by Ron Foster
“Good deal!” Michael exclaimed as his end settled into its mortise and tenon placement. “You boys been working up a sweat, take a break.” Amy said, settling down on the picnic table to have a chat with them.
“We got an idea we want to discuss with you.” Cat said smiling and sitting down next to Amy.
“What’s up?’ I hope it’s not more work.” LowBuck grumbled.
“No, it’s not work for you.” Cat scolded, still smiling.
“I think you might even like the idea.” She said snidely. “What is it then?” LowBuck responded still skeptical and sweating profusely from the heat and the physical labor he had just finished putting out.
“We were digging around in Don’s preps and found out he has two 45 lb buckets of sugar. Evidently he had wine or booze making on his mind because he has the bucket setups for making wine or mash. His birthday is in two weeks so what do you all say to converting some of that sugar into some kind of adult beverages?” Amy asked.
“But we were planning on leaving out in the next couple days. I would love to stay around for a party but we really need to be on the road.” Bubba began protesting before Cat held up what appeared to be a dark bronze grape.
“What’s that?” Bubba said reaching for the proffered fruit. “Muscadine, it’s an indigenous wild grape that grows all over this place. We picked a bucketful today and there is a ton more of it around here in the woods to harvest.” Amy advised.
“Lots of wine to be made...” Michael said with a smiling glint in his eye at LowBuck. “Hell with that, think brandy.” Bubba said looking at the large grape and thinking of different beverages to be had.
“Brandy is dandy.” giggled Cat smiling at everyone. “Still and all we need to get moving on unless you got something in mind besides just letting Donald get cross-eyed on his birthday at a little post apocalyptic birthday party. “ Bubba said regretfully handing back the makings of some fine Bubba Brews and other concoctions of the alcoholic nature that any gut but his would take for paint thinner when swallowed.
Amy excitedly chimed in and explained she had found a big bag of something called zeolite in Donald’s preps that Cat had identified as the number one component needed to easily make some ethanol alcohol fuel.
“That stuff is reusable. How much does he have of it? Michael, we now have means of producing some very high quality alcohol, but if you plan to use it as fuel you must further purify it by running it through a still a second time if it ain’t for drinking. You should now have ethanol near 98% pure, if I did a hell of a job the first few times. By soaking it in or filtering it through 'Zeolite' you can have pure alcohol. This product will absorb the water out of the alcohol leaving you with 100%, 200 proof. I think these two ladies figured out a way to turn Donald’s place into a gas station of sorts. Hell, any vehicle after 1980 can run the stuff 50/50 without any kind of engine conversion. For lack of a better word, I am a pretty good brew master or moonshiner. I like this angle! I can get about a gallon a run off what is around here to use for a still. With your welding skills, Michael, and depending on what we can find to build a bigger still, we can produce enough alcohol to run the neighbors tractors to produce pretty much anything we want if we got some seeds to plant.” LowBuck said with thoughts of becoming a land baron of sorts and allowing a shit eating grin to pass his face at the prospect.
“Hey, I looked into that once. I dig alternative fuels. You used to be able to get free licenses to produce ethanol. The sugar will run out quick enough but with his fruit trees we should be ok. Oh yea, Bernie has a patch of sugar cane he keeps around for the grand kids’ entertainment that can be expanded upon and we might can find some sugar beet seeds. You might just want to stay on awhile there Bubba and establish us a gas station around this neck of the woods.” Michael said, excited at the prospect of being able to use machines to take the toil off of some agricultural work and have some home brew to profit and party down with.
“Donald’s has got the means to run a still either electrically or by wood fire. He has got a library full of books on the subject, but it sounds like you got the practical experience to make it all happen, LowBuck.” Amy said charmingly.
“He has the makings of a good mash in fruit and other resources to at least provide for our needs to run a rototiller and to cut firewood without the need of using hand tools for the tasks. If we can produce more alcohol fuel than that, we can most likely save a bunch of lives with community agriculture by providing for those neighbors with tractors the fuel to plow some fields and plant some crops.” Michael said supporting her assessment of practicalities.
