Weekly Prep Thread,March 11, 2007 - March 17, 2007

[The Freeholder]

And the ever-popular "what are you doing this week" thread continues. (And now I know just how popular )

For us, this will be a big week, and so will the next few. We've finally, after 8 months, sold the original Freehold. Hallelujah! I was starting to worry, but we still wound up getting more out of the old place than I had originally expected.

Most of that money goes back into the bank, so that there is enough in place to pay off the mortgage on The Freehold v2 if necessary. The ability to pay off all I owe in one fell swoop is my definition of "security blanket".

Some of what is left will go into some upgrades for the new place, while some is going to prep items. I'm going to stock up on the ODCMP Greek 30-06 ammo to help feed my shooting habit (as well as for defensive purposes). I think a woodstove is in order for emergencies, and we're going to look at adding to the food supply.

Now if I could just hit the lottery, I could really get some preps going.

 

[Army Girl]

This week and through the end of the month we are having some extensive remodeling done at one of the bug out locations. I am also studying what fruit trees to put in at the same place. I want to put in blackberries, jerusalem artichokes, ruhbarb too. What other things can be planted that do not need too much care if we are there on a part time basis?

 

[diamonds]

This week has been the biggest prep week for me. I have been working on a project called backyard barnyard. It consists of 26 chickens and a milk goat. I will also be picking up 3 more small goats towards the end of this month.

I will be able to provide my own eggs, milk, butter, cheese, soap and meat. I will be able to have some fresh items to supplement my food preps. The animals I choose can also fit into pet carriers if I would need to take some into a shelter with me. So I consider it a win/win situation.

Also my solar was supposed to go in last week. I decided to upgrade and add alittle more to it. Now it will not be put in till next week, However this week I will be getting my frames put up.

I have also added quite a bit of honey to my food storages. I want to add even more before the week is over.

 

[Wiscontessa]

This morning I picked up 3 more cases of bottled water, a 5-shelf storage unit, 3 18-gallon storage tubs, a 6-cube wire storage unit, pail of cat litter, 4 skeins of yarn, a yard of sticky-back velcro to hang flashlights, and some vegetable seeds.

Trying to organize everything so I can see where the holes are.

M

 

[eXe]

Cleaned up the back yard, planted some stuff.. Got sunflowers already popping out of the ground.

Got more food, more ammo, rotated some older stuff and sealed another 5 gallon bucket of rice.

Checked on solar its still purring along (I check it most every other week for water levels and battery levels.) and all we have left to do is a good costco run coming up this week.

 

[SheWoff]

We got our income tax check back last week so it was a busy prep week for us.
DH got the 30-06 to the gunsmith last week. It should be home by next week. There was too much head space and the casings were getting stuck. Ugh. Worked for one shot only! We did pick up some more ammo last week for it too.

Hit an estate sale for our friend and mag member who passed away last month. We made a HUGE haul there as the family let us come over a day before the sale started to get what we wanted. We got everything from a DC welder to the first 8 original Foxfire books (never read) to canning jars, to tools. DH picked up a ten drawer Craftsman 56" tool box complete with tons of craftsman hand tools for 200.00. We got more storage shelving. I got a nice hutch to keep all of my "how-to" and homesteading and home doctoring books in one place finally.

We went to Save-a-Lot and Kroger's too. He handed me some money and told me at both places to go in and get what ever I thought we needed if TSHTF to last us awhile. I got flats of veggies and canned meats, got a bunch of the 10 for 10 deals at Kroger's and beef roasts to jerk and chicken breast to can. I think he may be finally coming around to my way of thinking.

We are continuing to set up barter networks around our area for food and goods and services. This week will find us doing burn off in the garden and adding lime and compost to it before tilling next week. And with the influx of goods last week, I will have to spend a good part of this week getting it all canned/organized.

She

 

[savurselvs]

grape vines perhaps? , rasberries, asparagus

 

[NBCsurvivor]

I just got (tonight) three 1.35oz containers of dehydrated chives for my dry preps. That is likely all I will be able to do this week, but it's something.

