The Premier Guide to Natural Remedies for Bites and Stings in Arizona

The Premier Guide to Natural Remedies for Bites and Stings in the Arizona Outdoors

Natural Remedies for Bites and Stings By Peter Bigfoot

For those who have spent any time outdoors in Arizona we have seen or encountered animals, insects, spiders or plants that aren't overly human friendly.  What if that encounter were to turn into a situation where we were bitten or stung?  Do you know how to treat these type of wounds?  What if you were miles away from the nearest doctor?

Peter Bigfoot has over 50 years of experience in using natural remedies for such afflictions.  Peter has important practical experience that he is willing to share with others.  His book, Natural Remedies for Bites and Stings, should be an important part of your preparedness literature and should be a part of your first aid kit.  This book is the point of departure for you to begin the process of learning how nature can heal you.  Natural remedies are all around us.  We just need to take the time to pay attention and learn.

We carry this book in our store and it is affordably priced at $7.00 per copy.  Come in and get your copy today!

Sprouting

Unlock the Nutrition in Your Grains, Seeds and Legumes

Quinoa Ready for Sprouting

The grains, seeds, legumes and nuts that we store for our food storage are packed with a dormant vitality that is unlocked through soaking or sprouting.  The commencement of the germination process within seeds initiates a wonderful process that makes seeds and grains easier to digest, provides beneficial enzymes, provides additional nutrients and vitamins, and also provides greens to your diet.

This Friday we will be having a soaking and sprouting class at the store.  We will discuss the benefits of soaking grains prior to use.  We will also have information on soaking times for sprouts, number of times to rinse, time for germination, methods of sprouting and containers you can use.

Sprouted Spelt Berries being dried

We will also have information on how to sprout wheat berries, spelt berries and kamut berries and how to dry them for sprouted wheat flour.  This will be a class for beginning sprouters with some intermediate concepts as well.  Hope to see you there.

Emergency Water Rations

Emergency Water Rations

SOS Emergency Purified Water

Many individuals and families choose SOS Emergency Purified Water pouches for their emergency water needs.  These pouches make a great addition to 72 Hour Kits, Bug Out Bags, Get Home Kits and Automobile Kits.  The purified water is sealed in a mylar pouch for 5 year store.  The pouches contain just over 1/2 cup of water.  These are Coast Guard approved and are designed for compact storage and easy access.

These pouches are great for emergency kits because they are packed in small portion sizes and the mylar is not a hard container like bottles.  This allows pouches to fit well into your pack.  The mylar is also quite strong and does not allow in light.  The top of the mylar bag is designed for easy tearing to open the pouch.  By using these pouches you avoid the necessity of rotating water bottles every few months.

Essential Signaling Items for Your Emergency Kit

Essential Signaling Items For Your Emergency Kit

ACR Signaling Kit

ACR makes a very nice signal mirror and whistle kit that should be a part of every 72 Hour Kit or Boy Scout backpack.  This mirror provides excellent sighting holes for placing your signal where you want it.  As you can see, the kit includes a lanyard, whistle and float.  I removed the float and added a small flashlight.  This makes highly functional signaling kit.

The ACR signal mirror is easy to use.  You simply make sure that you can line up the mirror with the sun, look through the viewer and then find the red dot that is made by the viewer.  As you can see, the directions are on the back of the mirror.

Last week, our Varsity Scout Team participated in an On-Target event where we contacted various peaks around the state with flashes from mirrors and with HAM Radios.  We mounted this small ACR signal mirror on our large 2' x 2' mirror to help sight in the larger mirror.  The ACR Mirror helped us place a red dot on the mountain that we were trying to signal, which made it a lot easier to hit the other mountain with our flash.

A Combination of Freeze Dried Berries Makes This a Great Dessert

Recently our blog posts have featured different dessert recipes........and why not?  Food storage can be fun and delicious.   Dessert dishes aren't always healthy per se, but when you make your own you can cut out a higher portion of fats, processed foods, hydrogenated oils, preservatives and other ingredients that are a part of the food industry.

For our berry crisp we used a blend of freeze dried berries to add different flavors and tartness.

This delicious treat can be made in the oven, dutch oven or solar oven.

Berry Crisp

8 c. of freeze dried berries

3 tbsp sugar

1 tbsp whole wheat flour

Rehydrate berries.  To rehydrate berries: boil water, add to berries, let sit for 10-20 minutes, drain water.  Add 3 tbsp of sugar and 1 tbsp of flour to berries.  Place in an 8x8 in baking dish.

Topping

1 c. regular rolled oats

1 c. brown sugar

1/2 c. whole wheat flour (or all purpose flour)

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 c. butter, softened

In mixer combine topping ingredients.  Sprinkle over berries.

Bake in oven for 30 minutes at 375 degrees.  You can also bake in the sun oven.  Time in sun oven varies depending on temperature. 

Freeze Dried Cheese?!

If you like shredded cheddar cheese, try this product.

Freeze Dried Shredded Sharp Cheddar Cheese

Many of us love the taste of sharp cheddar cheese and now you can keep it on your shelf instead of your refrigerator.  Once you reconstitute this cheese, it has the taste, texture and cooking characteristics of fresh, shredded sharp cheddar cheese.  You can also just munch on the cheese as a snack straight out of the can.

To rehydrate the freeze dried cheddar cheese, simply add 1 part freeze dried cheddar cheese to 2 parts water.  Make sure the water is lukewarm.  If the water is too hot, it will melt the cheese and clump together.  If it is too cold, the re-hydration process will take a long time. 

After about 5-10 minutes, taste a small amount of the cheese and make sure it is fully rehydrated.  If it meets your satisfaction, drain off the excess water.  If it is still crunchy, allow it to soak for longer.

You can now add the cheese to tacos, casseroles, quesadillas and more.  Chef Tess recently held a kid's cooking class where the kids made hot pockets.  They filled the hot pockets with mozzarella, pepperoni and freeze dried cheddar cheese.  You can check our her recipe for homemade hot pockets by clicking the following link:

Homemade Hot Pockets

We wanted to try the cheese on homemade pizza, so we added some reconstituted freeze dried cheddar cheese to our cheese pizza and it was great.

Hope you enjoy freeze dried cheddar cheese and all of the wonderful things you can make with it!

Mountain House Pasta Primavera

Our Favorite Mountain House Meal

Mountain House Pasta Primavera in Double Serving Pouch

Mountain House Meals are an excellent way to prepare for your next backpacking trip, campout or other outdoor outing.  They are also great for 72 Hour Kits or other Emergency Kits.  Mountain House Meals store for 7 years in the mylar pouches.  The 2 Serving Pouch makes 20 ounces of food.  The best part is that they are easy to make and delicious!

This video review shows you how to reconstitute the meal and how great the Pasta Primavera looks rehdyrated: