To be prepared for a crisis, every Prepper must establish goals and make long-term and short-term plans. In this column, the SurvivalBlog editors review their week’s prep activities and planned prep activities for the coming week. These range from healthcare and gear purchases to gardening, ranch improvements, bug out bag fine-tuning, and food storage. This is something akin to our Retreat Owner Profiles, but written incrementally and in detail, throughout the year. We always welcome you to share your own successes and wisdom in your e-mailed letters. We post many of those –or excerpts thereof — in this column, in the Odds ‘n Sods Column, and in the Snippets column. Let’s keep busy and be ready!
Jim Reports:
This week, between rain showers, I did more firewood cutting and slash pile building. I also helped Lily with manure hauling, weeding, and rototilling. Our family also did a hay-hauling trip this week. So, the busy time of year has arrived! Now, over to Lily…
Avalanche Lily Reports:
Dear Readers,
We had a little bit of sunshine this week, mostly rain. We have an atmospheric river going over us this month that supposedly, is breaking all of the precipitation records for the month of June. It is wet here. But thankfully the weather is warmer, mostly in the sixties and very humid. It is so humid that one feels as though they are breathing water. It feels like I am back in New England where I am from. I kinda like it.
I worked a lot in the greenhouse, planting more collards, amaranth, Swiss chard, etc.
We laid down black layment on the right side of the Annex garden. Hopefully this will kill the grass and thistles, hold them in check. I may plant my tomato, cukes and squashes there, next week.
Jim enclosed a small area behind our wood shed, that we filled with composted manure and plan to plant some of our squashes also next week.
I organized my seed totes, once again.
Miss Violet and I weeded the onions, beets, and peas.
Miss Violet and I did some paddling in the flooded meadows in between rain showers.
I slept out in the tent two nights that weren’t raining. I love the fresh air.
One of the nights, Miss Violet and H. our pup joined me. After three hours of wonderful conversation and trying to sleep, Miss Violet decided to go sleep in her bed in the house, because, she needed the loo and H. had barked and growled at something. I think that made her nervous. I wasn’t worried about it. I think it was one of our cats that she couldn’t clearly see. H., who usually sleeps in Miss Violet’s room, remained with me. She slept at my feet in the tent. She was so well behaved, she let me sleep and kept watch all night long. What a wonderful dog she is!
I went shopping a few times this week to buy some fresh fruit and veggies, and meats.
We now have the bull in the bullpen with the steers. I’m thinking that all of them are going to attend Freezer Camp next month… It looks like my last heifer is due to calve sometime within the next month. The cows are due by August…
I have been listening to Appalachia’s Homestead With Patara channel on YouTube. I had not heard of her before until about three weeks ago. She mentioned a couple of times in the past few days that she has noticed this year, that many store-bought seeds are failing to germinate or have very poor germination rates. I, too, have experienced a complete failure rate of cauliflower germination from two packet sets of store-bought seeds, that I planted twice. Also, almost total failure for my cucumber and cantaloupe melon seeds. It is my own cantaloupe seeds that I saved from last year are the ones that are germinating. So I will echo her call to, “Save your own seeds this coming fall from your own produce…”
The potatoes that I planted a bunch of weeks ago, have not yet sent out their leaves. So strange. I dug a few up, they are developing little tiny potatoes and roots down into the ground, but not yet leaves to the surface…
It has been a very cloudy, cool, and rainy spring, perhaps this is affecting them?
Jesus is LORD! He is coming very soon in the Clouds after the Great Tribulation of those days. Keep watching. I’m now looking for The Two Witnesses, spoken of in Zechariah 4, specifically: 4:3 and 4:14 and Revelation 11, specifically 11:4. We are thinking that the two witnesses die three days before the coming of the Lord, in the clouds and the catching away… Come Quickly, Lord Jesus. I’m weary of this evil people on earth.
Keep stocking up, because very soon, all things will be very scarce and very expensive!!!
May you all have a very blessed and safe week.
– Avalanche Lily, Rawles
o o o
As always, please share and send e-mails of your own successes and hard-earned wisdom and we will post them in the “Snippets” column this coming week. We want to hear from you.