 

[summerthyme]

I stocked up on honey and more canned fruit. I'm planning on doing a lot of dehydrating this year... dried fruit is just too darned expensive to be in my budget. Bought 4 more grape vines, but need to figure out where I'm going to put them. The apple trees are pruned and I need to get the dormant oil spraying done, but it's supposed to turn cold again after a couple nice days, so I'll wait a little longer.

The maples are tapped and the sap is running like crazy. The first VERY small run (the first afternoon's production, gathered mostly to show youngest son's girlfriend the way it worked) gave us 3 quarts of beautiful, delicious liquid gold... pale light amber syrup. The run currently boiling will probably produce a gallon or more- off only 9 taps! This sap is SWEET this year, which is good- it's getting darned expensive to boil these days. We're hoping to build a small backyard barbeque/smokehouse/syrup arch this summer, if possible. Then we could use the several hundred cords of wood from the timber cutting we did this winter for fuel.

Summerthyme

 

[Pam811811]

This week and through the end of the month we are having some extensive remodeling done at one of the bug out locations. I am also studying what fruit trees to put in at the same place. I want to put in blackberries, jerusalem artichokes, ruhbarb too. What other things can be planted that do not need too much care if we are there on a part time basis?

That's where I'm concentrating my energy this week. Well, blackberries, ruhbarb and sunflowers. (Kids love the seeds so I'm going to try my luck.) I'm looking for stuff to plant that isn't so obvious and is easy to care for. I don't really know anything about jerusalem artichokes, though I've read alot here. Where do you get them? I think I should try it first before wasting any time and money on something we won't eat. Unfortunately, I can't plant anything yet, still to cold. Just doing research because these are things I haven't done before.

 

[Army Girl]

Thanks, grape vines, raspberries and asparagus are all great ideas too.

I thought that sunflowers were a plant every year crop. But if they will do without much tending they will be great. I guess you could get a few jerusalem artichoke tubers from someone who has them and plant them out by the woods and let them multiply.

For rhubarb, only the stalks are edible, the leaves are poisonous. They are good cooked with a little sugar and make wonderful pastry fillings.

A friend of mine uses a soaker hose system in his peach orchard, I'm doing a little research about that.

 

[prudentwatcher]

More water, more bleach, more feminine supplies and more plastic trash bags. If they ever put anything on sale I would do some real shopping. Should also be getting another 2 pair of shoes this weekend--that would make 6 spare pair in the closet.

 

[The Freeholder]

Well, that didn't last long--our buyer (or more likely, their realtor) tried to throw in an expensive extra in their offer after everything had been verbally negotiated. My realtor is pretty well PO, but me, I'm still stuck with the house. So the big prep plans are back on hold for the time being. Gotta love the real estate market right now. Grumble, grumble, grumble.

 

[Freeholder]

You can buy jerusalem artichoke tubers both to try and to plant in the produce section of most grocery stores. They are pretty good, and are perennials, so are worth planting.

Kathleen

 

[BV141]

With daylight savings time, I started my exercize program.
Sunday was biking (40 mintues) and today was biking (an hour)
followed immediately by a 40 minute walk with the 7 year old
(we was on his foot scooter.)

Need to keep this up!

Planning for a physical and blood test soon.

bv

 

[Pam811811]

You can buy jerusalem artichoke tubers both to try and to plant in the produce section of most grocery stores. They are pretty good, and are perennials, so are worth planting.

Kathleen

Thanks Kathleen! I didn't know that. I'll look next time.

Hmmm, exercise. Good for you BV. Maybe I'll start next week.

 

[Swamp Wallaby]

I want to put in blackberries, jerusalem artichokes, ruhbarb too. What other things can be planted that do not need too much care if we are there on a part time basis?

I really don't know how much use my ideas will be to you, as these things can vary so much from climate to climate. Do you know any gardening neighbours? - they can probably tell you which plants are low-maintenance in your area.

Had you thought of maybe putting in some trees? Apples (especially the keeping varieties) are a great standby, and they'll stand a lot of neglect. Plums will too in the right climate, especially the wilder varieties. Olives will grow wild in arid areas, and there's a nut tree for almost every climate.

