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 [1], 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:
We are now feeling ready for winter. The hay and firewood are stacked. I’ve been gathering the hoses and storing them in the shop. The guest cabin has been winterized. Lily is still harvesting in our gardens.
We’ve been greatly enjoying the Indian Summer weather. On Wednesday, we drove up to the high country for one last day of huckleberry picking. When we got back to the ranch in the afternoon, we found that 100 feet of our lane from the county road was crowded with thousands of orange California Tortoiseshell (Nymphalis californica) butterflies. (Lily’s photo, above, shows just a few of them.)
I have been quite busy in the past few days, cataloging new inventory. This includes two more percussion revolvers, and a big batch of FN/FAL and HK91 magazines that I bought at auction from an estate. This includes some very rare original Rhodesian camouflage-painted 30-round Belgian FAL magazines! (See the Accessories section of the Elk Creek Company store page [2].)
Now, Lily’s part of the report…
Avalanche Lily Reports:
Dear Readers,
This week we had a few days of clouds and rain and then the sun came back and gave us summer temperatures again, ranging from highs of 65 degrees Fahrenheit to 81 degrees Fahrenheit.
This week, I harvested the first elderberries. They grow in our orchard and always produce very late in the fall. I think it’s because they are located in a very low spot with a huge tree nearby. I froze them, then took them off their branchlets and made elderberry syrup. I have more branchlets in the freezer awaiting the next time I make syrup or jelly.
I fermented some cucumbers and small zucchinis.
I made a couple of sourdough breads and more zucchini bread. I also dehydrated Zucchini rounds with pizza spice. They’re really good if you don’t mind the red pepper.
I finished pruning the spent canes of the red raspberries. Now I will put manure on those plants as I clean out animal domiciles.
I’m late to this game, but in the greenhouse, I filled twelve shallow totes with composted manure, added natural fertilizers and planted my winter greens: Pac Choi, Miner’s lettuce, beets, kale, lettuces, and watercress. I think they have at least ten good days to get a jump on their growing before a frost comes.
This week, I had to move the week-old chicks out to the inner coop of the hen house. I wasn’t sure how our mama hen would react to them. But I brought them out anyway. I figured there were too many for her to protest. Well, she immediately kinda adopted them–all twenty-four of them. I was so happy. I say “kinda” because… She will let them be close to her, but only a few will actually fit under her.
I cleaned the hen house.
I raked the Dairy Sheep’s pen and raked the loafing yard.
All of the animal’s various water containers were scrubbed this week. As I’ve said before in this post, I scrub them about every two weeks or so. I just usually forget to mention it.
The Farrier came and trimmed the hooves of our horse last week.
It was super nice to get off the ranch for a few hours to go up into the high country and pick some huckleberries. I also cut off part of one huckleberry bush that had turned a deep Indian red to include in a Floral arrangement on our dinner table, along with some small sunflowers from our garden and some large Pearly everlasting flowers, and one bright red fireweed stem. I enjoy doing that sort of thing from time to time, and it brightens up our home.
I did quite a bit of bike riding and swam a few times. The pool temperatures varied this week between 65 degrees and seventy-one degrees Fahrenheit. I went in just briefly when it was sixty-five — it was too cold. But later in the week, it came up to seventy-one in the late afternoon. That seems to be my cold tolerance limit for extended swims.
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.