Waiter there's a F.R.O.G. in my sandwich

"At Motel 6 in Amish Country I wonder if they leave the light on for you?"
~ Jay London

My wife & I enjoy vacationing in Amish regions. There are many reasons.
1. An admiration for a people who truly live according to the dictates of their religion.
2. A chance to learn "primitive" survival skills from a life without electricity.
3. Great food

It seems every time we visit the Amish we find some new food item. One year it was hot, buttery pretzels sold at a roadside stand - the best pretzels ever. Another year it was Trail Bologna served hot in a sandwich. This year we "discovered" F.R.O.G jam. With a name like that, it's got to be good? The name stands for the flavor ingredients: Figs, Raspberry, Orange Peel, and Ginger. When we finished the jar we'd bought, we tried to duplicate it at home. We started with a jar of fig jam, warmed it in a pot, and added raspberries, grated orange peel, grated ginger, and some pectin to help it set again. Sealed it in a larger jar, and sterilized it. We opened the jar yesterday and it's great. A bit more ginger kick than the original but that's OK.

Here are two recipes I found online:

F.R.O.G. Jam-

• 3 oranges juiced
• 2 (3 oz) packages of raspberry gelatin
• 4 cups mashed ripe figs
• 4 cups sugar
• 4 TBS. orange zest
• 4 TBS. fresh finger, finely diced

Over medium heat, stir orange juice and gelatin until dissolved.
Add chopped figs, sugar, orange zest and ginger. Let come to boil on med heat, reduce to low, stirring often. Cook for 15 to 20 minutes, continue stirring until mixture thickens.
Pour into sterilized jars, seal and place in canner filled with hot water. Process sealed jars for 15 minutes.
 
Low Sugar FROG Jam

3 oranges juiced- about 1 cup liquid (add water if needed to get 1 cup)
1 (3oz) pkg. of raspberry gelatin (JELL-O)
1 pkg low sugar sure jell
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup splenda
4 cups chopped figs
1 Quart of fresh raspberries, cooked, smashed, and strained to remove seeds (unless you like seeds)
4 TBS orange zest minced fine
4 to 5 TBS fresh ginger minced fine

In large saucepan, stir together OJ, raspberry juice, gelatin and pectin (surejel) until dissolved over medium heat.
Keep stirring until there are no lumps, it may take awhile. Add sugar, splenda, figs, orange zest and ginger and bring to boil on medium heat.
Reduce to low heat, but keep on a low boil and cook for about 25 minutes. Stir often or it will burn. When the mixture thickens, pour into sterilized half pint jars, and seal with rubber tops and rings. Place in hot water bath and process for 15 minutes.
Because of the reduced sugar, this jam should be stored in the refrigerator and used within 6 months.
 

Bottom Line

We have a great time at supermarkets either run by the Amish or selling to an Amish population. So many different items that you won't see at your neighborhood grocery store.

GPS Saves the Day!

“There’s no need to fear, Underdog is here!”
– TV cartoon show

My wife & I are late technology adopters. We are not luddites (i.e. anti-technology) but we are often the last amongst our friends to buy a cell phone, use the internet, buy Cable services, buy a large flat screen TV, etc. The chief reason is cost. We wait until technology becomes cheap.

This year we finally purchased a GPS. And after a two-week road trip to Winnipeg, Canada and back we are so glad we have it. At one point in North Dakota we had 40 miles of driving range left before we ran out of gas. The GPS told us where to find the nearest gas station. During the trip we visited lots of oddball attractions recommended by RoadsideAmerica.com. The GPS helped us find them. If a major road had delays, the GPS plotted a detour. And while our route was predetermined, we were never sure just how far we would travel on any given day. The GPS helped us find motels each night.

If you are an active hiker or camper, consider buying a portable GPS. The article, 10 Ways That Your GPS Can Save Your Life, has several stories of someone lost or stranded but able to call rescuers and give an exact location using their GPS.

Some clever uses of GPS from the article include:

• A GPS tracking device (shot at the fleeing vehicle) for police car chases
• A GPS tracker in the shoes of Alzheimer patients
• Cargo smart airdrops using GPS
• GPS tracking bracelet for children

The story, Car Horns Warn Against Natural Disasters, describes the eCall emergency system, which will be required in new European cars after September 2010. The eCall system consists of a GPS sensor and a mobile phone component, which is automatically activated in case of an accident (i.e. when the airbags are triggered) and transmits data (e.g. accident time and coordinates) to an emergency call center.

