Grandpa's Justice

Grandpa's Justice is a story written by Tom Kovach. I originally read the article in Backwoods Home Magazine. I wanted to share it as a great example of what having a purpose can do for an individual.

Having the best vegetable garden in the village might put food on the table and make some money at the market, but it also can cause some problems. Or so it was with my grandfather, the mayor of a small village in Hungary, then a part of the Austrian-Hungarian Empire.

My father told me Grandfather grew some of the best potatoes, cabbage, and carrots in the area. But one summer he ran into problems. Someone was stealing his produce. Not just stealing it, but also digging some of the plants up and leaving them to spoil.

Besides his huge vegetable garden, my grandfather had the duties of mayor, taking care of local disputes and such. He also had some cows, horses, and hay fields to care for. My grandmother helped and so did some of the children who were older, but for the most part the work fell on my grandfather and he was none too pleased to see his hard work being ruined by thieves and vandals.

One of the people taking vegetables was an old man who lived in a little shack and no means of support, other than odd jobs. What little money he made, he spent on drink. My father did not begrudge him the few vegetables he took, but he felt bad that the old man was spending the money he made from the vegetable garden on liquor.
He also knew that the old man was not a vandal. He took whatever vegetables he got out of the garden to either eat or sell. Someone else was tearing up the garden.

He got an idea. One day he told my grandmother, "I think I'll hire the old man who's taking my vegetables as a night watchman for our garden. I'm too busy to stay up watching it."

My grandmother shook her head, "But can we afford it?"

"I won't pay him too much. And what we save from his keeping our vegetables from being taken or ruined will more than make up for what I pay him."

My grandmother agreed. "And maybe a job will change him."

My grandfather smiled, "That's what I was thinking. In fact I think this will work out very well."

When he first approached the old man about a job watching the vegetable garden, his eyes got big and he looked frightened. No doubt he was afraid my grandfather knew he was taking some of the vegetables. But he agreed to the job.

The very first night on the job the old man caught the ones who were ripping up the garden. They were two young boys whose father had died in war and were being raised by their widowed mother. They were an unruly lot and not much older than my father. My grandfather felt sorry for them but knew that he must do something. Not only were they wrecking his garden but, since he was mayor, he must also mete out some sort of justice.
"I'll tell you what," he told the two wild brothers, "I will show you how hard it is to grow a nice, big garden, but I will also show you how enjoyable it can be."

The boys had no choice but to work in grandfather's garden. But he also taught them how to garden. How to plant the seeds, how to carefully water everything. He even taught them how to care for fruit trees.

At first the boys were angry and spiteful. But they changed their minds when grandfather also paid them a small amount for their labors. Then he let them take fruit and vegetables home to their widowed mother. Soon the boys were anxious to come to work. They felt proud of what they were learning and my grandfather took his mules over to their mother's small plot of land and helped them plant their own garden.

Meanwhile, the old man my grandfather had hired to watch over the garden was still on the job. Now that he had to "work" at night, he did not care to drink so much during the day. And, as with the two boys, my grandfather gave the old man produce to take home each day for his own use. And a change came over him. He started to feel proud that he had a job and he started to take care of himself. In fact, he took some of the money my grandfather paid him and bought himself a new white shirt. The next Sunday he showed up in church, clean-shaven, with his new shirt proudly buttoned up, and he was sober.

With the boys helping him in the garden, my grandfather made the garden even bigger, thereby having more vegetables to sell and therefore having more money from the sale of the produce. With this he helped the boys buy seed and fruit trees for their own lot. Before long they were doing very well in their own garden and selling produce to help their widowed mother.

With the extra money my grandfather decided to fix up a nice clean room in one of his outbuildings where the old man could live safely and comfortably. He still paid him to work for him, but by now he didn't need a night watchman for the garden. Instead he paid him for odd jobs so that he could always have some of his own money.
He began eating his meals with my grandfather and grandmother and their family. In fact he stayed with them until he passed away. He also gave up drinking for good.

So with just a few extra cents, my grandfather helped the two boys and the old man help themselves, and he changed the lives of a lot of people including my grandfather's and my father's, who told the story to me.

I hope that you enjoyed the story.

Savings on Seeds

Last year, after Halloween, I was able to pick up some glow sticks relatively cheap because they were on sale after the holiday.

This week when I walked into our local store I saw a shopping cart full of seeds that "expired" last month. Because these seeds were past their so-called expiration date, I was able to pick them up for 10¢ each!

These were either all organic or heirloom seeds that were discarded for being one month out of date. I just couldn't believe it.

