Jeff Cassman

The following recipe for zucchini cheese pancakes was kindly sent to us by SurvivalBlog reader M.N.R..

Ingredients

• 1 cup flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• I/4 tsp salt or to taste
• 1 cup shredded zucchini (using more or less is okay)
• 3/4 cup shredded cheese (cheddar is a yummy choice)
• 2 eggs
• 1 tbsp sugar (optional)
• Enough milk to make the mixture the consistency that you desire

Directions

1. Mix all ingredients together.

2. Heat butter in skillet.

3. Pour pancake-sized amount io batter into a skillet.

4. Cook until light brown.

Chef’s Notes:

We prefer one larger (5-inch diameter) thicker pancake per person, but you make them any way you like.  We get about 5 large pancakes out of a batch of this batter.  It’s a yummy way to use up that extra zucchini, or the zucchini that you still have shredded and frozen from last year’s harvest.

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Do you have a favorite recipe that would be of interest to SurvivalBlog readers? In this weekly recipe column, we place emphasis on recipes that use long term storage foods, recipes for wild game, dutch oven and slow cooker recipes, and any that use home garden produce. If you have any favorite recipes, then please send them via e-mail. Thanks!

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Creative Raised Bed Garden Ideas: Yard Decor For Every Season tallest) { tallest = thisHeight; } }); group.height(tallest); } equalHeight($(“.dg-grid-shortcode .dg_grid-shortcode-col”)); $(window).resize(function() { equalHeight($(“.dg-grid-shortcode .dg_grid-shortcode-col”)); }); }); ]]>

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Senator Ron Wyden revealed in a letter today and announced by Yahoo! News that the U.S. State Department allows 25 federal law enforcement and intelligence agencies to freely access to a key database of personal information, the Consular Consolidated Database (CCD). Sen. Wyden called for the State Department to implement reforms to (1) develop a policy to limit access to CCD to legitimate purposes, (2) provide notice when the State Department disseminates information to other agencies, (3) publish annual statistics on outside agency use of CCD, and (4) engage with agencies with more privacy expertise to align use of the CCD with privacy best practices.

Data in the CCD is pulled from applications for visas, passports, and American Citizen Services and includes names, addresses, birthdates, fingerprints, facial images, racial identifiers, social security numbers, alien registration numbers, and countries of origin. There are no apparent warrant requirements or meaningful procedural limits on using the database. Wyden’s investigation stems from an earlier Yahoo! News report that a Border Patrol agent at the National Targeting Center used government databases to wrongfully surveil a reporter. Wyden is seeking additional information from the State Department about law enforcement access to the CCD.

Sen. Wyden’s letter expands on documents EPIC obtained in EPIC v. State Department, a FOIA case revealing how the State Department allows many agencies access to its Consular Consolidated Database. The CCD contains current and archived data about U.S. persons (i.e., citizens and legal permanent residents) and non-U.S. persons (i.e., foreign nationals). EPIC obtained and published memoranda of understanding between the State Department and more than a dozen federal agencies allowing access to the CCD, include the Department of the Interior, the Department of Defense, and the Department of Homeland Security/ the FBI. EPIC works to document the information contained in government databases and advocates for access restrictions and minimization requirements for personal data collected by the government.

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Every year, I add compost to my raised garden beds, providing a nutrient boost while replacing soil lost to the annual removal of spent plant root balls. This year, I’m going a step further by working shredded sugar maple leaves into the beds.

They’re a good source of carbon and offer other valuable goodies like calcium and magnesium.

Why You Should Shred Leaves

There are many mature sugar maple trees on my farm, including a quartet of massive specimens that stand alone in the yard. Come autumn it’s not hard to gather a virtually pure collection of sugar maple leaves.

But rather than dump them whole into my garden beds, I wish to shred them first. This speeds up their decomposition and lessens the likelihood of leaves compacting into water-impermeable mats.

A dedicated leaf shredder is a good way to shred leaves. I lack such a machine, though, so I decided to use my riding lawn mower instead. A large volume of leaves had accumulated on the edge of my lawn, at a point where the grass starts growing taller and prevents them from blowing away.

I figured I could drive my lawn mower up and down this area a few times and quickly shred the leaves into small pieces perfect for my garden beds.

Read more: These 4 steps will  help you get your garden beds ready for winter.

Merits of a Mower

So did my mower shred these leaves well? Yes … and no. To my surprise, the results were mixed.

There’s no doubt my lawn mower is capable of shredding leaves nicely. It’s a garden tractor with a 20-horsepower engine and a 4-foot mower deck raised and lowered by hydraulics.

It’s a quality machine. But it wasn’t ready to deal with the sheer volume of leaves I asked it to tackle.

It’s not a stretch for mature sugar maples to produce more than 100,000 leaves in a year, and when four of those mature trees have dumped all their leaves in a yard … that’s a lot of leaves. Even figuring that some blew away down a nearby slope, the number of leaves caught on the edge of the field had to be substantial, measuring well into the thousands.

Certainly the accumulated area I intended to mow measured 6 inches deep, maybe deeper.

Read more: Consider these 4 types of mowers for your farm needs.