Bottom Line

A basic model GPS will cost from $70 to $200. You can spend more if you want Blue Tooth, traffic reports, music uploads, games, etc. We got lucky and purchased a discontinued deluxe model at 70% off. One advantage of the deluxe model was multi-point trip planning. During our road trip I was able to enter in all the stops we wanted to make that day and find the best route.

Do keep in mind that GPS is not perfect. While it may know road speeds (usually), ours was clueless about stop signs and traffic lights. It might divert us from a main road to a residential road where the speed limit was similar but we had to stop every block for stop signs. In Amish country it sent us along many dirt roads. And sometimes an error in the address like W vs. E or Lane vs. Drive could send us on a wild goose chase. And the data may be out of date. When we were low on gas in North Dakota, the first station it sent us to had gone out of business.

Wood Fire Cooking

“What my mother believed about cooking is that if you worked hard and prospered, someone else would do it for you.”-Nora Ephron

For years my wife & I have been looking for the right equipment for wood fire cooking. After a long search, just last weekend we finally found an affordable ($18) Dutch oven with legs and a lid at a flea market. (Legs easily allow one to put coals under the pot.) We have also been looking for the ideal outdoor fire pit (www.firepit-and-grilling-guru.com/outdoor-fire-pit.html). We had a great time cooking hotdogs and S’Mores over a portable fire pit at a friend’s house. And recently visited another friend with a built in fire pit. But what we really want is an advance system with grills, shelves, arms, etc.

And yet, good equipment is only the beginning. In an excellent blog post, Learning to Cook on a Wood-Fired Stove, Deborah describes that no book held the secret to successful food fire cooking. She had to learn by trial and error:

The biggest challenge is keeping the oven heat even. Unlike a gas or electric stove, when you put something in the oven to cook and the temperature drops as the food absorbs the heat, nothing kicks in to compensate. What to do? Feed the fire wood that will burn quickly and offer more heat. As the food begins to cook and its internal temperature rises, a longer, slower-burning piece of wood will maintain the heat. Open the oven door if it gets too hot - but not for long. Your oven may even have "hot spots" like mine.

In addition to equipment and practical experience, a cook needs supplies and recipes. In Baking and Simple Cooking After a Disaster the author considers a time when “cooking as you once knew it, from cabinets bulging with a variety of packaged items, store bread and cookies, or a quick trips to the store for box cereal and meat in a neat packages, with an armful of deli tubs and rotisserie chicken – just ended.” Would you know how to cook using flour, salt, lard and other basics?

Bottom Line

If you want to learn survival-cooking skills, purchase or download some old-fashioned cookbooks. The Cooking After a Disaster post recommends …

We have several 1940 era cookbooks, Mennonite/Amish cookbooks and a thin book of ingredient substitutions as well as good, basic ones at least 30 years old. They’re priceless for simplicity, economy and few ingredients. This will mean going to the used bookstore or surfing Amazon. Avoid modern cookbooks that assume access to lots of ingredients and avoid cookbooks from the 1800s because they do not have standard measurements and assume things you might not know about like how to assemble ingredients, cooking times, pans and temperatures.

One of my favorite books is The Joy of Cooking (1965 edition). The Joy of Cooking has been in print continuously since 1936 and with more than 18 million copies sold. The older editions cover everything from butchering meat, ingredient substitution, simple sauces to complex dishes. It includes a lot of practical advice on techniques.

Another source that can be useful is modern versions of pioneer recipes. Check out Amazon’s Best Pioneer Cookbooks.

Love of Money

“For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.” – King James Bible, 1 Timothy 6:10

It should come as no surprise that no one is immune to the temptations of money. Not even the Amish.

My wife and I have long admired the Amish for their family values, self sufficiency, community cooperation, and marketing of back-to-basics goods (like quilts). One of our favorite general stores to visit is Lehman’s in Kidron, Ohio. It stocks everything the Amish and do-it-yourselfers could ever want. Last time we visited we bought wicks for our oil lanterns and root beer flavoring to make our own soda.

But lately I’ve seen several stories of troubles in the Amish community of northern Indiana. The traditional Amish life revolves around farming but when you have large families and new farm land is either very expensive or unavailable, something has to give. Many families have started businesses in furniture, wood crafts, quilting, buggy making, etc. In northern Indian, Amish men found they could earn high wages ($30-50 hour) in factories for the recreational-vehicle and modular-homes industries. The flush of cash created a "keeping-up-with-the-Joneses mentality,” Amish style.

