Wild Edibles in Utah Training

Utah is abundant with wild edible plants, often referred to as weeds in our yard or garden and also more nutritional than what we have in the grocery store. Many of the wild edibles available to us are not native but were brought here by pioneers from Europe and the mediterranean. Of course many of the wild edibles are native to the area as well. The Sego Lily was used by natives for centuries as a staple food and helped save the lives of the pioneers when they came to this state starving in 1848 and 1849. The bulbs they harvested were plentiful and generally larger than we see today. This is likely because the native peoples harvested the plants often and that action helped the plants continue to produce just are caring for our gardens helps our vegetables grow. Now that we leave the native plants alone and don’t know how to use them they often show very little fruit.

Proper foraging is something that we must understand in order to continue to use these plants wisely and for us and the plants to benefit. Learning about these wild edibles and how and when to harvest them will make us better stewards of the land around us and will also prepare us for tough times or simply allow us to live more healthy now. You would be surprised how many things are readily available to us in the wilderness of Utah, even in the desert. Some of the great spring edibles include, Mariposa lily, Yellow bells, Wild onion, Storksbill, Dune Evening primrose, Indian potato, Curly dock, Blue mustard and Wild spinach often known as Lamb’s quarter.

Come learn with Mike Wood from WildUtahEdibles.com and supplement your diet. Learn how to use the plants that grow easily around you and learn what weeds you can throw in your salad. You will be amazed and thrilled by the many edible and indeed delicious plants there are around you.

Our next wild edibles tour is April 26th at 12:00 noon. Exact location and details will be made available through our facebook page closer to the actual date but this tour will be in the Utah desert either in Saratoga Springs or in Eagle Mountain. Bring your friends and bring the family. This is an event you don’t want to miss.

Mike Wood
www.WildUtahEdibles.com
https://www.facebook.com/wildutahedibles

Blacksmithing as a prepping skill

AvilI’ve always been interested in Blacksmithing, both as a link to past skills and as a possibly useful prepping skill. Early in 2012 I began looking into how I might be able to start learning this craft.

I quickly found ABANA, the Artist Blacksmith Association of North America. As the organization’s name might imply, most people doing blacksmithing today are doing it as an art or for ornamentation purposes. Through ABANA, I was pointed to our local Utah ABANA chapter, the Bonnevile Forge Council.

This local chapter has meetings on odd numbered months for its members and those interested in learning about the club and blacksmithing. These meetings are often centered around demonstrations of hands on projects. The club members try to make it less intimidating for newcomers who have never heated metal to 2000 degrees before.

I was able to attend the March 2012 meeting and meet many of the club members. I haven’t missed a meeting since. The next meeting for the club will be this coming Saturday in Provo and focuses on teaching forge welding. I hope any of you who are interested will be able to make it out. Please see the meetings link above for details.

If you are not able to make it to the meeting this weekend, the club president is hosting a short class on making flint strikers which will teach several basic blacksmithing skills. This three hour class will take place the evening of Wednesday, May 15, 2013. More information is here.

We recently posted about an all day introductory blacksmithing class taught by the club President and Mark Henderson, both accomplished blacksmiths. I was informed that the class filled up quickly, mainly due to interest from those who heard about the class through this site. I’d like to hear any feedback any attendees have on the class as well as gauge interest in additional introductory classes and other courses of instruction.

Making Elk Hamburger With Added Beef Fat

Making Elk Burger with Added Beef FatElk is very lean meat.  If you grind it straight into burger it tends to be very chewy and needs water added when you cook it since there is so little fat in it.  In order to make it cook and taste better, we like to add some beef fat to our elk burger.  There are a couple of different ways you can get fat added to your elk.  The first is to add straight beef fat, and the second is to add fatty ground beef.  We’ll cover both methods and the math involved with them in this post.

What’s that you say?  Math?  Yep.  You know in algebra class when your teacher said you’d use this someday in your real life?  Well, here’s your chance!  (I know some of you are secretly rejoicing.)

Method #1: Elk burger with added beef fat.

You will need: Elk meat, meat grinder, and chunks of beef fat.  We get ours from the local grocery meat department.  We just asked the guy if he could save us some beef fat and we got it for no cost.  You might have to pay a little something, but it shouldn’t be too much. Continue reading “Making Elk Hamburger With Added Beef Fat”

Fixing it up: Refinishing a Table

Preparing for this past holiday season gave cause to some concern in my family.  Recently moved into a new home that is larger than our old one, my wife has the itch to furnish. Add to that the fact that her extended family was coming to visit to celebrate Christmas at our house this desire became much stronger.  There was one issue, however.  The fact that we had just moved into a new house, meant that our discretionary funds are and we are unable to purchase anything new.

