Recommended Reading list from some of the smartest people I know

[Ben]

Spotted just last night after a heavy rain beat down the vines enough to reveal ...

Purple Viking. My favorite.

Ben

[User002]

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@Intaris wrote:

What? Days off school for Potatoes? As an Irishman, I'm jealous.

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Well we had to do some harvesting. I think it's called "work". 

Is it something that Irishmen are familiar with?

And yes, that was a joke. 

[User002]

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Purple Viking. My favorite.

Ben

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Slap in those with some 'locally sourced' (wink, wink) moose meat and a pinch of salt into a pot of boiling water.

Burns with a clean blue flame.

Roger

[JÞB]

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@Ben wrote:

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I have a target recovery tech level of about 1850. Going beyond that level requires teams of specialists working together. While I do have the books to help those teams get up to speed, beyond 1850 is more than a single person can handle alone.

Ben

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Going back through the thread I am noticing what might just be some oversights.

I've not noticed any second source of oil (Corn oil may not be the best choice for sole source)

Olive production might be lower yield in your area but Walnut should do well.  A large-ish grove of a tree based (or other hardy perennial) oil source may be an essential need for those years annual crops (corn and flak-seed) fail.

And you will need some sort of oil to achieve a 1850's era tech level.  Unless you want to get blasted back to the bronze age you will need to quench the steel to harden it.  and you will need some lubricant.  It also can produce light suitable for reading when burned. 

Beekeeping is another skill missing from the library.  It can also make a great hobby for the "G-Gals."  A Copy of Jokichi Takamine's Patent US52823 would go along with that.

[User002]

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@JÞB wrote:

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@Ben wrote:

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I have a target recovery tech level of about 1850. Going beyond that level requires teams of specialists working together. While I do have the books to help those teams get up to speed, beyond 1850 is more than a single person can handle alone.

Ben

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And you will need some sort of oil to achieve a 1850's era tech level.  Unless you want to get blasted back to the bronze age you will need to quench the steel to harden it.  and you will need some lubricant.  It also can produce light suitable for reading when burned. 

As long as something flammable can be stuffed into the burner of a heat engine, it is possible to up-convert it to other forms of energy, electricity, oil, etc.

Tall oil perhaps.  Maybe syngas from a rudimentary plasma gasification plant converted into longer hydrocarbons from the fischer-tropsch process.

[Ben]

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@JÞB wrote:

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... 

Olive production might be lower yield in your area but Walnut should do well.  A large-ish grove of a tree based (or other hardy perennial) oil source may be an essential need for those years annual crops (corn and flak-seed) fail.

...

Beekeeping is another skill missing from the library.  It can also make a great hobby for the "G-Gals."  A Copy of Jokichi Takamine's Patent US52823 would go along with that.

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Excellent points Jeff.

So there is another good reason for the two walnut trees I am trying to grow in my backyard and now a reson I should try to clone them. Growing them at my place has been a challenge due to the deer we have. I was a little puzzled why the deer would pick on them until they got tall enough and then I stuck my head inot to foliage to discover "why"? The fresh growth of leaves on an English walnut is unique and wonderful. The best way I have to explain the odor is to point to the incense burned a Roman Catholic events. Not quite that nice but pretty close.

Bee keeping is one of the goals for my better half when she retires (scheduled for End of this year). I have been doing a lot a YoutTube Blake Kirby viewing since he has been sharing his adventures in apiaries. If you do not count his "live streams" I have watched all of his 583 videos. The prime motive for my better-half is a desire to make mead. I hope to get the girls involved as well.

I had taken one shot a vodka from a big pile of left over spuds about two years ago. No good results but I did not blow myself up and shut down the boiler when I saw the temp start to rise quickly above 212 degrees F. Turns out the mash should be strained to prevent the possibility of the exit line becoming clogged ( like it did for me).

Ben