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:
I completed all of my fall slash pile burning on a rainy day early in the week. This was just a day before our first snowfall of the year.
Lily and I constructed a new rain/snow shelter in one of our sheep corrals.
I helped our #2 Son move. We used our 4WD pickup and horse trailer for the furniture, major applaince, and miscellany hauling. He now lives three hours of driving closer to the Rawles Ranch, so we will get to see him much more often.
Now, Lily’s part of the report…
Avalanche Lily Reports:
Dear Readers,
Yep, we received our first very early snowfall of the year over the weekend into Monday. One inch on the ground in our valley; and who knows what, up in the mountains? Our highest peaks still have snow on them as of Thursday afternoon. We received about two inches of rain before the snowfall. Our high temperature for the week was fifty-one degrees Fahrenheit our low was about 29 degrees Fahrenheit.
We had our first fires of the fall in the wood heating stove this week. It is so cozy and warm to have a fire going again in our home. Can you believe it? It’s been exactly one month since the last time I swam in the pool and there has already been snow on the ground and the pool temperature this week is 45 degrees Fahrenheit. Brrr! Time flew by, so fast. The leaves on our deciduous trees: Aspen and Maple, are still pale green slowly turning yellow, orange and red. They usually drop mostly en masse between October 17th and 25th, in most years. We shall see what day they drop this year…
On Sunday afternoon, it took me about five hours to clean out the Dairy sheep pen in the rain. I was a cold, wet rat, afterwards.
This week my last two ewes indicated to me that they were going dry, so I stopped milking them. How did they indicate that they were going dry? They produced a large amount of milk or two days and then less and less each following day. Their milk was becoming thicker and I when went to boil this week’s milk for yogurt, it clotted on me in the pan. That really surprised me, since I had not ever seen that before. So I did some research and found out that clotting milk while boiling can occur at the end of the lactation when the milk changes its acid and lactic acid composition. It can also occur from mastitis, but although I didn’t test for mastitis, there is no indication of it in my ewes. So obviously, they were weaning their ewe lambs. I have not seen them allow their lambs to nurse in a few weeks.
Looking back at the other ewes from my meat and fiber flock, they did the same thing. Their milk was suddenly very copious for two days then became thicker with less and less volume over the next three days, until I realized they were done. But their milk didn’t clot, but it was yellowish, so I gave it to the dog. The dairy sheep’s milk wasn’t so yellow. But I did mix in one of the last milkings, a glass of milk with raspberry syrup and drank it and thought is was very much like a milkshake. My suspicions began rising. “I wonder if that was okay?” It tasted okay. I didn’t get a stomach ache or have bowel issues, later. But the milk was much thicker than usual. That, and then the next day when I boiled it, and it clotted that made me stop and say, “Yeah, “We’re done milking these sheep, for this year.”
I was hoping to milk them for more than five months, but further research told me that longer lactations occur when ewes lamb in January and bring their lactation into the lush growing summer months. My ewes lambed in May. The shorter daylight hours and colder weather of fall also contributes to them shutting down lactation. So I learned a few things. I will try to get a few ewes to lamb in January, one of these years. It doesn’t look like it will be happening this next year since they are all just weaning their lambs and will be bred during the next two months. Honestly, I am glad to be done milking them for a while.
This week, I went back to milking the cow for Jim and Miss Violet. She will probably continue lactating for another two or so months. Last year she lactated for eight months before weaning her calf which took me by surprise. Most cows lactate for a full year or so. She did the same thing as the ewes. Suddenly for two days she had copious milk, then, very little the next few days to nothing. Well, after witnessing this for three different times. I ought be able to recognize it sooner next time around.
Back to the subject of the sheep, thankfully, during the summer I had saved 31 quarts of milk that I froze from a combination of all of the lactating sheep. Therefore, every few days I will thaw another one for drinking or for making yogurt or for cheese making. If I were to ration it and thaw just one a week, it will last me through February or March when some of my ewes are expected to lamb again. I’m not sure if I will ration it.
We shall see what I choose to do, It will most likely vary. But anyhow, 31 quarts is not too bad a yield from sheep, for storage. I will try to save much more, next summer.
I cleaned out the hen house also this week. Next week we will begin butchering about half of the chicken population during the next few weeks in small batches.
We also must slaughter and butcher one ewe and a ram next week. The sheep butchering comes first next week.
