No political agendas, no conspiracy theories, just helping families along their path of preparedness.
I am not a well-seasoned prepper, but, I am a husband, father, son, friend and a believer in and follower of Yeshua the Messiah/Jesus the Christ and His Commandments/Torah, committed to helping families get prepared for the difficult times that lie ahead of us.
I started this channel with the desire of mastering SHTF/Grid-Down cooking with all of its obstacles AND helping families to get prepared for short term emergencies up to and including long term Grid-Down/SHTF disasters.
I adopted the nickname "Chef Prepper". My apologies to the highly trained hard working Chefs out there. I am not trying to present myself as a highly trained, professionally credentialed chef.
I adopted this nickname intending to become a "Chef" level Grid-Down cook and passing on that type of information (along with all things prepping relating) to as many as want such information.
Great video! I’m in agreement with you. Thankfully I started 3 years ago but I still have a lot to learn! Every time something happens that negatively impacts my garden, I thank God for the opportunity to learn. Boy has he been schooling me!😊
My natural solution to bean beetles is not to grow beans, period. Instead, I grow peas, snap and dry peas, yard long beans (they are a cow pea family, bean beetles leave them alone) and just regular cow peas for the dry bean.
I do grow sweet potato green indoors to eat for shtff. Really just testing it out ahead of time in 3 pots. Works great! I had tested some old radish and red clover sprouting seeds I had bought back in 2010. They were still in the original bags stored in the back of the fridge and the clover seeds were in the freezer for a few years. These 14-year old seeds still worked great! Only thing is, I can't chew em...teeth are shot. But I can still get some nutrition using them in a smoothy. Just be aware, some of these sprouts are spicy! When I lived in L.A., I used to like to go to Korea Town and buy soy bean sprouts. Very substantial and works well in stir fry. Mung bean sprouts were the most common sprouts sold at Safeway, Hughes, Alpha Beta and Ralphs back in the day. But I can't chew any of them any more. I gave up making sprouts ages ago. I used to buy alfalfa, radish, broccoli, red clover sprouting seeds by the pound. They were all pretty cheap back then. Now they are crazy priced. Looks like sprouting seed prices have about tripled from 2010. In 2010 I paid $6.76 for 1 pound of radish sprout seeds. Red clover seeds were also cheap. I'd sprout seeds in canning jars with the sprout lids. Indoor sprouting is the easiest way to get some fresh greens, especially if you are an apartment dweller. By 2011 I was on my way for a massive YOLO spending spree that lasted until 2022 and didn't want to bother making sprouts or worrying about prepping. You know the deal...nothing ever happens! I used to buy lots of store-bought sprouts if I didn't want to bother making sprouts, but no more in the Rustbelt. They could not sell them without bacteria it seems, so markets quit selling them. Sunflower greens are also nice for home sprouting for sandwiches. Or grow wheatgrass for juice. (I never liked wheat grass juice.) Around 2008 I used to have a big shelf unit growing microgreens in the house. Took lots of energy and light. Lights were on from 6 AM to midnight. I gave it up after a couple of years. Although it would have been good to keep for sprouting seeds for the garden. But I don't garden anymore...I just grow fruit trees. To be a good gardener, you gotta be a slave to the garden. Fruit trees, some of them, can be left alone and still produce food. Once mature, trees in a temperate climate generally find their own water. Unless you are in a massive drought or live in the Mojave Desert. If you urban preppers can't garden because of marauders, yam greens grow easily indoors and make lots of leaves. Just plant a yam in a flowerpot and put it near some light. I got mine near the window. I use them in smoothies. Can't chew whole leaves as teeth are shot. White sweet potatoes also grow indoors but sprout slower. Once they sprout, they grow very good.
