To be prepared for a crisis, every Prepper must establish goals and make both 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 the Odds ‘n Sods Column or in the Snippets column. Let’s keep busy and be ready!
Jim Reports:
Early in the week, I put the snow tires on our pickup. Time will tell if this El Niño winter will be snowy, or just rainy in our part of the Redoubt region.
Here in the Redoubt rifle deer and elk hunting seasons have either recently opened, or will soon open. Since all of our freezers are presently full, I may not even get tags this year.
Now, Lily’s report…
Avalanche Lily Reports:
Dear Readers,
This week we had rain and snow showers for three days, leaving only a trace of snow in our valley that quickly melted. Our high peaks received between two to four inches of snow. After the rain and snow, we had a temperature drop to 28 degrees Thursday night. Friday night it is supposed to be even colder going down into the high teens. Brrrr! It is clearly now the end of the growing season outdoors. The plants inside the greenhouse are still okay as of Friday morning… I may build a fire tonight in the woodstove in the greenhouse to protect the few greens that are still growing in there…
The first few days of the week were spent completing the harvest of the gardens and buttoning them up for winter.
I harvested the last of the golden raspberries, about a half gallon’s worth. I’m so sad the hard frost has killed them. They would’ve kept producing if we didn’t have a hard frost. Boo-hoo!
I harvested another gallon’s worth of broccoli. I’m not sure if this frost will kill them or not. We shall see in the next week.
I found some more Buttercup and Acorn squash as I pulled all of their vines and put them into the compost. I fed some of the vines to the cows.
I worked in the Main garden spreading manure for several days. I worked early one morning in the dark and another one of the work sessions was done after dark during the nearly full moon. It was so beautiful. I spread the manure piles around the the new area of the Main garden, where we had just recently removed the raised beds.
In the greenhouse, I harvested the last Hungarian peppers, cucumbers, and tomatoes. Then I pulled their vines from the pots. I then dumped their soil out in the gardens, washed their pots, and refilled them with new well-composted manure. Additionally, I prepped and filled many of our gray bussing trays, pr seedling pots, and other large pots from the greenhouse with new composted manure for next spring’s greenhouse seedlings. I have some more pots to fill in the coming days. Filling the pots now permits me to start seedlings in the spring when there is still snow on the ground and I cannot reach the garden soil.
I raked leaves, collected them, and covered the new bed of strawberry plants down in the orchard with them to insulate them from the coming deep cold. I covered my outdoor fall crops of pac choi, beets, baby carrots, lettuces. Some were covered with leaves and others with inverted translucent plastic totes. Hopefully, they won’t die and will keep producing greens for us.
I harvested the last of the mint, comfrey, and mullein — and I dehydrated them.
Jim said, “That between the garden and the orchard, this year’s variety of produce, has been thus far, the most gratifying yield that I have seen.”
I cleaned the sheep shed and the stall and henhouse.
This week the horses received a hoof trimming from the visiting farrier. He covers a huge territory in making his rounds.
I’ve done some calisthenics and hiked around our neighbor’s property with his wife and Miss Violet again this week. We enjoy our walks, talks, and some bushwhacking together. Fun!
I’ve been reading a book called, Survival Skills of the Native Americans: Hunting, Trapping, Woodwork, and More. I bought it through Lehman Brothers.
I also watched a video that you might find useful: A Native American demonstrates how to jerk and sun dry meat.
Additionally, I have been listening to a story about Mary Jemison an Irish woman who was kidnapped and raised by the Seneca Indians about 1754 when she was thirteen years old. I have found it to be extremely fascinating. It is found in the Echoes of War YouTube Channel
The Off Grid with Doug and Stacey YouTube channel put out a video on Friday morning that you all should watch. It is a video from the WEF telling about which of their Young Leaders are now holding positions of leadership around the world. Our governments from the top down are infiltrated and controlled!
I read the book of John this week. We are also studying it during our Shabbat Bible Study. I also read Chapter Five of John in Hebrew.
May you all have a very blessed and safe week.
– Avalanche Lily, Rawles
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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.