Local library video and desert survival

I checked out the video Stay alive! a guide to survival in mountainous areas from my local library. Random comments after watching: According to the host, Preston Westmoreland, if you have ever heard the idea that you could add whiskey to water to clean the water than that is not true.  Ummmmm, I have never heard [...]

Go outside and get some exercise

I have come to the sad conculsion that I am not in any kind of physical shape for the apocalypse. I just read the pre-notes for the Survivial School I am taking this weekend. The first piece of advice he gives is to arrive to the class in shape. Apparently wandering around the desert all [...]

Update on medicinal plants: Blooming Ocotillos

I went for a hike last weekend to see what the desert is currently producing.  There are no pods yet on the mesquite,  and no wildflowers yet.  However, I did see several Ocotillo plants in full bloom. Above: Blooming Ocotillo plant. According to Herbal Medicine of the American Southwest by Charles W. Kane the bark and flower can [...]

Off the chain

Or at least off the web. I think I angered the spiders when I pruned and straightened the mesquite trees. I got webs showing up throughout the yard. Before I only had a couple of webs on two of the mesquite trees. The vastly increased mass of spider webs that I am now regularly encountering [...]

Grocery shopping for Armageddon and how NYC would be the worst place to be

One of the sacred rules of the preppers is “Store what you eat, eat what you store.”  My fridge is currently empty on purpose.  I am going to see if I can buy exactly what would last me two weeks.  In two weeks I go to New York City (NYC) for four days and two days [...]

Update on the edible cactus

Above:  A recent shot taken of the hedgehog. The hedgehog cactus I ate about a month ago seems to be doing fine.  However, several people have told me the cactus I ate had yellow needles not because it was the wrong cactus, but because I ate one covered in coyote pee.

I am pleased to say I was stung by a bee

While I was trimming the mesquite trees this weekend I was stung by a bee. I have always been nervous about bees since I was stung as child and swelled up like Charlie Sheen’s head.   Also, once in Oaxacca I ate a bunch of grasshoppers and woke up that night covered in hives, and sweating [...]

Update on the Salted Oranges

4 days ago I salted oranges.  Today, as instructed, I tried them.  I used two with some Mikes Hard Lemonade and they were delicious.  Best way to cure scurvy.

Scurvy

Anybody know anything about canning oranges? Got a lot of oranges and want to can them for the end times. Below:  My orange tree in the backyard gave out 20 oranges this year.  Last year three.  All the years before, none.   Update:  My friends over at facebook made a couple of good suggestions for [...]

It rained in Phoenix this weekend

So I planted winter squash, bush beans, and seedlings of tomatillos. It might be a little early to do so but wanted to use some of this wonderful rain. Seeds made it into the earth not 15 minutes before the skys opened. Above: The tomatillo seedlings, there is also a habanero in there but I [...]