Would you know what to do if you had to survive without access to modern cooking appliances? This book will teach you all you need to know about fire and cooking with fire! Topics include selecting trees for firewood, woodlots, seasoning timber, fire construction and lighting, historical uses of fire or smoke, how to use a wood stove, indoor fires, campfires, emergency fire, simple survival skills surrounding fire and cooking, caring for a range and iron cookware, and how to use different types of fires and ranges to produce good meals. A third of the book contains recipes from homegrown produce, cooking game or tough meat, bone broths, smoking basics, processing homegrown maize, an assortment of preserves, and much, much more. There's also a house design for sustainable living and heat and smoke management! I was born in West Auckland. One day, Uncle John asked me, "What are you going to do when you grow up?" I was about four years old, and I had just discovered his impressive veggie garden. "I'm going to grow vegetables." "Well," he said, "people will always need to eat."
I grew a garden in Auckland's volcanic soil. I grew a garden in Papamoa's sand. I grew a garden in the High Country above Rotorua and Tauranga, with frosts and thin, gravelly soil. I had two children in my 40s, and grew a huge garden in Hokianga's heavy clay and high humidity. I stored lots of vegetables, milked a cow, bottled everything, made cheese, and raised poultry, which my husband and children processed for the freezer. I grew many sacks of spuds, onions, and kumara every year. We had plenty; we fed many, and we gave away food. I grew and dried maize, millet, and amaranth. We had more than we needed. But you don't stay young forever. Seeing the need for many to feed themselves, I have written down what I learnt. In my mind, God was showing me ways of doing things when the supply chains broke. And I know so many of these skills have been lost. Support each other through this time. Pray and rejoice, and the Lord Jesus be with you.