Now, as I look over my Baker Creek and High Mowing catalogs, I can plan and imagine where I will fit these new found seeds into our upcoming garden.

While Walking In The Woods

One of the greatest pleasures that I have in working at the location where I work is the ability to go outside and walk on my breaks. I am fortunate enough to have several strands of woods nearby. It is there that I heard a slight sound of rustling leaves today. I paused and waited and was rewarded with a glimpse of an animal trotting through the brush.

I looked towards an opening in the direction of his travel and saw a beautiful red fox cross a 30' clearing approximately 10 yards in front of me.

Just seeing that made my afternoon. God is truly amazing and creative.

Homemade Tortillas

Yesterday, we had taco night and one of the things that we wanted to do was to make our own tortillas. We had made them in the past and wanted to try them again, so we searched the Internet for a good recipe and came upon this one below by Ree Drummond, the Pioneer Woman.

We found that each batch made 15 tortillas and followed the instructions word for word with the exception of the second wait time. My comments are also below in red.

Anyway, the recipe is below...

Ingredients

• 2-1/2 cups All-purpose Flour
• 2-1/2 teaspoons Baking Powder
• 1 teaspoon Kosher Salt
• 1/2 cup Lard Or Vegetable Shortening
• 2 Tablespoons (additional) Lard Or Vegetable Shortening
• 1 cup Hot Water

Preparation Instructions

Combine flour, baking powder and salt in a large wooden bowl. Stir together.

Add spoonfuls of lard or shortening (use 1/2 cup PLUS 2 tablespoons), then use a pastry cutter to combine the ingredients. Cut mixture until it resembles coarse crumbs.

Slowly pour in hot water, stirring to bring mixture together. Lightly knead dough 30 to 40 times, or until it becomes a cohesive ball of dough and is less sticky. Cover with a tea towel and allow dough to rest for at least an hour.

Roll into ping pong size balls, place on a tray, cover with a tea towel, and allow to rest for another 20 to 30 minutes. (We did not wait the addition 20-30 minutes following rolling them into balls.)

When you're ready to make the tortillas, head a dark or cast iron griddle to medium/medium-high heat. (We used medium low heat in a cast iron skillet.)

One by one, roll out balls of dough until very, very thin.  (I didn't roll some too thin and they came out more like gordita shells from Taco Bell)

Throw tortillas (one by one) onto the griddle. Cook on each side for 20 to 30 seconds, removing while tortillas are still soft but slightly brown in spots.

Remove and stack tortillas, and cover with a towel to keep warm. Serve immediately or allow to cool before storing tortillas in a container.

To warm, nuke tortillas in the microwave, or wrap in foil and warm in the oven.

Helpful tips:

* Make sure the water you pour in is very warm.
* Allow the dough to rest, both after kneading and after forming into balls.
* Roll out very thin.
* Get the heat right on your stove: Too hot, and the tortilla will burn in spots. Not hot enough, and the tortilla will begin to crisp before you can get it to brown. I get my stove between medium and medium high heat; that seems to do the trick.
* Use a dark griddle or cast iron skillet to brown the tortillas.
* Cook just long enough to lightly brown the tortilla in spots; don't cook too long or tortillas will crisp. You want them to be soft and pliable when you serve them.
* Finally: Have fun! And enjoy them. They're absolutely scrumptious.

CPR Refresher Course

Yesterday, I had the chance to complete a refresher course on CPR. It has been several years since my last course and 26 years since my EMT training. The course covered pretty much all that I remembered, including chocking and using an Automated External Defibrillator (AED) device. The only difference was the inclusion of hands only CPR and the introduction of the song, Staying Alive, which we were told if we gave CPR to that rhythm that that pace would be enough pace in order to help.

Maintaining a level of knowledge about safety and basic life support is very important because in the event of an emergency, when your body is stressed, you will default to your level of training and practice.

According to the American Heart Association, 75-80% of all sudden cardiac arrests happen at home, so don't forget to share that knowledge with your family, so they can assist you in the event of an emergency.

A Prepper Christmas - Conflicted: The Survival Card Game

For Christmas we as a family don't focus on gifts, but on the greatest gift that is Jesus. Usually, we give each other inexpensive gifts that we think would be useful for the other person.

This past Christmas, I was fortunate enough to receive something that I've wanted since hearing and reading about it. It's a game called, "Conflicted: The Survival Card Game" and it's  tough, thought provoking and fun.


Conflicted: The Survival Card Game is a post apocalyptic scenario game that was developed for preppers. The game comes in a plastic case and consists of 52 cards along with 2 two cards.


