Thread: Getting back to living off the land.....

Good on you Grandpamac

I think I might still have my original copy somewhere, but I found another at the local Founders Book Fair

Originally Posted by Coote

Good on you Grandpamac

I think I might still have my original copy somewhere, but I found another at the local Founders Book Fair

Still carry mine in the top pocket of my pack, got it as a birthday present in 1966 while living in Nelson (from memory.) and it looks just like the one in your picture.

Greetings Coote,
I see yours is an early copy probably the same as my first copy. After yours was printed there were 5 more reprints before a limited revision in 1978. The revision seems to be limited to the replacement of the section on Mountain and Bush Huts with one on exposure and the addition of one on Helicopters. A little bit of useless information for the Trivia minded.
Regards Grandpamac.

Greetings All,
We all know the tags we use to describe our favored sport ie Armed Tramping, Tea Drinking etc. Perhaps for a more PC version of hunting we could use Armed Social Distancing or Social Distancing and Forest Bathing with a Rifle or some such. What do you think?
Regards Grandpamac.

Greetings Max and Phil,
Iv'e just been up at my Social Distancing Bench Rest behind the house to check the zero on a couple of rifles. Later I may prep some cases at my Self Isolation Loading Bench. I imagine if I leave the door open that would be a Social Distancing Loading Bench. Thanks for your suggestion of Naked Hunter Phil. My distant ancestors used to hunt wearing a couple of metres of tartan cloth, a belt and little of anything else. I suppose that would be a Semi Naked Tartan Wearing Hunter. Our Clan has a rather nice dark green hunting tartan and I always thought about having a kilt made in it for hunting. I don't think I would go as far as my ancestors. As you said social distancing would not have been a problem for them.
Regards Grandpamac.

Greetings All,
Well it has happened. 11:59 PM tonight the drawbridge will be pulled up and the Good Ship New Zealand will bob along by itself in the South Pacific isolated to an extent from the rest of the planet. Based on what I have read on the Forum and especially this thread I think that hunters and outdoor people are in pretty good shape to make the best of it. Meat in the freezer and some vegetables in the garden means we are insulated to an extent from the effects of the numb scull panic buyers. Consuming interest in our sport and hobbies means we are unlikely to sit around feeling sorry for ourselves and we all know what to do with an unexpected day off. As a Government certified old bastard I have seen a few tough periods including being laid off at one time and it always gets better. This one may be the toughest any of us have seen to date but it too will end. Just keep calm and carry on hunting and gardening and making sausages and, well you know the rest.
Regards Grandpamac.

Yep Grandpamac, this too shall pass.

I stopped regularly reading the news and watching the TV many years ago. I may sometimes scan the headlines on the internet, but I find it best not to become immersed in world thought. I firmly believe that our thinking affects/creates the 'reality' that we experience. What we focus on grows in our experience. What we resist, persists.

You seem to have a good sense of humour. That is so important for your own well-being, and for the upliftment and encouragement of those around you.

Keep posting !!!

Greetings All,
Well here we are, confined to barracks by order of the PM due to being an old codger. Sitting here on our small holding (8 ha) with a rifle cupboard full of unfinished let alone yet to be started projects plenty of components. I am interpreting the 50 km to the Lakes Road car park as not amounting to travel within NZ, week days of course. I think I am looking forward to it. How about you?
Grandpamac.

Went into Lockdown Level 4 Nanna Mode yesterday..... 8 jars of apple/chilli chutney, started 2 more jars of apple cider vinegar and strained off the elderflower, garlic, thyme and peppercorn infused apple cider vinegar I made in December... Fencing and writing today....... Oh; and a sumac seasoned goat leg in the slow cooker....

Lockdown is pretty much just another day for me. Work-wise; I can still do interviews for my articles but they have to be phone or video and I have to ask the farmers to supply the photos.


The start of apple cider vinegar


Sumac seasoned goat leg in the slow cooker

After 4 days the first batch of apple cider vinegar is beginning to ferment :-)

This thread will be a god send to some folk on here, in the coming months.
Set forth and bottled the neighbors apple tree, today. ( being sure to keep social distancing rules in force of course.)
So we have 10 kg of fresh apples in the fridge for immediate use and a dozen jars that usually keep us going through the winter, Fejoas are coming along and there is a plethora of recipes out there for chutney's and bottling.
We did have the intention to make apple cider ( me and the neighbor ) but i will have to leave that to him now, hopefully in 3 or 4 weeks there will be a bunch of bottles sitting on my door step.
I must search out my little orange book too!
Good work on the apple cider vinegar i hadnt factored that in, I could make some from the peelings from the preserving today!

I remember hearing on TV; either river Cottage or Jamie Oliver, that 85% of the UK's food is imported. That's an amazing lack of food security..... I've always said that it will only take a ruckus between North Korea and the US, a pandemic or a flare-up in Saudi Arabia to send us into this sort of situation.

I'm no prepper or conspiracy theorist, but have always seen how fragile our society is. Especially so with the amount of debt people need to take on to buy a house. And of course the "I must have the latest and greatest/annual overseas holiday" mentality that prevails......

Bumblefoot... have you ever tried to test how strong your vinegar is? I've made it too, but I haven't been confident about using it for preserving as I don't know how 'acidic' it is compared to shop-bought vinegar. I asked a chemist once about testing vinegar, and he didn't come up with any simple tests that I could readily use.

Litmus paper?

I don't know enough about testing for acid. Litmus paper would show that acid is present, but is the acid percentage enough to penetrate all the food in the jar and be effective at preventing the growth of organisms? We use plenty of store-bought vinegar, but it would be great to experiment with using our own.

We use cheap white vinegar for a lot of the cleaning around the house. I especially like using it 'before and after' to clean the kitchen bench when processing an animal. We keep a spray bottle of undiluted white vinegar for such purposes.