Halloween Survival Advice

Beware the red machete. So says The Walking Dead. It didn't work out so well for the Doner Party. They survived... but as social outcasts....but that is another post. I have given permission for group members to eat me if necessary.

Its a time sensitive post for all you hungry urban dwellers...not opposed to radical recycling. The week after Halloween...head..to the Martha Stuart side of town...to collect all of the decorative pumpkins sitting in the green bins. Many of them will be un cut...as nothing more than waistfull decorations. This is a seed bank and several hundred pounds of food.

My least appreciated yet most important survival advice is about the SHTF Tactical pumpkin. Oh no. I never make jokes about survival....

Gourds. We owe this to the First Nations and yet we treat it as a dumb arsed ritual. This is food that stores easily through the winter, grows easily, and is easy to get seeds from. Stupid Simple Survival. It takes no skill to grow gourds. I still have 4 butternut squash in the back room from ....last year.

This year, we started late, travelling during planting season. I threw in a few as Hail Mary plants. It wasn't a big harvest like last year where we stored over 80 assorted squashes, using them up only as they started to go bad. Good Human food. Good pig food. Chickens only like it cooked.. Its for soups, pies and mashed up like potatoes. Zucchinis grow bigger than pumpkins if you leave them, and bake up nice with some butter and brown sugar. All these dehydrate down to next to near nothing for storage space.

This is a part three about my Frankenstein Greenhouse. Part one- http://internationalpreppersnetwork.net/viewtopic.php?f=22&t=5302
part two- http://internationalpreppersnetwork.net/viewtopic.php?f=22&t=5327
Cutting gourds with a good sized stem and placing them in the greenhouse allows them to sun harden before storage. They continue to grow and will heal up many knicks in their skin. You can do this in the field but frost damage is real damage that will encourage them to rot early. Save the seeds. You can eat them for protein or replant them. Replanting is better.
That's all for now. Here is my finished greenhouse outdoor kitchen, of recycled glass...with hardening squashes.

Go out and have fun this year...while you still can. Boo. Kiss her for me. Happy Haloween