If you missed your chance last season, we have a little bit of time left for the 2024 tree planting season. But really, it is more or less over if you are looking for variety and decent trees to plant. I help someone manage a fruit tree orchard and have some fruit tree experience over the last 17 years. I'm no expert by any means, but I have experience with nearly 50 varieties of fruit trees. Some of you may not have the right disposition to grow gardens. But most anyone can grow fruit trees. Once trees are established, they generally don't need watering unless there is a massive drought. The trees find their own water. But we are talking temperate climates, not the Mojave desert. I gave up my garden after 12 years. To do gardens right you need to be a slave to them. I don't like being a slave to them. But I am successful with fruit trees...as long as you do not require perfect fruit that needs spraying and chemicals. That is where I draw the line. If a fruit tree can't produce as-is, with only water, and some fertilizer to start out...then it gets cut down and another tree takes its place. If your fruit trees won't do well unless you have tons of sprays, what will you do in SHTFF when you can't get the sprays? And really, I like organic produce and not eating food loaded with poisons. You know, even if you got fruit trees...they are not permanent. An orchard is continually losing trees. If you wait to find this out, you will be many years behind from where you could be. If disease or animals don't get your fruit trees, a windstorm may uproot, or lightning may split the tree in two. You have to be proactive and not reactive. In other words, you are never finished with your orchard...you keep planting fruit and nut trees forever and ever...even after you plant the bulk of your orchard and think you are done. There is no time to lose with any of this. Some trees may take a decade to produce meaningfully...and then they die. Try to buy older trees that are more developed. Smallish, bare root trees are the worst to buy if you are in a hurry. You have rust, black knot, borers, rabbits can girdle the trees and deer can get a hard-on for your tree and rub it to death. Squirrels are a massive problem unless you have a large orchard of the same trees that produce at the same time and can feed the squirrels and you. Squirrels can strip your fruit tree of all the fruit before it even ripens! And besides squirrels, their little relative, the chipmunk is a big problem with fruit trees. They live in long burrows and have big families. They can start stripping a peach tree before the peaches are as big as a grape. And they also love the fully ripened fruits...it just does not matter to them. You can trap them & poison them. Whatever you do...get rid of them! To kill squirrels / chipmunks / voles, forget BB guns...get the green rat poison blocks and zip tie a few of them to the trees. They will decimate the squirrel population for that season and scale it back some for the next as well. You can buy small traps that kill chipmunks. You can also put a small chunk of the rat poison near their burrow opening for chipmunks and voles. If you get lucky they will bring the block into their burrow for the family to feast on. Just don't use full blocks, cut it into thirds so the little chipmunk can handle it. If you have animals that may eat the poison, put the poison in the burrow or use a bait station. I like the poison near the opening because I can easily see the eating action. Once the blocks stop being brought into the burrow, you fill the burrow up. If the burrow is dug out again, you repeat the process until it is not dug open again. No pets around here, so this baiting technique is not an issue with me. Anyway, back to the trees... One European Green Gage plum took a decade to produce a meaningful crop...then it got black knot and was done for. After that, the rest of the 7 varieties of plums ALL got black knot and had to be cut down within 2 years. Santa Rosa and Japanese Shiroplum are 2 nice plums to grow. But wet and humid Z6 can cause lots of disease problems with fruit trees and plums are one of them. But, it takes time to find out what works best in your zone. Time you don't have. Same thing with an Empire Apple tree. It took over a decade to produce a decent crop. Wonderful apples, then it got a borer and died. A big, beautiful apple tree suddenly loses all its leaves as well as the crop that was set to grow that season. It is heartbreaking. Some trees are labelled wrong and not the right cultivar. Some fruit trees produce low quality fruit...even though the label shows the most delicious looking fruit. A trend lately with our changing climate is some trees are blooming early, then a frost hits and boom...the entire fruit crop is ruined for that season. If you don't grow enough cherries, the birds will strip one or two cherry trees clean before the cherries can ripen. In other words, you have to plant lots of cherry trees that produce at the same time to feed the birds and yourself. One of the best, reliable and heavy producers with fruit trees are the Asian pear trees. Not all varieties are winners, but Olympic aka Korean Giant is good along with Raja Asian pear - they are 2 of the best. I can say that after 17 years of working with 5 varieties of Asian pears. When planting pears, try to get varieties resistant to fire blight. Depends on the local, but fire blight can be a big problem with pears. Belle of Georgia is a nice white peach. Red Haven is a great yellow peach. But check the chill hours needed for the peach tree. Some trees only produce crops biennial aka every other year. The way you find that out, many times, is only after a few years of growing. When setting up an orchard you need to plan if you want the crops to come in all at once for making preserves / canning or do you want the fruit crops staggered with early, medium and late harvest varieties. You may need a pollinator tree to produce a crop for certain trees...study it up. Some are self-pollinating, others are not. And you need to see which trees are appropriate pollinators. One tree won't always pollinate another tree if they bloom too far apart. Lots to think about and no time to waste. If you want to produce a crop into early winter / late fall...get a persimmon tree or 3. Jiro, Nakita's Gift, Hachiya and lots of other varieties. But check your zones, some are not very cold hardy. Not much time left...we all have eyes to see what is coming. Plant your fruit and nut trees while you can.
For the first time this year, the deer learned that they could jump over my 4-foot fence and they destroyed my tomato crop. I may get my harvest back in deer season 🤨.
So im only in my 2nd year of growing a garden and I look back at laugh because I too use to think oh man this random pack of survival seeds will save my life on day...even though (at that point ) all I ever grew was dirt and rocks. Good advice to learn the things now
Have a garden every year. We don't have as much room as you apparently have, but convinced my husband to plant potatoes this year. Also, we grow green beans every year and those are pressure canned and last us all year. I think we have 7 jars left and there are little beans on our plants
Nasturtiums with beans ,DE powder sprinkled on kills pest and is safe,or make a spray of /bring to a 1 gallon water, boil garlic and chopped cayenne pepper . Cool,strain add 1T. Oil and 1T. Dish soap. Mix well,pour into spray bottle after or before sun
I heard snake beans are pretty indestructible, so I tried them. Yep, they were right. They're not a precocious plant. Very hardy and the beans themselves can grow over a foot long. I like to grab them when they're smaller. But they grow pretty quickly. Better than any bean I've grown before. Don't underestimate the power of good plant selections for your area.