“This is a difficult decision, on the one hand my S.C. prepper has meat on the hoof grazing, but I am basically a border guard flunky there. On the other hand, I am a gas producer and a whiskey distiller here; I think I just convinced myself.” Low Buck said chagrined at the aspect of doing without a steak for a bottle of shine.
“So it’s settled then!” Amy said hugging a grinning Michael. “You can settle down here and grow your beard long with my old man doing what you all do best.” Amy said grinning at Cat and the rest of the crew for confirmation.
“Makes total sense to me! Ha! Ha! Never thought I would help build a gas pump I could drink out of. If times were not so hard at the moment I can envision crazy Don suggesting we open a possum burger stand along with a gas station bar with drinks being served in the rear on a 2x12 bar and tree stumps for stools!” LowBuck exclaimed, giving Michael a high five and hugging Cat while Amy and Michael slid closer together.
“That is the damndest plan I ever heard of !” squealed Cat as Amy reached out to hug her new found friend in admiration that the ladies had solved all the practicalities without the consultation of the men huffing and puffing their dire warnings as they were wont to do.
“Won't Don be surprised when he gets back?” Amy gushed. “Damn straight. That boy won’t know up from down when it comes to thinking of all the possibilities he can use it in his barter schemes.” LowBuck glowed at the thought and added his enthusiasms.
“That old sot is going to be in hog heaven once he realizes the potential of our planning. He isn’t going to know what to do with himself at all with that prepper brain of his by the time he considers all the various possibilities. No way can we keep it a surprise until his birthday. What do you all suggest?” Michael said smiling.
“I think that we need to keep him distracted and away from the house as much as possible in order to surprise him. Bug him with redundant questions and keep him swinging a pick axe down at Bernie’s to put in that wheat field you been discussing. I doubt that will work for long though because he will want to start trapping and get out of what he would call grunt work or ditch digging. Tell him there is a shit load of game a days walk from here and if it’s safe for him to be stomping around in the area, go on a hunt/camping trip with him. Michael, you take him out and Bubba can stay as guard on the prepper plantation. He will go along with that because he respects your many years of living here to have that kind of local game location knowledge you two can apply. Bring him back after we manage to get the mash cooking well and introduce the concept of what we talked about to him then. Meantime, we will be getting a party ready at my house for later.” Amy said taking charge of some possibly highly interesting festivities.
“If it were normal times, I would stick around and see the whole gas and alcohol scheme through but we still need to get on the road right after the party. I wouldn’t be waiting that long, but I think we will be even better received if we topped out our alcohol supplies from a couple still runs Donald and I can share. I will write down the recipes and show Michael a few of my tricks of the trade, but having access to good grass fed beef is going to trump my love of moon shining in practicality I am afraid. I got to trade him out of some of that zeolite though; I got another one of those cool kitchen counter stills on the trailer. Ha! I could tell him that he was starting a franchise by investing some of that zeolite with me, he would
probably go for that.” Bubba said, grinning.
“Darn, I had really thought that me and Amy had come up with a way for us to stay around here.” pouted Cat.
“Honey, I sure wish that we could stay long term. But the food supplies are going to run out long before a crop comes in, or if Donald manages to find a way of trading any booze or ethanol.” Bubba said apologetically.
“I suppose you are right, though damn it if I wish you were not! I just got all excited for the moment. I wonder what Harley dog is going to think of a Cow? He is hard enough to control when he even smells a deer let alone having a herd of hoofed critters to maybe want to chase or possibly try to gnaw on he gets to see standing in a field everyday.” Cat replied.
“He will learn to leave them cows alone eventually. I will probably have to keep him tied up for awhile is all I will have to do until the newness of them wears off, I hope.” Bubba said, not entirely certain of how Harley pooch would take to being a cattle dog guarding the stock instead of chasing them and trying to chomp a tasty looking cows hindquarters.
