I'll have to try that one, sounds treatfull. Since the hickory nuts are in season I decided to experiment a bit. My wife had picked up some fresh small leaf spinich so I decided to make a semi light salad. Take 3 tablespoons of olive oil, saute up a half palm full of coursley chopped hickory nuts add 2 twists from pepper mill and remove from heat. Carefull not to over do it, there is a fine line between a roasty flavor and a burnty flavor. I like to place saute pan on top of ice bath to cool it quickly, to advoid burning nuts. once oil nut mixture is cooled, toss in oil nut mixture,a dash or two of cider vinegar, a touch of garlic and salt to taste. Serve immediatly, if you let it sit too long vinegar will cook the spinache. If you are not a fon of spinache, you can use whatever green you prefer.Stu http://s165.photobucket.com/albums/u64/hemlock77/

Sugar substitute. I have used Stevia (sweet leaf or sugar plant) as a substitute for honey or sugar in my tea. If you call around to nurseries you may be able to find it. Also I an trying to find Lemon Verbena to add to my tea... Rose hips, my own raspberry and tea leaves next year...
This is very cool.

The Joy of Cooking. It is the only cookbook that I have two of them. One I bought about 40 years ago and the new one about 5 years ago. It explains lots of stuff. It also has a ton of recipes...
The best advise about cooking - keep it simple. I could eat for the rest of my life with about 15 recipes... Most of the time I start with a can of soup and then add stuff to it...
A great meal - something raw (small salad), a vegetable (generally steamed), a starch (you can microwave a potato in about 3 minutes) and some kind of protein (for me Meat).

One quickie... Get a rack of lamb - cut into individual lamb chops. Marinate in Italian Salad Dressing and a bunch of garlic - about one clove (sliced) per chop for one hour.... if your like garlic maybe two hours... Grill until med rare.... Hot grill - thin chops maybe one minute on a side. Do not over cook. You can always put it back on the grill if more heat is needed. And if your like me, add a little Emerald's spice when their on the grill to kick it up a notch...

I picked up a used 1953 edition of The Joy of Cooking (just because I like anything older)

I like leftovers. I will generally cook a large meal and have a serving for lunch or supper. The entrée sized Zip-lock or Glad containers make great single serving sizes. Any way a simple meal that will net you four servings or four easy meals for later is; two cans of vegetables, one pound of ground meat, and hamburger helper of your choice. Any ground meat will do. I prefer mixed vegetables, but hominy or green beans work equally as well. Then there is chicken helper and tuna helper, even fried rice for the cooking challenged. The above meal may not be the healthiest meal, but it is tasty,quick, and easy.

Thats is a fine delicacy I haven't had since I was a teenager.  That just might change.

rocklock thanks for that great recipe site. I had the best laugh I've had in months.
Only 8 more days till class! Happy Thanks Giving Day to everyone-God is good and faithfull.
Jo

being from west virginia, I have eaten alot of squirrels, my biggest complaint is it takes alot more energy to kill/clean then you get out of them. If I cant get a couple of meals from it, I have a hard time convincing myself its worth the effort to hunt/kill/clean. though I am sure as soon as my life depended on it, the squirrel gravy would be flowing once more..

I got a chance to look through the cookbook Dave recommended this past weekend. Wow, it's perfect for a culinary imbecile such as myself. Not only does it have recipes, but it's full of tips and tricks that covers about anything I could possibly imagine. Just way more information than I would want to list. Basically, it is the cookbook version of the invaluable Pocket Ref.

Very cool choice Dave.

Yea, I know a crock pot is a must have item, though I'll have to weigh in the issue of power consumption. However, I do plan on building a solar cooker. It's one of those "put out in the mornin', ready in the evening" types of cooking methods, but then, I suppose a crock is as well. Granted, my days would be chosen for me as to when I could cook with it, but I can live with that.

