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:
Lily and I went serviceberry picking several times, this week. There were plenty of ripe berries, but usually plenty of mosquitoes, too. To avoid the latter, we did most of our picking on sunny afternoons. We did two hours of picking on Monday afternoon and brought home 3.5 gallons. We went back on Wednesday and collected another 4 gallons. Meanwhile, the raspberry vines in our main garden are loaded with berries. We feel so very blessed. (Lily will fill you in with some details on the harvest.)
I had a half-day trip for some on-site consulting.
I helped Lily do some weeding in the main garden.
Now, Lily’s part of the report…
Avalanche Lily Reports:
Dear Readers,
The weather this week was gorgeous. We had lots of sun and also had a cloudy day with a brief shower in the afternoon. That shower was very welcomed. Immature Hummingbirds are now swarming our two feeders each day. They are tanking up for their big migration in about two weeks. The early morning bird chorus is waning fast. As well as the evening chorus. Soon, the birds will be leaving us. Usually, they are mostly gone or silent by the third week of July. each year. :-(.
Summer seems to be a week or two ahead for us this year. Our berries seem to be ripening a bit earlier. I’ve been noticing a lot of summer foggy mornings here at the ranch. There is a local saying that the number of fogs you see in August mornings are the number of winter snow storms we will have that coming winter. Well, we have had fogs most mornings these past two weeks and we are not even into August yet.
I’m also wondering if we will have a late summer frost here in August? My first year here at the Rawles Ranch we had a frost on August 17th.
This week was much about berry gathering and preserving. I froze about three gallons of the Service berries and dehydrated in little bars, another two gallons worth. Red and Gold raspberries are just coming on. But thusfar I have picked nearly our first gallon. Those I froze. Huckleberries are next on our list to gather.
One afternoon, seeing that the Polygonum weed was starting to flower and feeling desperate to get them out before they dropped seed, I asked Jim to help me pull them from the broccoli and cabbage rows just for a half hour to see how much we accomplished in that half hour. Jim isn’t used to pulling weeds, but having him out there with me, offered me moral support and an “opponent” to “compete” with to get the job done as fast as possible. So I “raced” him in my mind to see how quickly I could get my side of the row weeded. We ended up being out there in 90-degree heat for forty minutes and were able to pull the weeds in three and half rows. I was happy and relieved to have done the job. Afterward, we were so hot that I decided to go for a swim in our Redneck Pool for a few minutes. After that, we went out for another hour and a half of berry picking.
Later, I spent some time weeding the three rows of carrots and onions. But I was being quick and not thorough, so I have to get back out there and continue weeding those crops.
A quick comment on last week’s post about my greens dying in the greenhouse because I wasn’t watering them in a timely manner. A friend mentioned that I should have told the grandsons to go water them. Perhaps, but I was so busy that I wasn’t thinking in that direction. Furthermore, a further truth is that at this time of the year, despite having automatic roof window openers and an automatic fan and open doors the average daytime temperature in the greenhouse runs between a 100 and 120 degrees Fahrenheit. Most greens cannot handle those temperatures and they bolt, which was also the case. What I didn’t mention was that I saved the seed pods of the lettuces, Claytonia, and others for this fall’s plantings.
We continue to rotate the watering of squash mounds, fruit trees, garden, and parts of our 2-acre Near Meadow.
I cleaned out the Meat and Fiber Flock Sheep shed several times. I like to scrape the floor clean in the summertime most mornings and then air out the shed during the day while they free range around the Ranch.
The Hen house was also cleaned twice this week.
This week I did not milk the cow. There was too much going on to do so. The cow and calf are not using the stalls much at all, so there is nothing to clean in there.
I continue to milk four ewes from my Meat and Fiber flock sheep, every morning. I continue to milk my lambless girl twice a day and the other three moms once a day, each morning. I freeze the morning milking and use the evening milk for drinking, yogurt making, and butter making. Last week, I dewormed my sheep for the first time, using Molly’s Herbals goat/sheep dewormer. The woman who I bought my Dairy sheep from used it on her flock. I finally got my act together to also do so. We will also soon going to be offering all of our sheep/goat a mineral free-choice buffet. Jim needs to build the buffet tray wall for me soon. We already took delivery of the minerals and the plastic mineral containers. This will be our project for next week.
This week, I did all of our laundry, scrubbed our stone tile floors, dusted, washed windows, washed walls where some mosquito carcasses and blood spots were left behind. The blood is mostly from the cats and dog. Usually, we sense the mosquitoes biting us before they get much blood. I was sick of seeing them. Some members of our family smack them and leave them. Generally, I smack and wipe with my finger and rinse off in the sink. Even so, sometimes there is a faint streak left behind. So I end up cleaning them off later.
I began riding my mountain bike again around the ranch this week. Additionally, I am swimming daily in our small pool. I like doing laps using the kickboard to work my legs. A few nights this week, I jumped back in to swim in the evenings just before bed to cool off. It really helps my sleeping to lower my internal temperature on these hot summer nights.
After all this activity during a day, I’m finding that I need to take a power nap once a day after dinner for an hour then I’m revived to continue working until about 10:30 pm.
I feel that the abundance of fruit this year is the last year for this type of abundance, according to the End Times timeframe that we are in. This Fall, if our currency goes digital, Christians who know that this may be the Mark of the Beast cannot participate in this system. Even if it is not quite etched into your hand or forehead, because that is the last step. Will it be through medical means, perhaps the new medical monitoring wearables spoken of by Robert F. Kennedy Jr.? I believe that within four years, all Americans/World citizens will have to have these medical monitoring devices implanted. Christians cannot participate. Therefore, you had better be getting and collecting and stocking up on food, seeds, medicines, clothes, barter items, water filters, and all things you will need if not participating in this system. Once it is in place — possibly soon — this system will last at most three and a half years before Jesus returns! However, all who do not participate will be hunted down, persecuted, and killed/martyred. Prepare your hearts, minds, and bodies to endure through those coming days. We are at that door. Be in the Word, pray, and fast.
There is news of a big change in our southern oceans that will affect the whole earth, likewise in the Atlantic Ocean.
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.