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:
All is well at the Rawles ranch. We had a busy week, with one half-day trip to pick up a replacement ram for one of our two sheep flocks. The old saying is: “The herd (or flock) sire is half of your operation”, so we try to be very choosy. He is a four-month-old weaned ram lamb that came from Idaho’s Paradise Valley — southwest of the town of Bonner’s Ferry. That whole region (anywhere north of Cocalalla) is one of my preferred retreat locales.
I had several consulting calls. I also kept quite busy packing and mailing Elk Creek Company antique gun orders. One gent ordered four rifles. I’m presently having trouble finding affordable inventory, so our stock of guns is diminishing. Be sure to order yours, while we still have a good selection.
Lily and I did some Serviceberry picking at a friend’s ranch, and also in the National Forest within a mile of our ranch.
I helped an ailing neighbor with some more firewood cutting, splitting, and stacking, to get him back to a two-year supply of firewood.
Now, Lily’s part of the report…
Avalanche Lily Reports:
Dear Readers,
Happy Independence Day weekend!!
This week was a beautiful summer week with one day a high of 91 degrees Fahrenheit and a low of 48 degrees Fahrenheit with Sunshine and cooling breezes most of the week. We received a welcomed rain shower late on Friday.
Well, the past six weeks with the birth of the Dairy lambs, caring for the “bummers” and preparing for and hosting the grandsons. I pretty much, except for some watering, neglected the greenhouse, orchard and our main garden. So this week, after animal chores, milking, breakfast and dishes, my focus was all about the garden, the greenhouse and the orchard. When the boys were here, I didn’t get to watering the garden or the greenhouse so much.
Therefore, in the greenhouse the greens growing in the shallow totes pretty much died. So I emptied about seven of them and also emptied out some extra tomatoes that were not ever planted outside or in big pots, and some herbs. I pulled weeds in the greenhouse that were growing in the bark mulch on the floor. I watered the other surviving plants growing in there deeply several days in a row, Broccoli, tomatoes, Zuchs, Cucumbers, Rosemary, Tarragon, mint, beets, Sage, etc. I need to get to planting some new crops in the greenhouse for fall plantings.
In the orchard, I weed-whacked paths between the blueberries, and Black raspberries rows, and did some weeding around the bushes and canes. Then I watered them. We’ve been rotating a hose around to all of our fruit trees. Two years ago when our region had that super hard deep freeze then a super fast warm up with sunshine, we lost five of our fruit trees. This week, Jim and I took them down, leaving a couple with suckers to see if anything comes from them. But two we completely removed and I plan to expand the strawberry patch where those were located. So every time that I clean out the chickens, cows or sheep, I am dumping their manure in piles in that area to build up a deeply mulched bed to plant next spring.
Additionally, we pruned dead branches from a few other of the fruit trees that were heavily damaged by that deep freeze, that I had left for two summers to see of there was some life in them and that they would heal themselves and come back — but they didn’t. Now, all the rest of our fruit trees are looking good and look as though they are going to have very good crops this year.
In the garden, I weed-whacked the paths between the rows of veggies and thus far I weeded the Delicata squash patch, the Zuchs, cucumbers and the celery and some of the cabbage. There is a whole lot more to do. But while weeding I kept a lot of the Lamb’s Quarters and washed them and dehydrated a bunch and also blanched a bunch and froze about four quarts. There are a lot more of them that I want to preserve.
I cleaned the sheep shed, hen house, and cow sheds. I’ve been milking the cow. I haven’t gotten to making cheese yet with the cow milk. I’m milking just enough for Jim and Miss Violet to drink. I continue to milk the Meat/fiber sheep and have added a fourth girl to the milking routine. She now gives only about eight ounces, but still has a lamb on her. Three of the girls have lambs and give an average of eight ounces and are milked once a day, only in the morning. My one girl that lost her lamb that I milk twice a day, is now giving about 14 ounces per milking. I am freezing her milk in the mornings for future use, and keeping her evening milking and the others to make yogurt and to drink.
In a few more weeks, when the dairy lambs are about three months old, I will begin separating them from their moms at night and will begin milking their moms, too. We still have to do a bit more setup for them. They have a deep pack of bedding in their pen that we just keep adding new hay onto that we have to get to cleaning, sometime in the future.
Yes, we went Serviceberry picking. the weather was very windy, so we experienced very little trouble with mosquitoes, though they were around. I really enjoy berry picking. We went a second time this week up into the national forest. We rode our bikes to the berry spot. The day was calm, no wind, cloudy and very humid. The minute we stopped riding and walking to a berry bush and began picking the berries, the mosquitoes descended upon us in a huge cloud. Picture this. You’re holding your bucket with one hand picking a few berries, while being nailed in the face and hands at the same time. Ya drop a berry in the bucket and slap your face, ouch!, and reach for another berry, only to be nailed again on the back of your neck, drop the berries and slap the neck. Reach for more berries and then the top of your head gets nailed. Slap your head and scratch and reach for another berry, Repeat. Geez Louise. It was torture! I was wearing long sleeves and a sweater, so I was a bit more protected. But Jim and Miss Violet, wore only t-shirts. But after 20 minutes of this, we called it quits and bailed out of there as fast as we could. Next week we plan to go again, but we will go early in the morning when the air is cold enough to keep the mosquitoes quiet.
The weather was super warm and I finally went swimming in our redneck pool this week. It was lovely!
I spent some time writing out more of Matthew 13. It is a long chapter.
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.