“I will see what kind of spare bottles or jugs I can come up with to put the finished alcohol products in. We need to be thinking about using a screw jack or building something to mash all those grapes and black berries around here into some kind of usable juice. You think now is the time to try and trade the neighbors out of some sugar before they eat it all up or just make do with what we got?” Michael inquired of Bubba.
“We just make do with what he has stored here, best to just stay low profile as long as you can. I doubt anyone be in mind of coming around here asking to borrow a cup of sugar neither.” Guffawed LowBuck.
“How set are we for yeast?” Michael asked, knowing it had short shelf life. “We got plenty of yeast on hand for now, but we will have to make our own later. Before yeast was available in grocery stores, bakers used to keep colonies of yeast for making bread. These colonies were known as starters, and were sometimes passed on from generation to generation. You can make your own starter using commercial yeast, by using potato water (from boiled potatoes) to attract and feed wild yeasts present in the air around us, or by using the yeast found on the skins of organic grapes or organic raisins. Then you just keep the starter in a one-quart crock, jar, or airtight container. I been collecting articles I have researched in a notebook for sometime. I got a good explanation from writer Samara on Off Grid News.” Bubba said going to get his notebook.
Knowing how to replace the staples in the kitchen in some other way than a trip to the store is an important prepper skill. One of those things is bread. The first step is taking the time to learn to bake, which unfortunately is becoming a lost art in and of itself. The second step is to learn how to obtain the components of bread, such as flour, water, and yeast.
If you are ready to go beyond the basic sourdough starter, try these yeast procurement methods for all new flavors and textures in your baking.
Feeding the Starter Whether you are talking about a standard sourdough starter, or one of those listed below, you will see many recipes talking about “feeding” the starter. This means adding 1 cup flour and 1 cup water to the mix so that the yeast can keep growing. You will need to feed the starter daily if it is at room temperature, or weekly if it is in the fridge. If you don’t bake bread that day, you will also need to toss out one cup of the starter so that the ratios stay the same. This is an important step—and can be a great motivator to bake regularly so that none of your hard work goes to waste! Yeast starters are one thing you will not want to throw in the compost pile, as the bacteria can grow out of control and give you a very unpleasant result.
Grape Starter Grapes, along with many other types of fruits (including apples, oranges, and grapefruit, to name some examples), contain natural yeast spores in the skin or peel of the fruit.
For grapes, stem them (do not wash them, as this will wash off the yeast that you are trying to grow), crush by hand, and place in a container covered with
cheesecloth. Leave undisturbed for three days. You should start to see the liquid bubble, indicating that the yeast is growing. Strain the liquid (which now contains the yeast), and stir in 1 cup of whole wheat flour.
Leave your grape starter at room temperature for 24 hours. Save only one cup of the mixture, and then add another cup of flour and a cup of water. Do the same thing for another day or two. You should have a very bubbly starter at this point. After this, just keep feeding it so you will always have some ready for your next loaf of bread.
As you experiment with different fruits (and even tomatoes!) you will find that each kind of starter has a bit of a different flavor. Find which ones you like best. Just remember, you need to use homegrown or wild fruits, since the store-bought ones will be covered with pesticides, wax, and who knows what else—probably not much yeast left to be found there. And don’t wash it off before starting.
Potato Starter It is amazing the things that we throw away that are more useful than we know. In this case, that water you boiled potatoes in for dinner is one of the fastest ways to make a starter for your bread. Simply take a cup and a half of the potato water, add a tablespoon of sugar, and stir in flour until stiff. Cover and leave overnight in a warm place. If it is nice and bubbly the next morning it is ready to use. If not—start over.