I laughed out loud at this because technically you're absolutely correct. But I also think that's the whole point of SHTF prepping. So I actually found this to be one of the best comments, because it really made me think about what the purpose is of a garden like this. It's definitely primitive if we look at it from a modern agricultural perspective. But I think the whole point of SHTF prepping is for a single family to be sustainable without any other human contact. I still think it would be good and legitimate to point out the differences, so people understand as much as possible. I think if everyone knew the differences between this and modern agriculture it would actually make people appreciate the things we're only able to do in modern society, so that world leaders are less willing to cause an SHTF event in the first place. It's horrifying to imagine having to do all the work for this kind of primitive garden, just to not starve to death. It really makes me appreciate everything people had to do to survive throughout history.
@@coupdeforce Sorry man, had a few drinks last night lol. I don't own a rototiller, I don't walk on my beds. I use a lot of compost and cover my walkways with ground wood chips. Cover all my beds with straw and grass clippings even when not being used. Want to get to the point where I'm composting right on top the beds. Feed the soil the soil feeds you. You can't make enough compost is my camp. I also believe after 46 years of gardening most people have it ass backwards. Hard to get people to change what they and they're grandfather's grandfather did. I believe less taken care of well gets more groceries than more taken care of half a.... Earthworms and microbes are your best friends and rototilling kills both. Wish I could send you pictures your jaw would drop.
@@coupdeforce I do like your jerusalem artichokes idea though. Your potatoes would do much better with straw mulch on both sides of the hill. Keeps ground cooler and moisture more consistent. Pulled 6 yukon gold potato plants last night and got 16 lbs. not my best but for this weather not bad. I don't get the black bean thing as cheap as dry beans and canned is. You'll remember this when you're bent over with the sun beating down on you. If you can buy it already done and stockpile it on the farely cheap why bother. Bang for the buck and time brother. And is the juice worth the squeeze. But if you like doing all that have at it. Happy gardening
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If I could schedule a grid down, it would be in the middle of a snow storm, with a r buddy heater assisting us in staying warm, and solar and wind power to generate some nce comfy warmth, then I would.... Break out... My.... Bread machine? sounds crazy doesn't it. But the bread machine as stupid as it seems is stupid simple, if planned right, you can make a nice meal. And you can use a battery bank to do it. A Bread machines is under 700 watts, so one would need a bit o a beffy battery bank, maybe 200 to 400 AHs. Oh sure you can use an induction cook top set to 600 WATTS as well. But the bread machine has a thermastat in it, which means when it at temp, it will draw power only when needed to het it up... A bread machine has a small surface area. It can hold up to 10 drumsticks, 12 beef patties, a couple of steaks, and a few other goodies. Or you can make a slo cooked dinner as well. I think of the bread machine like a Dutch oven. so bring the winter storms, the summer heat, falls winds, an springs chaotic weather. Because n truth, we have no choice.
Thank you so much for sharing this video ! I live in the UK and now that I live alone survive on mostly canned foods, but you seem to have more interesting contents in the USA, like corned beef hash for one, which I absolutely love, but I've never seen it in a can, not saying we dont have it here, just not something I have looked for...until now, but I ntend to 😊
Sodium Erythorbate is produced naturally from beets, sugarcane and corn. It is an antioxidant closely related to vitamin C, and helps improve flavor stability, and prevents the formation of carcinogenic nitrosamines. Don't let these chem names scare you. The human body depends on electrolytes like sodium and phosphorus, but hands down, the less, the simpler, the better ingredients. Great report, though just a thought.
Probably the acids in the soup or salt content made the can look that way on the inside. I heat treat parts for various aircraft and we dip parts into a salt bath at 920 degrees and the color of the metal changes at that point.
If you use it, buy it. Never buy for prep. I've eaten out of date can before and I'll do it again, but for the sake of the longevity of your prep pantry, you ought keep your goods as fresh as possible. If you like campbell's soup then buy a years worth and replenish the back of the stack with the new stuff. You can store a serious stockpile of dry goods like beans and grains for a couple decades with vacuum sealed bags and moisture packets in five gallon buckets. I keep several types of bean, brown, long grain rice, oats and flour this way. Shit, buying a little extra flour, salt, sugar, beans, grains ect. as it comes from the store can give a decent food cushion for very little effort. I still buy canned shit, but my serious effort at stockpiling is in dry goods.