Local bishop began allowing the use of telephones, fax machines and web sites for businesses. [When shopping for a quilt in Pennsylvania at an Amish home business we noted that the room was lit by a gas lantern but they did have a modern credit card reader.] "People wanted bigger weddings, newer carriages." The WSJ states

it became common practice for families to leave their carriages home and take taxis on shopping trips and dinners out. Some Amish families bought second homes on the west coast of Florida and expensive Dutch Harness Horses… Others lined their carriages in dark velvet and illuminated them with battery-powered LED lighting. … Instead of asking neighbors for help, well-to-do Amish began hiring outsiders so they wouldn't have to reciprocate.

But the “good times” came crashing down last fall when the recreational-vehicle industry began layoffs and shutdowns. Traditionally the Amish would help each other, but nearly half the households had become dependent on the manufacturing income, so for the first time ever, local bishops allowed followers to seek unemployment benefits. Fears of an Amish mortgage crisis resulted in a run on an Amish owned bank.

Bottom Line

No one is immune from overspending and unemployment. Everyone needs to live within their means and have an emergency savings. Beware the love of money. No exceptions.

Ironically the AARP has published a guide to managing your money called "50 Ways to Love your Money"

On the lighter side

Something else I've long admired is the work of Weird Al Yankovic. The video for his song "Amish Paradise" is one of his best. See if you can spot the lyrics he borrowed from Gilligan's Island.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=is3t4Ixq_YQ

Atlas Shrugged

“Sales of Ayn Rand’s ‘Atlas Shrugged’ have almost tripled over the first seven weeks of this year [2009] compared with sales for the same period in 2008. This continues a strong trend after bookstore sales reached an all-time annual high in 2008 of about 200,000 copies sold.” – the Ayn Rand Center for Individual Rights

In the words of the director of the Ayn Rand Center,
“There are uncanny similarities between the plot-line of the book and the events of our day. Americans are rightfully concerned about the economic crisis and government’s increasing intervention and attempts to control the economy. Ayn Rand understood and identified the deeper causes of the crisis we’re facing, and she offered, in ‘Atlas Shrugged,’ a principled and practical solution consistent with American values."

‘Atlas Shrugged’ was published in 1957 by Russian-American author Ayn Rand. She was age 12 during the Russian Revolution, attended a Soviet University, and at age 21, while visiting relatives in America, decided never to go back. Her works reflect the struggle of creative individuals versus corporate and government bureaucracies. Of those who are productive versus “second-handers” who live off the work of others.

The plot of ‘Atlas Shrugged’ shows the sometimes fatal impact of stupid policy decisions made by politicians and managers. Eventually the hero, John Galt, says enough, and calls for a strike of entrepreneurs to stop supporting a dystopian United States. The “creative people” retreat to a mountainous hideaway where they build a Utopian free economy. Without "the men of the mind," the US economy collapses and society falls apart. The title is an allusion to the titan Atlas who, according to Greek mythology, carried the Earth on his shoulders. What would happen if Atlas (like John Galt) decided to "shrug" and stop carrying the weight of the Earth?

In the past few months, there has been increased blog traffic about going “John Galt”. To escape the US laws and regulations that have become hostile to creativity and individual capitalism by retreating from civilization to some private utopia like a cabin in the woods or Walden’s Pond. However if you were a true John Galt you’d establish a colony or compound of like-minded individualists.

Personally I’d be reluctant to join a compound given the many bad examples:
- the Jonestown cult who committed suicide via purple kool-aid
- the "God Salvation Church" flying saucer cult
- break-away polygamy sects in Utah
- the FBI assault on the Branch Davidians cult in Texas

Still there are some positive examples of people living by their own rules:
- the Amish & Mennonites
- the Amana Colonies

Bottom Line
I like Ayn Rand's writings for her support of “individualism, laissez-faire capitalism, and the constitutional protection of the right to life, liberty, and property.” For her fierce opposition to “all forms of collectivism and statism, including fascism, communism, and the welfare state.”

Since the time of FDR and his depression era programs, US law and government focus has switched from protection of property right to protection of personal welfare. In the ‘World is Flat’, Thomas Friedman points out that it was strong property rights laws that made America a world power. The ability to own land, mortgage it, use the money to start a business, and hire/fire who you want and run it as you deem fit, has allowed for the flourishing of American creativity.

Yes some government regulation is needed as was pointed out of the meat industry in “the Jungle” by Upton Sinclair. But rules should be limited to prevent the worst cases instead of micro-managing the majority. Many think that when regulation fails, the answer is yet more rules. After a century of FDA rules, a bad apple like the Peanut Corp of America factory in Georgia never registered itself with State and Federal regulators and so avoided all the rules. It is similar to gun restriction laws that prevent “good” law-abiding citizens from owning a gun while criminals have no problem buying weapons on the black market. Criminals don’t follow rules and the result of extreme regulation is less productivity for everyone else.

