Dug through my boxed up books and found the "Formulas" one. Sorry it's not yours. It's called: Two Thousand Formulas, Recipes and Trade Secrets by Harry Bennett, F.A.I.C.

Lots of good recipes for making everything from cement to embalming fluid. There's even info on how to remove tattoos. Never heard of half the chemicals, though. LOL. Unless it's some simple nursing level understanding of chemistry, I leave it alone!

Maybe you'd be willing to share some of your formulas and recipes here for our enrichment? Hint. Hint.

[edit on 9-9-2009 by whitewave]

Well, I've checked through my remaining books (I gave a lot of them to the library) and what I have left are books that are more on the use of herbals. A walk on the spiritual side, if you will. The only one that would come in handy for this thread is called "Natural Magic" by John Michael Greer.

It gives description, uses, lore and safety issues regarding plants, herbs, minerals, trees and shrubs.

Has a few recipes for food such as solar broiled chicken (what?), bread and a couple on bath washes and salts.

Might come in handy if you find yourself having to forage in the wild.

Curry Powder:

16 oz. coriander seed
1/2 oz. each of cayenne pepper, mace, clove, fennel, celery seed, cardamom
1-1/2 oz. turmeric
1 oz. each of ginger, white pepper
4 oz. slippery elm
Mix together dried spiced, grind finely and pack in airtight container.

All good choices, TUP. Thanks for posting them. Been insanely busy here. Just leave the computer on and run in on breaks to read or post.

I didn't read all the replies, so if I'm repeating something, please forgive me.

Laudry detergent powder:

1c bar soap (laundry soap is best (ex. felsnaptha), but Dove, Dial or whatever you have works fine)
1/2c borax
1/2c washing soda or baking soda

Grate soap bar as fine as possible, I have a food processor that I use, but have done it by hand. Combine well with borax and washing soda. Use 1/4-1/2c per load if it's a large load, 2tbsp for a small load.

I've used this to wash my son's cloth diapers and it works great. It doesn't leave the residue that other commercial detergents can and rinse clean.

Originally posted by whitewave
Also, perhaps you could answer an earlier question asked by one of the posters here about where to obtain certain things. The poster never specified what he was looking for but, surely, some chemical warehouse carries a large variety of things?

There are lots of chemical warehouses or lab supply stores, most have gotten a lot more strict about what they will sell you since 09/11. Prior to that they sold you just about anything. I have a friend who works in a lab so .....

I also find farm supply stores sell a lot of the good stuff as it has other uses. The best way to find chemicals is find what other uses it has, then find a supply store for that other industry/use.

I know what you mean about crazy busy. In the last 3 weeks we have had a new baby, I had to send all of my helpers at work to the field for various things which came up plus I've been covering all the local stuff at work that came up. Plus it's budget time and I hate budgets, plus I leave for 2 weeks on monday for work.


So that said I'll keep this short, I've been reading about how star anise has been used by the chinese to fight flu for centuries. I picked up a large bag on seed pods from a spice supplier I know and have started drinking a cup a day to see how it works.

I purchased a pressure canner earlier this year and finally have had time to try it out. I purchased 2 huge costco cans of kidney beans, and some ground beef and made a huge batch of taco mix then pressure canned it down. It tastes good and it should keep for 2 years.

FIRE LOGS
I tried this out after reading the materials on the side of a "firelog" in a box I friend brought camping this summer.

I take a large 4 gallon pot (aluminium) and into it I add the contents of the shredder from work. Then I add a small amount of water (enought to cover the paper). I then let it sit for 24 hours adding water as the paper absorbs it. After this I heat the mixture on low heat until the paper fibres start to break down and get soft. You want a slushy slurry mixture, it's better to error on the dry side than too wet. dry will fall apart, too wet will mold before drying. Once it is at this stage I add a few cups of saw dust from my wood shop (not necissary and be careful about the species of wood as some produce a toxic smoke). I then pour the mixture into a mold I built and put it into my press for a day to squeeze out the water and let it mostly dry. As water is squeezed out I add more pressure to keep compressing it. What you end up with is an artificial log that burns way longer than just paper and can be taken into those national parks where they ban outside firewood for fear of bugs (and so they can charge big $$ for there wood).

I have a friend who I shared this recipe with who has tried it with compression straps and two meat loaf pans and a coupe of boards. She put holes in the pans for drainage. Fills one with the mixture and then puts the other on top to squeeze out the water. Then she puts a board on either side (top and bottom) and uses the compression straps to squeeze it together. Every few minutes for the first hour she tightens the straps. then as the next few days go by progressively less often. Her logs are less dense and burn faster though.

along side my Home Healthcare Encylopedia...great for reference anytime
because it does not rely on a Grid or Internet to be utilized....

i have this great Encyclopedia on Country Living (survival on a shoestring)

this is definitely NOT a sales pitch:

... Some of the topics include:
Moving to the country, buying land, sewing a quilt, living self-sufficiently, planning a garden and raising vegetables and herbs, saving seeds, improving soil, raising earthworms, growing mushrooms, wild foraging, growing grasses and grains plus winnowing and grinding grains, making pasta, establishing an orchard, pruning a tree, pressing apple cider, tapping sugar maples, sun-drying fruit, stocking a root cellar, making vinegar, caring for livestock, including feeding, doctoring and butchering, plus breeding rabbits, shearing sheep, milking cows, making cheese, raising chickens, turkeys, guineas and ducks, plucking feathers, cooking a goose, plus resource lists of books, magazines, and mail order suppliers for every subject imaginable.

The Encyclopedia of Country Living. 10th Edition. ISBN: 978-1-57061-553-5. $30.00

it can also be used as 'striking paper' at your outhouse when no longer needed

Originally posted by whitewave
[
Chemical warehouses are having to report to government agencies about what they sell to the public, who they sell it to, how much they sold, etc. If little old ladies are getting busted for buying over the counter cold medicine, I sure don't want to deal with chemical companies.

Funny story I got a visit from the police when I built my new shop a few years ago. There are no windows and it has 3 phase power for all the machinery in it. When the power company hooked up the service they also called the police to tell them what service I got. It seems they are required to report services above a certain size if it seems suspicious. I guess being the first business to build in a brand new industrial park is suspicious. So yes I know what you mean about not wanting to work with those companies.

Also as a side note, when stopped by the friendly officer at a check stop, if he asks what bump gas is Lie. I got SO much heck for telling the truth. Evidently the fact that I have a TDG license and the cylinder says H2S on it is frightening to a cop in a rural area.

making your own alcohol is not that difficult either,

in a 20litre container mix any type of fruits or even veges to fill about 1/3 of container, add 1-2kg of sugar and about 25g yeast. fill up to 3/4 full with water. Let this mixture brew for up to a week in a warm place.

for a easy still to extract the alcohol,
you could use a old style pressure pot with the wistle removed. this is where the mixture will go.
from the pots lid use a copper tube attached to where the whistle was and allow about 1metre length going to a 2ltre glass bottle with the copper tube going through it's lid, add another length of tube from that lid and going to another bottle with a lid. do this until you have the pot with 3 bottles lined up next to it, each with a tube going from one to the next.

use your stove or fire to heat the pressure pot so the liquid is just on the bubble. the first and second bottles will catch the not so strong and discoloured liquid, that can be reused in the pot. and by the time the liquid goes to the 3rd bottle, it should be clear and very strong to use.
I think about 20litres of mixture will make around 1litre in the 3rd bottle.

safe to drink in small quantities, a nip or two is all you will need.
could be used as substitute for (gas) as well I presume. burns very quickly when lit.