Too Many Leaves!

Therein lay my problem. Even with the mower deck raised to its highest point, and even while creeping forward at a speed barely above zero miles per hour, the lawn mower couldn’t swallow up all the available leaves. As I drove forward, leaves started piling up against the front of the deck … and around the front tires … and on top of the mower deck … and even under the mower deck, where the blades evidently couldn’t chop up leaves…

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Are you a home gardener in need of corn shellers? There are plenty to choose from, each with distinct features and benefits. They come in various shapes, sizes, and modes of operation, from manual to electric, hand-held to tractor-mounted. This article will explain what they are and what they do so that you can make an informed decision about which one to purchase and what they stand to offer you.

What is a Corn Sheller?

A corn sheller is a device that separates the kernels from the cob. The machine can be operated manually or electrically. It is typically used to process corn for animal feed or human consumption, such as cornmeal or tortillas.Lester Denison, an inventor from Sayville, Connecticut, patented a corn sheller in 1839, and his machine is credited with launching an industry that once employed several hundred people. Denison’s machine was a stand-alone upright design.

Corn shellers typically have a small footprint, high work efficiency, and are portable. It is simple for to move one from location to location. The corn sheller machine’s main structure consists of a frame, a material inlet, a threshing device, a screen, an engine (motor, gasoline engine, or diesel engine) wheel, a corn kernel outlet, a corn cob outlet, and so on.

All local maize varieties, including hybrid and composite kinds, are shelled using maize machines. There are two types of maize shellers: cylinder and spring type. A fluted spinning cylinder, a rotating disc, and a spring pressure plate make up a spring-type sheller.

The cobs are fed into a fluted spinning cylinder, and the kernels are scraped off the cobs as they pass between the cylinder and disc. The blower removes light material, and clean grain is collected separately. These shellers come in many sizes, including domestic, single-hole, and double-hole shellers.

Small farmers can shell small amounts of maize with a hand-operated domestic sheller. A maize threshing machine is useful for domestic corn threshers because of its attractive look and extended lifespan.

How Corn Shellers Work

A corn sheller works similarly to a threshing machine but with a few modifications to account for corn’s larger grain size and other variations from wheat and other crops. Hand cranks, tractors, stationary engines, electric motors, and stationary engines can all be used to power corn shellers. They are fed whole corn cobs.

The cob is dragged between two metal, typically toothed, wheels. The directions in which the wheels revolve are counter to one another. The teeth remove the corn kernels from the cob until none are left. The kernels are discharged via a screen and into a bucket or container positioned beneath the machine.

Since the cob cannot travel through the screen, it is subsequently ejected outside. Some models incorporate a “walker” that looks like a threshing machine or combined to remove the cobs.

Shelling your homegrown corn…

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Lawmakers and privacy advocates alike expressed similar concern following the Forbes report. Sen. Marsha Blackburn, a Republican from Tennessee who has previously been critical of TikTok’s ties to China, tweeted it was “not surprising” the company planned to surveil US users and advocated for a national privacy law. Alan Butler, executive director and president of the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC), echoed the concerns about user privacy and called for stronger location data protections.

Read the full article here.

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Inflation is high. In fact, it has reached at least a 40-year high (depending on who you listen to) and shows no sign of slowing down. Mortgage interest rates are at a 20-year high. More households than ever before are struggling to pay for groceries, medical treatment, housing, and gasoline. Since our influence on the problem of inflation is next to non-existent, then we need to focus on some simple but basic solutions to being frugal. Stretching our dollars until the next payday is our goal!

My husband says that I am frugal to the point of being miserly! But this is a compliment. So let’s talk about being frugal.

Being frugal is a characteristic that will serve one well during TEOTWAWKI. Frugality is also beneficial now – during these times of record high inflation. But what exactly does it mean to be frugal? And, more importantly, how can one develop this trait?

Frugality is defined as thriftiness; being economical with food or money. But I think it can mean so much more, and if we embrace this broad meaning, we can thrive when the rest of the world is struggling.

Back in the 1930s there was this saying: “Use it up, wear it out. Make it do, or do without!”

This mindset is counter to the culture that has been prevalent in America for the last 50+ years. With the ability to shop online and get whatever our heart desires – whatever that might be – almost the next day, there is no reason to not purchase that which we desire. We live in a throw-away society. We even discard items that are still full of life and usefulness.

So why should we be frugal? There are many reasons and they can be found in other articles I have written. The point to this article is to address the how of being frugal. For those of you who expect me to say “Create a budget and stick to it” and “develop self-discipline when it comes to spending money” you are going to be disappointed. I will be covering basic, practical ways to be frugal that anyone can accomplish – with or without a budget.

Sure, there are other assets we waste – our time, our energies, our talents, but I want us to focus on three main areas where I think our frugality is severely lacking: food, fuel, and funds:

WE WASTE FOOD

According to organization Feeding America, we Americans waste more food than any other nation in the world. Yearly, we throw away 80 billion tons of food. That equates to 219 pounds per person. Yet 35 million Americans suffer from food insecurity. How can we be frugal in the area of food?