Update

A recent quote by Congressional Rep. John Campbell (R-Calif.)

“People are starting to feel like we’re living through the scenario that happened in ‘Atlas Shrugged, The achievers, the people who create all the things that benefit rest of us, are going on strike. I’m seeing, at a small level, a kind of protest from the people who create jobs, the people who create wealth, who are pulling back from their ambitions because they see how they’ll be punished for them.”

Fear as a Motivator

"The only thing we have to fear is fear itself" - FDR

A recent article in the Christian Science Monitor, Survivalist businesses surge in uncertain times, noted that one business that is doing well during our recession is the business of selling survivalist goods.

"Once seen as a radical and paranoid ideology, survivalism is expanding as a business, and growing fast. Lehman's, an Ohio retailer of home self-sufficiency equipment, has recorded large sales increases, with water-pump sales up 95 percent and sales of home agriculture equipment up 50 percent from last fall. "

(BTW - if you're ever near Kidron, Ohio visit the Lehman's store. It's in the heart of Ohio Amish country and specializes in "old fashioned" equipment because that is what the Amish live by. Hurricane lanterns, wood burning stoves, hand cranked washing machines - it's like a museum but you can buy what you see. We bought some syrup for home made rootbeer, wicks for our lanterns, and other spare parts.)

"Fear is a factor that often draws people into preparedness. Pandemic, economic disaster, climate change, world war – these are some big-picture threats that some folks want to be able to counter."

"... but there are many more in America who are simply involved in preparing for down times, lean times, or disaster," says Mr. Rantala, a former US intelligence analyst. "It's logical. It's common sense."

I agree! See New Year Predictions?

Bottom Line

Doug Ritter, executive director of Equipped to Survive, says people need to be serious about how they go about purchasing peace of mind. "Are you willing to bet your life on a piece of equipment?"

Personally I recommend buying simple things that work like Cooking with Cast Iron. And also Learning Survival Skills. Diversify and have backup plans, don't put All your eggs in one basket.

Give Peace A Chance?

"All we are saying is give peace a chance" - John Lennon

Peace is a good thing and I definitely prefer peace over war. But I also recognize that there is evil in the world and people with evil intent. Edmund Burke once said, "The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing."

Doing nothing, turning the other cheek, is a good policy up to a point. It is preferable to walk away from words spoken in anger, from a rash act or deed. History is full of stories of families and cultures trapped in a cycle of endless revenge (Romeo & Juliet, Hatfield & Macoys) for past hurts.

But there are other times when doing nothing is cowardice; a refusal to resist evil; or a selfishness that my life is worth more than others. I realize that cowardice is a harsh word and sometimes mistakenly applied. In the Kenny Rogers song, Coward of the County, a man tries to live by his father's dying wish, "Promise me, son, not to do the things I've done. Walk away from trouble if you can." Townsfolk consider this cowardice and fail to recognize the principles and moral courage involved. "Something always told me they were reading Tommy wrong." Tommy ignores insults to himself but when the bullies rape his girl friend he takes action. "Sometimes you gotta fight when you're a man."

A few years back I attended a class called "The Way of the Peaceful Warrior". He taught that fighting was always to be avoided when possible but sometimes was necessary. It was better to be a pacifist by choice and not because of weakness. He gave an example that anyone could be a fighter under the right circumstances. He asked the women in the audience, if attacked by a really large man (a professional boxer), would you fight back? Most said no, they were too weak. Then he asked, if this boxer attacked your teenage daughter who was with you, what would you do? The same women said, "Kill him!"

Bottom Line

I believe it is noble and virtuous to turn the other cheek when harm is done to you. But I believe it is wrong to do nothing when harm is done to others. While I admire the strength of belief of the Amish and Quakers to total Pacifism, peace won't stop evil.

In the recent novel, Ender's Exile. Orson Scott Card wrote, "Pacifism only works when the attacker won't murder the innocent." That is, peaceful resistance works only when the attacker has moral principles. When the attacker harms the innocent and oppresses the weak, that is evil in action and must be stopped by "good men."

I wanted to end the blog there but one more point is needed. Some people see Bush or the US as "evil" for trying to fight terrorists. War is nasty and ugly and often the innocents get hurt. But there is a difference between innocents dying by accident with a stray missile and deliberately blowing up schools, buses, crowds, etc. Our President expresses remorse when innocents are hurt, terrorists dance in the street with joy. If we walk away and "give peace a chance" because we fear the collateral damage we might do, then innocent lives will continue to suffer and die under the tyranny of evil men who will kill anyone to obtain power and dominion.