According to the web site, here are 10 reasons to purchase the game:

1. It opens up in depth discussions regarding what kind of world we’ll live in after the collapse of society.
2. It shows to you where others in your group draw the line between their will to live vs their own morals.
3. It helps you create a mutual understanding among the members of your bugout group when it comes to who’s more suitable for what role after the collapse of society.
4. It helps you discuss with significant others what kind of survival philosophy your camp will have after the collapse and why that philosophy is important.
5. The game will raise an awareness regarding other areas of prepping that perhaps you didn’t think about.
6. Practice your barter, negotiating and leadership skills to perfection on the subjects that matter most.
7. Conflicted: The Survival Card Game is like a mirror that exposes your real survival philosophy to yourself.
8. Over 50 scenarios that will reveal how unprepared emotionally humanity really is to the collapse of modern civilization.
9. See what other preppers all over the world think a post apocalyptic society will be like, as they submit scenarios and we publish more decks periodically. Have a way to bring this knowledge to your bugout group.
10. It exposes who the true leader of your bugout group really is. Hope you and your group can handle that….

The creators of the game say that its to educate, entertain and inspire people and I agree, but I would also add challenge. I had read through some of the cards and knew that I liked the game, but wasn't sure how others would react.

I brought the game to a small group function and showed it to a friend of mine who I knew was interested in survival/doomsday themes. He looked at it several times with great interest, reading the rules and thumbing through the deck, finally asking anyone if they wanted to try it. After he and I explained what the game was about, we played a few rounds.

I have to say that I was surprised to see that there were non-prepper-types that were interested in playing and the game took off.

As players received their information from the card and explained their logic and reasoning, a lot of discussion took place. During this time, we learned a lot about each other and the extents that people will go to protect and provide for themselves, their friends and their families.

As a group we decided to host a follow-up "apocalypse party", which I am hoping will provide another avenue to speak with people about prepping.

This is a highly recommended game as a great way to facilitate discussions as well as gauge likemindedness on survival topics. It will challenge you in a fun way and allow you to gain insights to others and their survival philosophies.

Proper Preparedness Pays Off

Today is January 7, 2014 and it's 0° on our back porch. Our phone Internet and cable TV are out, which is not a really bad thin, since it gives one other (more important) things to do.

This was the second in what has been a small series of events to test our preparednessss. It's the first event that I would like to address.

Last night we had company (our oldest daughter's boyfriend). With no warning, our power went off. Immediately, the kids sprang into action. With the whole house in darkness, someone grabbed an emergency flashlight that was illuminating the kids hallway. After making sure that everyone was OK and accounted for, I went to grab the flashlight in my hallway as our youngest boy was on his way to get our "Lights Out Kit". Our oldest daughter took her little sister (who was scared) to be with my wife in our room.

We broke out out "Lights Out Kit", which is essentially a Wal-Mart tote, labeled and kept in a location that everyone in the family knows.

Inside the kit are flashlights, candles, batteries, matches, lighters, extension cords, light sticks, electronic camping lanterns, and several battery powered radios with AM/FM, weather and shortwave frequencies.

We then distributed flashlights to all of the people in the house and got our oil lamps from a hutch in the dining room, lit them, placed them in the living room, where there was also a fire going. We then had a quick family meeting laying down our action plan which was who was going to do what along with some safety procedures such as no one goes outside without a partner, etc. Following this, two of us went (cautiously) outside to size up the extent of the problem, which looked to be impacting our entire neighborhood.

After all that, we broke out our Family Disaster binder, which among other things has the contact information for the electric company. We called the electric company to report the outage and with noting left to do, my youngest son and I went outside to check our "light discipline" to see how much light was "leaking" from the house. This is not a big problem in this situation, but in a larger one, having the only house with some form of lighting may make one a target.

After rejoining the others in the living room, we broke out a game called Apples to Apples and played until the lights came on.

Our daughter's boyfriend was eager to help the whole time, but there was really nothing else to do. As we were going through the outage, I explained to him what we were doing, what the kit was, what our Preparedness Plan was, etc. so he would be aware and maybe be able to bring back some information and preparedness planning to his family.

Lessons learned:

• We need more emergency flashlights (the ones that come on in a power outage) around the house. We used to have more, but they were never replaced as they died.
• We need more lamp oil and wicks. Although we were fine and do have some spares, thoughts go though ones mind about what would happen in a much longer outage.
• Having others witness your plan during an event is a great way to positively spread the message of preparedness.
• When you step up to lead in an emergency, other see that you know what to do and will follow the plan.

I hope reading this helps you to think more about preparedness!