Date: Jun 2004
Posts: 407
Offline
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Re: Financial self-protection
Quote:
Keith Larman wrote:
On the self-preservation via self-pickling... Recently there was a story here in So Cal about some guy arrested for something non-related and they found a small still in his garage. The police and DA didn't know what to do about it and had to call ATF to ask them if it was legal or not. It is that rare out here. And last I heard they were trying to decide whether to bother charging him or not. Best I could tell from the story he was just distilling his own booze to save money.
But you can brew all the wine and beer you want legally.
And hey, I use a *lot* of distilled water when I'm polishing. So one of those water distillers is a necessary part of my work!
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You see that telescope, Mr. BATF man? I have to keep the mirror meticulously clean, and why buy distilled water when I can just make it? We all have our uses.....
Jupiter is awesome right now. Cant wait to get me some more Saturn when it is visible at a more convenient time. I dont do that pre-dawn nonsense.
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01-02-2013, 09:30 AM
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#36
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Location: Indianapolis
Join Date: Oct 2010
Posts: 165
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Re: Financial self-protection
My wife and I recently bought a house on almost a full acre of land and have been slowly getting into urban homesteading. So far we have 6 chickens and as soon as spring hits we're going to be getting our garden sorted. Later in the year we hope to have two dairy goats as well. Our goal is to be as self-sufficient as possible, limiting the amount of "stuff" we have to buy.
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01-03-2013, 06:23 AM
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#37
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Dojo: Wherever I am.
Location: New Zealand
Join Date: Jun 2004
Posts: 1,013
Offline
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Re: Financial self-protection
Land is always good for self-suffucuency - it's fun to grow food. And the fiscal hiccup is now history. Amazing that such a small problem can be elevated to fever. And now, everyone thinks it's all hunky-dory sorted out. How wonderful
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