Funny thing is, (well, funny to me) I realized I'm going to have to concern myself with bears now. Last thing I want is to come home, and Yogi has eaten my dinner!!!

Things i learned about black bears in last 4 year.
Burn your trash ore dont leave out for them ASAP.
if you puting trash in the back your truck i gartee it be all over the ground next day ahhaha.
As i found out water jugs outside make nice girft for them open up to see whats inside.
And if you need M90s ore pack firecrackers i get them for next time up your way ore find some buy for you.
A pack firecracker dont harm the bear and sound like a gun to scare them off.
Stay away from baby becuse momy will kill you.
And when a bear grunts and get on back pawl legs get the hell way as fast you can bears can run 35 miles per hour just to warn you.
Bears are not hard to live with i like to see them just not on my property
I had one small one open up water jugs and would hang out the back my property to scratch the trees to say this my area well pack firecrackers told him it was mine get lost.
bears are cool i love the wild life out here that what make lifeup here different then the city.
Only thing i dont like the coons they will come and look for food i had kill one this last summer.
Take some picture if you get the Land Rod.
hope things go good for you.

Years ago when we lived out in the middle of nowhere, we learned to wash all garbage and, if it smelled like anything at all, burn it now. As for putting it in the back of the truck, Chad you're right, they'll get to it. Dogs help a lot but won't keep bears out of your trash if it smells like trash.

We had a camp set up on the upper end of that property, about 1/4 mile through the brush away from the homestead. We used to hike up there and take advantage of all the stuff that we left permanently, frypan, tent, lawn chairs, sturdy ice chest full of essentials. For a year it remained unmolested by vermin because of our good housekeeping and it was really cool to get away from the radio and Coleman lanterns in a cool little spot right beside the spring. Finally it happened... The bear started by ripping through our old canvas Army tent, mangled the lawn chairs, tore open the ice chest with the sleeping bags and routed them, drug the "provisions" ice chest some 50 yards through the spring and out in the brush where he got it opened and continued another 50 yards or so, stopping to investigate each new treasure (I can understand cooking oil but why would a bear chew up a perfectly good fork?). His stopping point told the story of why he did not continue to the bottom of the supplies. He found the coffee can with the matches inside and appears to have chewed them to the striking point and then chewed them enough to put out the fire. Darnedest thing to see a mass of broken and burned kitchen matches, still in the original box, laying there in the pine needles in the middle of summer and no forest fire. Apparently there is some merit to the flame-dampening affect of bear saliva.

I want to try a little different approach and see how it works out. I'm thinking about using an electric fencer surrounding areas of interest to bears. I could be wrong, but I got a feeling getting an unexpected zap will be incentive enough to move on to other opportunities.

I was talking to one the cops wife at the laundry mat they came home the bears would be laying on there porch ahah it was like 600 pound male.
They chew threw plastic and break in to almost ever thing.
I just has this male bear try to play whos land is it a pack of fire cracker and M90 and i won.
Clap your hands and yelling throwing rocks work to ore boat horn on hand helps
I chased one up the road with my jeep thought whos big black dog is that ahhaha
i also went out with axe in hand there afraid loud sound.
Some the hunter at work had theres on web cam chew up his web cam box becuse they smell humans on it.
Rod there was web sight sell this thing cost allot that make all kinds loud sounds scare them off.
Once you clear the land mark a few trees they stop come around there except when your not there.
Rod there cute cudly with 3 inch claws that rip your skin off if you mess with them ahah
I seen where that nut job in alaska the old man had on web cam the black bear will take on a grizzly.
Any one hear if that old man alaska was removed ore ate by one his bear he feed he get right in craws to them realy crazy guy.
Hes did get a nice bite last time i heard now he more skitish to them and if bear reads that they eat him sooner ore later,
There no worry as long your wide awake and know your in there envirment bears are fun and pain the ass the same time.
last resort if you feel at danger and one come around rangers will move them trap them but most the time the bear comes back many miles away pretty smart teddys.

