Canning the antelope

That is 108 jars of canned antelope!
Most of it I rawpacked.  We had all but one antelope processed into ground meat.  Well worth the cost!  I had 1 antelope I had to cut up myself, & did in chunks.  It took me an hour to cut it up & trim the fat!
I tried making chili with some of it, & my son LOVED it.  That gave me the idea, why not make some chili & sloppy joes & can that?  That way I don't have to worry about having the ingredients, & I have some ready made meals!  So I did.  8 batches of sloppy joes & 6 batches of chili later, I was wondering if I was insane.  That was a LOT more work than just rawpacking the meat!  So I settled for that much & did the rest the easy way.  Hopefully I'll be glad I made some into meals later; right now I'm just exhausted!  Even with 2 canners, it took a long time!  But how awesome is it to have that jars of meat in my storage?!  That's meat for a meal every 3 days for a year!  And since it's just my son & I, I figure I can get 2 meals from each can when put with something else (ie buns for sloppy joes).  My son said to tell everyone to try dipping my french bread recipe (see post in Sept) in antelope chili.  He was a fan!

Hunting for food storage

I've discovered that some kinds of hunting can be a great way to build your food storage.  I come from a hunting family.  My uncle is a talented hunting guide.  Last year he took us antelope hunting.  I didn't get one myself last year, but everyone was happy to give me their meat.  We took it to a processing place, & I discovered it was only $1.20 a pound to get it ground up like ground beef.  That was pretty cheap, so I did that & then canned most of it.  We loved it!!  I noticed as I browned the meat, that is has much less fat than beef; even less than really lean beef.  But how did it taste?  I'd heard bad things about antelope meat.  It tasted great!  I made tacos, & put it spaghetti, & my son had no idea it wasn't beef.  The only thing I noticed was it takes a bit more seasoning than beef to get it to taste the same.
So is it cost effective?  I figured after the canning jars, & antelope tags & processing, it was still under $2 a pound.  Now if you have to figure in gas & staying at a motel & things like that, it might end up not being worth it.  But I have family who wants to hunt anyway.  It's a hobby.  So the cost to me was just the processing & jars.  I can't buy lean ground beef for that cheap, so it was a real bargain.

So this year I went hunting again, & we got more tags now that we knew we liked the meat.  Our group got 10 antelope on our trip, and I shot my first one!  My uncle did have a couple of tips for keeping the meat tasting good.  Don't get the antelope running around before you shoot it.  We got about half our kills from far away to avoid this (my shot was 680 yards).  The other thing he does, is cut the meat off the antelope immediately, rather than gutting it & taking the carcass to hang for days somewhere.  He took the meat off the legs, ribs & back strap, put them in large plastic bags in the cooler.  Not only does that help the meat flavor, it's faster & easier for the hunter.
Many hunters just want to hunt, & are glad to share the meat.   I'll post some of my favorite antelope recipes in the next few days.  And maybe I'll have to try deer next!

I went to the self reliance expo!

http://www.selfrelianceexpo.com/salt-lake-city/
I wish I'd had time to stay & take a bunch of the cool looking classes.  That would have been awesome!  But I was tied up most of the day at a hearing with my ex!
We had a great time seeing all the booths.  The Appleseed Project had pellet gun shooting for kids there.  My son loved it.  There was a wide variety of booths.  Tons of food storage samples.  Lots of water filters.  Some great water storage tanks I hadn't seen, including underground ones.  Intriguing!  And lots of booths on solar power.  I did buy a couple things I hadn't seen before, & will review them on here.  If you are in the area, we had fun & thought it was worth the time.  Even more so if you can take some of the free classes!

Free when there is no doctor ebook

http://www.hesperian.org/publications_download.php
This book & the others on their site are often distributed to places where there isn't regular medical care.  Since I talked about having a survival library, this is a great place to start.  I printed the doctor book (I printed it both sides, & 2 pages per side to make it thinner).  Now it's in my survival library for whenever I need it!
I got paper free or very cheap at back to school sales, & I have very very cheap printer ink.  So it's an almost free resource!

Start a survival library

Last winter we had a night the power went off.  We started wondering things like "how long can we leave the stuff in our freezer if we don't open it".  Several times we started to go to the computer to look it up, only to realize we couldn't look it up with no power!  That's why I'm keeping a survival library.  It includes books I've bought & notes I've made at classes.  And it includes a lot of info I've printed online.  Every time I read info I think I might want, I hint "print", & then put the pages on a shelf.  I hope to someday really organize all those pages into binders.  But I'd rather have that info where I can always get it, than wait until I have time to organize. So keep that in mind!  Print instructions from blogs.  Grab a good edible herb book if you see it.  There's lots of practical knowledge out there we don't know.  We may not have time to learn it all right now, but we can start storing it!

Self Reliance Expo in Utah this weekend

http://www.selfrelianceexpo.com/salt-lake-city/
Friday & Saturday, Oct 7 & 8.  Tickets are cheaper if you buy online.

RADkids & RADwomens self defense

I'd also like to mention 2 outstanding safety/self defense programs.
The first is RADkids.  It is for children ages 5-12.  The kids are taught all aspects of safety, from fire, bullying, abuse & strangers.  It fixes the flaws in the usual "stranger danger" approach.  Everything is taught, & then practiced in drills.  This gets much better retention in the children's heads.  They are also taught self defense skills they can use to defend themselves.  Children all over the country have used these skills to fight off would be abuctors. These techniques are specifically designed for children to use, easily & effectively.  And the class is very good at helping prevent abuse from people the children know as well.
The last day of class a policeman in a padded suit comes for them to practice their skills on.  This is so empowering for the children!  After the class the kids know how to keep themselves safe, rather than you standing over them all the time.  And since it's a nation wide program, they can return & retake the class free anywhere in the nation until their 13th birthday.  Before this training, only about 10% of children will react physically to protect themselves.  After, about 90% will.  Pretty amazing for 10 hours of training!  I truly believe this is an inspired program.  I was so impressed I saved for months so I could pay for the training & equipment to teach this class to homeschoolers, & other kids who didn't have access to it.  Interestingly, the Utah director got his training & brought the program here just a few weeks before Elizabeth Smart was abducted.  He said that when he went to the Smart house after she was taken, the other children were still answering the door without knowing who was there.  After their training, they stopped doing that.  Elizabeth Smart & her father are both strong proponents of the RADkids program.  It is possible that with this training, her & her sister might have reacted differently in their bedroom & it may have been a different story.  Our first usual reaction is shock, & we loose vaulable time.
Their website is www.radkids.org.  You can maybe get the program put in your child's school, or find a private class.  If you're in Utah, email me I can help you get a class.  yulebean@gmail.com

RADwomens is the same thing, except for women.  You also learn physical skills & get to practice on the man in the padded suit on the last day.  Even if you carry a gun, this is a must take class for all women.  Their website is http://www.rad-systems.com/.  Hopefully you can find a class near you.  If you're in Utah I know the Lehi Legacy center has them at least once a year.

I have opportunities for my son & I to do all sorts of wonderful classes & activities.  These two are at the TOP of my list.  I wouldn't wait a day longer than necessary to take these classes.