Alternatively, if you do not usually boil your potatoes, or just want to try something different, cheat a little. Use one packet of store bought yeast (1 tablespoon); mix with a cup of water, a half-cup of sugar, and three tablespoons of instant potato flakes. Let it stand for 24 hours, and then put it in the fridge. Feed every four days, but instead of the usual flour and water combo, use the same amounts of sugar, potato flakes, and water that you used to create the starter.
Drying Your Yeast for Storage One practical challenge with creating and using your own yeast is storing and transporting it. We see this in one very practical example, when Israel left Egypt in a hurry during the Exodus, and did not have time for their bread to rise. Jews to this day commemorate God’s deliverance by abstaining from products with leavening during Passover.
If you want to be able to bake bread the instant you arrive at your bug-out location (if you ever need to take your own personal Exodus), then you will want to dry some yeast for use later.
Take any of your starters, spread very thin on a cookie sheet or baking stone, and then dehydrate as you would anything else. If you live in a hot and dry climate, you may just be able to cover it with a cheese cloth and place in the sun. Otherwise, put on the lowest temp in your oven and dry it that way. Once the yeast is dry (not cooked, if it cooks, the active yeast will be killed and rendered useless), you can crumble it and store in an air tight container. Just like store-bought yeast, it will last longer in the fridge or freezer.
Play around with amounts you use in recipes once the yeast is ready, as the potency of homemade yeast will be a little different than the store-bought version and you will probably need more of it for the same amount of bread (typically about a cup of starter in place of 1 packet of yeast, if using wet starter. If you’re using dry yeast, try just doubling the amount to start).
What you lose in time, you may find you make up for in flavor and fun. There is nothing quite like the smell of fresh baked bread to make you feel at home.
“That’s a good article, it’s amazing all the knowledge you preppers pass around and store that most folks never even think about.” Michael said quite impressed with Bubba`s Big Book of prepper practicalities and formulas he had put together.
“That’s what the prepper community is all about. It’s sharing knowledge and developing skills.” Bubba said proudly, but wishing that he and Donald had sat down and taken the time to get his collective book of wisdom published so more people could be sharing this knowledge.
26
City Survey
Donald double locked his mom’s house door and started up his truck to head downtown and went to see about his job. He decided he would drive by Janice’s
house on the way and just give it a visual check before stopping for a conversation with her on the way back regarding getting out of town. He had been relatively sure the small gas station and convenience store on the corner of the road going towards her house had already been burglarized and the broken glass he saw in front of it confirmed his suspicions as he drove by. He was sure Janice was already aware of its condition, but he made a mental note to ask her how long it had been since it was broke into. This was as much of an intelligence gathering trip on city conditions as it was taking care of business for him. He watched carefully a group of teens in baggy assshowing pants walking down the street and they seemed in his opinion to stare openly at him a bit more than usual.
“Probably feeling a bit braver these days, they are going to wish they had some pants that were not already falling off their asses soon enough.” Donald laughed to himself wondering if they were going to have to trade with one another to try and get something to fit even a little as they lost weight from the starvation that probably had already begun.
“Hell, my fat brother is going to be digging around in his old clothes soon enough for a smaller size, but he had been stout for so long he bet Jimmy didn’t have much in the way of normal sized clothes. I wonder how he is making out. He had boo coo preps as far as Donald knew to make it for a while. What he had besides expensive guns and knives and such Donald didn’t know but suspected he had a very decent supply of food. Weird how different brothers could be and both be preppers. Jimmy was in Texas and had not divulged much in the way of what he was going to do when the SHTF. Donald knew even though he was an apartment prepper, he was pretty well networked in with a lot of people, so most likely Jim had a bug out location he could get to. Wish I knew more about his plans.” Donald mused as he slowly drove by Janice’s house. He didn’t see anything out of order but he did notice she had rigged herself some blackout curtains. Good girl! Still he needed to tell her she should either make them less obvious or take them down during the day. No sense advertising the fact you were hiding something to all the prying eyes that were most likely looking for targets of opportunity about right now.” Donald thought as he speeded up and continued on his mission.