1. Eat leftovers. In my humble opinion, a lot of food insecurity could be greatly reduced if we would just eat leftovers instead of throwing away perfectly good (edible) food.

2. Reuse leftovers. Although there are plenty of websites that can give you ideas, I…

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Today is coincidentally the birthday of three gun designers:

• Eliphalet Remington (pictured, October 28, 1793 – August 12, 1861). He designed the early-generation Remington rifles and founded what is now known as the Remington Arms Company.
• Wilhelm Bubits (born October 28, 1954), an Austrian handgun designer and creator of the Caracal Pistol and Steyr Mannlicher M and S Model pistols.
• Horace Smith (October 28, 1808 – January 15, 1893). He was an American gunsmith, inventor, and businessman. He and his business partner Daniel B. Wesson formed two companies named Smith & Wesson, the first of which was financed in part by Oliver Winchester and was eventually reorganized into the Winchester Repeating Arms Company.

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I have set sale prices on all of our shootable replica black powder revolvers at Elk Creek Company. Note that no FFL is required to order, and that cartridge conversion cylinders are available for many of these models. This sale will end on Tuesday, November 8th, so order soon!

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SurvivalBlog Writing Contest

Today we present another entry for Round 103 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for this round include:

First Prize:

1. The photovoltaic power specialists at Quantum Harvest LLC  are providing a store-wide 10% off coupon. Depending on the model chosen, this could be worth more than $2000.
2. A Gunsite Academy Three Day Course Certificate. This can be used for any of their one, two, or three-day course (a $1,095 value),
3. Two cases of Mountain House freeze-dried assorted entrees in #10 cans, courtesy of Ready Made Resources (a $350 value),
4. A $250 gift certificate good for any product from Sunflower Ammo,
5. American Gunsmithing Institute (AGI) is providing a $300 certificate good towards any of their DVD training courses.
6. Two sets of The Civil Defense Manual, (in two volumes) — a $193 value — kindly donated by the author, Jack Lawson.

Second Prize:

1. A course certificate from onPoint Tactical for the prize winner’s choice of three-day civilian courses, excluding those restricted for military or government teams. Three-day onPoint courses normally cost $795,
2. A SIRT STIC AR-15/M4 Laser Training Package, courtesy of Next Level Training, that has a combined retail value of $679
3. Two 1,000-foot spools of full mil-spec U.S.-made 750 paracord (in-stock colors only) from www.TOUGHGRID.com (a $240 value).
4. Two Super Survival Pack seed collections, a $150 value, courtesy of Seed for Security, LLC,
5. A transferable $150 FRN purchase credit from Elk Creek Company, toward the purchase of any pre-1899 antique gun. There is no paperwork required for delivery of pre-1899 guns into most states, making them the last bastion of firearms purchasing privacy!

Third Prize:

1. Three sets each of made-in-USA regular and wide-mouth reusable canning lids. (This is a total of 300 lids and 600 gaskets.) This prize is courtesy of Harvest Guard (a $270 value)
2. A Royal Berkey water…

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Estimated reading time: 10 minutes

Although most people think of wheat when it comes to flour, you can make flour from many other plants. In fact, you can grind just about any starchy type of grain, bean, and nut — and even many vegetables —into flour.

Making flour at home is an easier process than you might think. In most cases, you only need a high-speed blender, food processor, or coffee grinder. And if you are in a survival situation, you can use a mortar and pestle and your own elbow grease.

Article continues below.

We’ve put together a list of some of the ordinary plants you can make into flour. Many of these flours offer the advantage of being gluten-free. You can experiment with the ones you like best and consider growing those plants, so you’ll have a steady supply for your family.

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1. Acorns

Best harvested in the fall, acorns can be ground into a flavorful and nutritious flour. The process involves soaking the acorns first to remove the bitterness of their tannins. Then, you’ll need to dry them again before grinding them.

Here’s a video that demonstrates the leaching process. And this article explains how to make acorn flour.

2. Almonds

Most almond tree varieties do well in North America’s Zones 5 to 9. Rich in protein and healthy fats, almonds can be made into a tasty and nutritious baking flour. In many recipes, you can substitute almond flour 1:1 for wheat flour in recipes.

This article gives you all the steps you need to know to make almond flour. And this video shows you three different options for making almond flour at home.

3. Amaranth

A staple of the ancient Aztec and Inca diet, amaranth is high in protein and calcium and easy to make. However, you do need to remove any chaff (plant material & hulls) before grinding. Here’s a video demonstration of how to make amaranth flour.

This article offers tips for cooking and baking with amaranth flour.

4. Barley

Barley flour has a mild, nutty flavor and a high-fiber content. It contains gluten but is lower in carbohydrates than many other flours.

You can check out this video for a demonstration of how to make barley flour.

5. Buckwheat

Despite its name, buckwheat is not related to wheat. In fact, it’s a seed, not a grain. However, you can grind it into a useful and tasty flour.

Here’s a video that shows to make buckwheat flour at home.

6. Cattails

<img width="720" height="540" src="//www.w3.org/2000/svg%22%20width=%22720%22%20height=%22540%22%3E%3C/svg%3E" alt="Cattail…

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