The largest of concerns for my wife was our dining room table. Inherited from her grandmother, it hadn’t handled the years of abuse our kids have given.  Pitted, scratched, and discolored the table had truly seen better days.  My wife was really looking into what could be done to replace this thing. Dreams of counter-height, new colors, and more seating area were frequently discussed, but the reality of the budget didn’t leave her room to get what she wanted.

This then left me in the position of being able to work a little with my hands in order to make my wife a whole lot happier. Continue reading “Fixing it up: Refinishing a Table”

When to buy: Grocery Sale Cycles

Part of being a good prepper is not just buying extra food, but the art of learning how to buy right. Purchasing foods especially can be an art form for knowing when to get the best prices, and best quality. For instance, it’s usually a bad idea to buy a vegetable who’s harvest is about to happen, as you know that means you are getting what’s left from last year. Your food won’t taste as good, and it won’t store as long as it’s already got a year down. Grocery stores know this, so many frugal shoppers have studied the common grocery sale cycles to understand how the manufacturers and stores are working together to move their product most efficiently. Continue reading “When to buy: Grocery Sale Cycles”

Sniper Training – Hitting 1200 Yards out in 3 days!

Have you ever wanted to get real Military training for Long Range Shooting?  I did!  So I went to Sniper School with DOA Tactical and within 3 days I was hitting targets 1200 yards away – and that was just Level 1 training!  By far, the best $800.00 I’ve spent!  When the long range practice started, I had a hard time hitting 500 yards out – so you can see the rapid improvement I had.  Here’s how it went.

Continue reading “Sniper Training – Hitting 1200 Yards out in 3 days!”

Suturing a scalp

Suturing is an important skill to have.  Knowing how to properly sew somebody shut isn’t something you need every day, but when you need it – you need it!  Sure, right now we can just run to the doctor, but what if you’re way in the outback or things have collapsed and good medical care isn’t easily available.  Suturing allows you to quickly close up a wound to help stop bleeding, help prevent infection and to lower the risk of damaging a wound while trying to get to better care – if needed.  There are plenty of ways and places to get training in suturing without going through medical school.  It’s easy to do once you learn, you just need to look around and find a class you can take.

Continue reading “Suturing a scalp”

Quick Skinning, Cleaning and Butchering a Deer

These days, most of us drop our game off at the butcher on the way home and go back a few days later and pick it up in nice white butcher paper. That’s all fine and good for now, but what are we going to do if we have to hunt for survival and can’t just drop the animal off to let somebody else do all the work? I’ve done it myself before and I’m sure I could do it again without any real problems, but if you’re hunting for survival the last thing you want to do is ruin your meat by doing something stupid!

Continue reading “Quick Skinning, Cleaning and Butchering a Deer”

Gold Prospecting Course in Utah Valley

I was recently perusing Utah Valley University’s web site and found an interesting course on Gold Prospecting offered through the Community Continuing Education program. Given the current high price of gold and the fact that here in Utah we really don’t need to travel far to try finding it, this seems like a great course for a Utah Prepper.

Course Information

GOLD PROSPECTING FOR FUN OR PROFIT

Only 5 percent of the world’s gold has been discovered. With gold currently trading at over $1500 an ounce, panning for gold has made a real comeback. Learn new methods of panning gold that you can use 12 months of the year. Fee includes prospecting equipment you take home with you. No early registration discount. CEUs: 0.15 Hours: 1.50

At $39 this seems like a bargain for an evening of instruction on what could be a fun and profitable hobby. Here is a Link to the course. I hope to see you there!

Getting the Blues – Dealing with Corrosion


My Blued Hawken

Gun ownership is a long-term investment which requires proper maintenance and cleaning in order to keep your guns working at their peak performance. A primary concern with long term storage of any gun — especially those stored in humid climates — is corrosion. Preventing corrosion is a multi-step process, starting with proper care of your firearm in the field, and followed with proper storage.  However, even if you take all the necessary precautions and care possible with your firearm, and even in the best of situations, if you use it corrosion or wearing will probably happen. How you deal with the results of such wear is the purpose of this article. Continue reading “Getting the Blues – Dealing with Corrosion”