I have my pastures surrounded by electric fence for my horses. It's plenty powerfull, I've seen it put my 1500lbs gelding on his knees the first time he touched it. (Ok, I know I shouldn't, but still laugh at that one).

Anyway, the bears around my place walk right through it like it's not even there.

Best course of action is just don't leave anything around they might want. At least around here, unless they get really hungry (due to a dry year or bad berry season) they never bother anyone, or anything.

However, they can be one of the most dangerous, ignorant and cunning animals:

I have 2 family members that have been charged or attacked (my grandfather was run up a tree) by black bears, both seemingly unprovoked. Luckily both were armed, and both survived.

I was also bushwacked by one once, it snuck right up behind me, to within 20 ft while I was sitting taking a break from hunting. The only reason I knew, was that my dog (tied right beside me) finally smelled or heard it and turned.
I turned, faced off with it, it sized me up, decided I was too skinny or something (I was 14 at the time) and then disappeared back into the woods.
The bear never made a sound damn sound, or at least I didn't hear it over my thundering heart, or the sound of me crapping my pants!

Since then, I always carry slug loads for the shotgun (when bird hunting) and if I stop, I back myself against a tree.

A liqueur is an alcoholic beverage that has been flavored with fruit, herbs, nuts, spices, flowers, or cream and bottled with added sugar. Liqueurs are typically quite sweet; they are usually not aged for long but may have resting periods during their production to allow flavors to marry.

This is a very simple easy formula. We got it from a bed and breakfast.

Ingredients

1 Gal jar with a tight fitting lid.
Enough ripe peaches to fill the jar - about 12 medium.
2 1/2 pounds of white sugar
about 2 quarts of inexpensive Gin

Process - wash the peaches - pack them into the jar - then fill with the sugar - then add the Gin to the top. Put the top on and turn the jar several times to help dissolve the sugar. Turn the jar daily for a week. As the peaches become smaller, add more Gin - to the top. If you use red skinned peaches the pink will color the liquid. Very cool. Turn the jar once a week for 3 months, total. Then pour the liquid into small bottles with very fancy labels. Enjoy... Makes 3/4 of a gallon If managed carefully, 4 gallon will last all winter. Total cost - about 16 bucks depending on the cost of the Gin. Note; do not use Vodka -the end product is not as good.

Other fruits that can be used... Apricots, Nectarines, Plums, Cherries (only fill the jar 3/4 full of Cherries because the flavor is so powerful, you will also mash a few to get the right color).

I wait until the peak season is almost over the get the best flavored fruit. I have taken my gallon jar into the store (fruit stand) to get the right numbers of fruit. I have gotten strange looks but as long as I buy the fruit I doubt that anyone could complain - no one has yet.

I plan on trying cantaloupe, blueberries, huckleberries and a few other fruits...
Good Luck

We have the Earth Machine composter. It's great, and the bears flip it and "stir" the contents about every week or so. Polite bears pick through without leaving a mess and then I just replace the top. Saves me a step. We also bought the bearproof cans with the screw on lids. IF the lids are put on correctly, the bears cannot get in them.
Love the recipes you guys are coming up with. Dave we used to use raspberries and raisins in that same method, but I love the peach idea!
Right now I am working up some sourdough starter. haven't made it in years. I used whole wheat flour to get it going ( more wild yeasts in the whole grain flours) and then after a week of feeding switched to white flour. helps control the organisms. Basically; I use 1/4 Cwarm water to 6 tablespoons flour. I dump out half every morning and feed it again same ratio. Same thing at night. ( so every 12 hours) If you don't dump some you'll wind up with a HUGE amount of starter. The starter should be doubling between feedings. After about 3 weeks, it gets refridgerated. Before baking take it out and let it get to room temp. It can be fed now. for use the next day.
Got any good bread recipes using a starter? muffins? anything?