This week, because we thought we would have a very hard frost after the snow storm, we didn’t, we harvested almost all of the celery. It was washed, chopped and dehydrated down to two quarts worth. Then I harvested the cucumbers from the greenhouse and made two half-gallons of fermented pickles. I harvested all the peppers from the greenhouse, chopped those and froze them, that yielded about a half-gallon. Peppers and cucumbers did not fare as well this year in the garden or in the greenhouse. Some years are not as good as others. I also harvested the green tomatoes still on the tomato plants growing in the greenhouse.
From the greenhouse, I brought into the house pots of lavender, rosemary, and oregano to overwinter in the house, I also brought in a Bussing tray of peppers that have not yet produced any fruit. We shall see if they will do so, in the house. UPDATE: The cats used it as a litter box about four days later. GRRRR! It now stinks and I’m probably going to dump it….
Also from the greenhouse, I harvested a lot more sage and dehydrated two quarts worth of that.
Every year I bring in warm weather plants and even if I put them under the grow lights, they eventually die and don’t really keep on producing, I’m talking about Zucchini squash, peppers and tomatoes. So I am just leaving them out in the greenhouse until the killing hard frost comes and takes them out.
I harvested more Elderberries and put them in the freezer to freeze and to hold them with the others mentioned last week, until I was ready to work with them. On Thursday, Miss Violet and I took the frozen branches a few at at a time a de-berried them. We got a yield of another gallon. YES! I have been putting Elderberry syrup in my morning Apple cider vinegar, citrus, Redmond’s salt, magnesium water. I think it is helping me. I just finished my last jar and need to make more.
As soon as the elderberries were out of the kitchen refrigerator/freezer and bagged up and put into another freezer, I turned it off and emptied it out to thaw it and scrubbed it. It was super dirty. I don’t think I had cleaned it out for two or more months. Eeeyewwee. After turning it back on, I returned most of the food items that were taken out of the refrigerator, and that which had been in the freezer was squeezed into the other three freezers and I left the refrigerator freezer empty. It will be filled next week with chicken and mutton.
Thursday night, after animal chores, about 7:30 PM. It was pitch dark and quite cool at 44 degrees Fahrenheit. I took the flashlight, my trusty Glock, and the “Pup” and went down to the orchard to pick my hazelnuts. I have two bushes. Interestingly, one of the bushes was loaded, while the other only had a few. These are fairly young bushes about six years old. But every year they produce more and more. The past few years they gave a cup, then a quart, then a half gallon, etc. This year, they gave about eight pounds or three gallons. It took me a full hour with the flashlight to pick those eight pounds. I went back down to the orchard the next day to glean what I may have missed the night before. I have them drying out in front of the wood heating stove. I’m looking forward to making hazelnut butter with them.
I processed the very last of the plums that I picked last week. I made them into six quarts of that plum, lime, ginger, maple syrup juice and then froze them. Yum.
The last of the zucchinis were put in the refrigerator last week. Those, we are eating fresh.
I pulled the seeds from the Dill that was drying on our wood cook stove. I saved them for next spring’s garden.
I de-seeded a few sunflower heads. I have a bunch more drying out next the wood heating stove for eating and for next spring’s seed. And more out in the greenhouse. I may give those to the chickens, later on.
I grew a very small patch of glass popcorn. Those were harvested last week. This week, I husked them. They are now in a bowl on a table drying out.
I had to reorganize two kitchen utensil drawers and our two very large cabinet drawers that hold the stainless steel cookery pots and pans and the food storage containers.
I also refilled and reorganized our spice and seasonings cupboard.
This week, Jim helped me change out the rug in our living room. Over the summer I had a different colored rug in the Great room, it used to be in the girls’ room years ago. When the snow came this week, I was tired of it, and asked Jim and Number 2 Son to retrieve my original Persian rug from the cabin loft and to put the “girls’ rug in the cabin. The Persian rug is a different color. It looks so good in the house again. It feels very cozy again in our Great room. It’s the right color for winter. I like changing up the colors of the Great room for different seasons.
It’s very pleasant to get the fall cleaning done and to get the house in order and cozy again for the winter.
Our family went for a hike up a local mountain trail in the adjoining National Forest. That was one that we haven’t been up for a very long time. This hike was for the last day of Sukkot. We had a Bible study at a nice area lookout and had a view of the high mountains that we usually don’t get to see. They were snow-capped and beautiful. We read Ezekiel 39 and Daniel 7, 8, and 9 and had a short prayer time.
During the past two weeks I have written out l of Matthew Chapters 19, 20, 21 and I’m now in Chapter 22.
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.