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:
This week, I did my best to catch up on my blog writing, following our long road trip. (I try to keep the blog written and edited at least three days in advance.)
I’ve also been busy packing and mailing out orders, for my Elk Creek Company side biz. Every time we run a special sale, I get a rush of orders. The current sale is on all of our inventory of Ludwig Loewe (Berlin) M1891 Argentine Mausers and our Pietta percussion .44 revolvers. Many of the latter are convertible to safely fire .45 Colt and .45 ACP cartridges.
There is definitely a nip of Fall in the air, in our corner of the American Redoubt. Lily has been busy harvesting in the main garden and in the orchard. I’ve just been helping to get some of that produce tucked away in our Cool Room. I helped her pick apples, and got them into The Other Cool Room. I also slaughtered, gutted, and skinned five roosters. As usual, Lily finished up butchering those and got three of them into the stew pot. I then deboned those into ziploc bags and Lily put that meat in one of our freezers. The other two birds went right in the oven, for a chicken roast.
Lily will give you some more details on her bountiful harvest, in her report…
Avalanche Lily Reports:
Dear Readers,
We had a beautiful weather week as we officially entered the Autumn season, sunny with high temperatures in the seventies. We had our first frosts, two nights in a row, which killed my uncovered winter squash plants. I covered my Zuchinnis and they survived, therefore we have about two more weeks of harvest possible. I also covered the tomatoes in the greenhouse, just in case. They did fine.
We harvested the cabbages.
This week, I weed-whacked the Annex Gardens and the Orchard.
I cleaned the sheep shed, the cow shed and the hen house again.
This summer we have been slowly deep-cleaning all parts of our house, barns, sheds, closets, etc. Jim and I cleaned out yet another space, the garage closet, this week. Now it holds only a few small animal cages, Borax, dish soap, egg cartons, a few other items, and some freshly picked produce.
I picked a large handful of rosehips from a plant in the orchard. Miss Violet washed them and pitted the seeds out of them and we dehydrated them for future tea. Both of us took the seeds and spread them around the ranch to encourage more Rose plants to grow.
I picked about three cups of golden raspberries and made refrigerator jam with them. The frost did not seem to affect them. I am so thankful for that.
I am watching the news a lot this week. It doesn’t look good. Please continue every day, to do what you can to top off your supplies and to prepare for what is coming.
Most importantly Read the Word of God as much and as often as you can, and pray that you be worthy to escape all the things that are coming upon this earth. Pray that you will be able to overcome Satan’s Wrath through the blood and Testimony of Jesus Christ.
May You All Remain Safe, Blessed, and Hidden in Christ Jesus,
– 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.