A few more vegie ideas:
Potatoes left in the ground will just keep multiplying. You're not meant to let them, as it can encourage disease, but if anything I've found the rogue potatoes seem to do better than the seed ones! Perennial or seven-year beans are said to be pretty indestructable (but I haven't tried them). As for annuals, if you wanted to plant some, I've found that silver beet, sweet corn, pumpkins, garlic and zucchini pretty much grow themselves if they're given a start, some mulch, and fair summer rainfall. Tomatoes will too if you just let them sprawl on the ground rather than staking and pruning them. But again, YMMV.



As for me, the only real prep item I'm buying this week is another jerry can of petrol.

 

[West]

Last week, I put a add in the news paper for old well wind mills. Two replies, the last was a rancher a couple of hundred miles away, for a old run down 28' sounded like he'll take $500. Put his name and phone in a file. I want a 16-20 footer.

The first one was a old rancher(only a few miles away) that is having me fix his mostly working mill in exchange for some hot leads on two that are still in pretty good shape.

So I just got some good experience with welding cast iron. Cast iron weld-braze best with bronze rod, cast iron flux, and even heat. Right now it's doing a slow cool down. My first try was a bust. I hope it works. Feel good about it, tinned right and looks really good.

 

[Dinghy]

I found some more men's underwear on clearance. 3-pack of white t-shirts for .75, and another pack of underpants for $1.25. I got two 9- pair packs of socks for myself for $1.25 each.
I found a shoe rack on clearance at Walmart, so now I can get them out from under the bed, and find both shoes when I need them! I also got coconut milk there that is much cheaper than at the grocery store for the same brand! I got some cat treats using coupons from the Sunday papers. We have one cat that goes out to go potty with our dogs, and she wants a treat when she comes back in, just like they do!
I used the last of my free cat food coupons today, and got 4 more bags. I'm starting to feel a little more comfortable with my supply now! Now all I have to do is find somewhere to put them!!!

 

[Joey]

We are going to start planting today. I want to get lettuce, beans, and kale planted. Our corn is looking good. Working on making some baby blankets, going to have 3 new grandbabies in the family this year. One will be living with us, so that means some changes in preping. Mrs Joey

 

[Maranatha]

Bought 2 blueberry bushes today. Hope to get them planted tomorrow. Also got 3 lbs. of wildflower honey. Am going to the flea market tomorrow to talk to a bee keeper about getting some more honey.

Looked at some citrus trees, wanted a Myers lemon and a Navel orange but they had neither.

Need some blackberries and a couple of peach trees.

MARANATHA

 

[Gizmo]

All I did was pick up some canned goods this week. A dozen cans of potatoes (they now come diced along with the sliced and whole), and a flat of soup, chicken stock, mushrooms and spagetti sauce from Sam's. Also some large containers of Italian seasoning, cinnamon and garlic salt. I forgot to get more packages of yeast to freeze. Been going through that a lot.
Today I will finally finish organizing my new dry goods cabinets and get the rest of the stuff out of those darn tubs so I can see what I have.
I also want to make a few dozen flour tortillas to freeze but they sure do take awhile to make!

 

[CheriG22]

Back to the Amish bulk store today, my soft winter wheat came in. 100#. Also picked up another 50# bag of white rice, and a 50# bag of oil sunflower seeds for bird friends. Baging day is tormorrow!

Cheri

 

[Dinghy]

I finally got shopping out of town today, and found a few things. I found minced garlic at Big Lots and got a couple jars, and also some black pepper and a couple cartons of salt. We found a Holmes brand electric heater on clearance, and bought one. We've been using two other ones all winter and love them. We ran one 24/7 for several weeks to keep the washer pipes from freezing, and it only raised the electric bill by at the most about $20. I got one case of pint canning jars. They didn't have any lids.
I bought more of the strawberry jam that I found on clearance. Don't know if we'll use all 8 jars, but somebody will eat it eventually!! With the price of sugar, jars, and possibly fruit, I didn't think I could make it myself much cheaper!
I bought more flashlight bulbs on clearance. And I got one of those battery operated lights that look like a regular light bulb. They aren't real bright, but it's good enough to see to walk down the stairs if the power goes out. Big Lots and Dollar General have some of them for $5 each.
I guess that's a good start to the weekend!!