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:
We had a busy week at the Rawles Ranch. I slaughtered and butchered eight “excess” young roosters.
Our Number Two ram developed a dislike for one of our ram lambs, his younger brother, born this year, and butted him until he fractured the lamb’s foreleg. So, I immediately slaughtered and butchered him. He only weighed about 55 pounds. That yielded just four legs of lamb, one small freezer bag of backstrap, and some dog meat. That is sad. If he had lived in peace, we could have butchered him next spring and there would have been twice as much meat.
I packed a whole slew of Elk Creek Company orders.
I am anxiously waiting for the green light from the US Forest Service on slash pile burning. Normally, “open burning” for hand-piles begins on October 1st each year, but we’ve only started to get rain in the last few days after a drought-like summer. I’m hoping that I can start burning before the piles get rain-soaked. (Our current slash piles are only partially tarped.)
Now, Lily’s part of the report…
Avalanche Lily Reports:
Dear Readers,
What a week! We had lots of good rain this week, about an inch and half. Temperatures were only in the high sixties with lots of clouds and some sun. Quite cool, from a week ago. Fall has arrived.
So much happened this week.
I harvested more Elderberries and froze another two gallons worth.
I harvested most of our apples, two medium totes. four milk crates, and two bussing trays worth. I have left some on one tree to see how the frost that is coming this coming week affects them.
I’m still harvesting about a bowlful of red and golden raspberries every four days or so.
We harvested 125 pounds of plums. Most of those were pitted and frozen. I gave some away to our neighbor. I dehydrated a gallon’s worth. But we don’t much like prunes. I made a gallon and a half of plum juice. I just learned that prune juice is made from dried plums and plum juice is from raw plums, usually blended with water, ginger, lemon or lime, and Maple syrup. I did both lemon and lime, separately. I really enjoy the taste with the lime, best. So I froze the gallon. And we drank the half gallon and I made an additional half gallon for drinking this week. Yum. I still have some more plums to get from the top branches. Hopefully, they’ll survive until I can get them on Sunday afternoon.
We boiled up six of the roosters that Jim butchered this week, de-boned them and put them into eight 1-quart bags and froze them to eat in soups and salads in the future. We froze the other two roosters whole. I’m glad we butchered them in a much more timely manner. The roosters were just becoming very randy and the girls didn’t want to go in at night, because the roos were blocking their way, hoping to get them one last time before the night. We kept just two extras from our original five roosters, that we are aware of. There might be a few more as yet undeveloped roosters. If so, we’ll get them later in the fall..
I cleaned the hen house.
I made Farmhouse Cheddar cheese with sheep milk this past week.
Last week, I moved my Meat and fiber Flock senior rams around to various females and their offspring. We have a closed rare breed flock and for various reasons, we cannot get outside rams at this time. From August until last week, I had a ram pen and a ewe pen to keep them separated so that I could control this year who breeds who. I have two ewes that are twins, with all their offspring and another completely dis-related ewe with her offspring. I took that ewe’s ram lamb from last year and put him in with the twin ewes and their female offspring and I took one of the Twin’s rams from three years ago to be with the dis-related ewe and her daughter. This year the dis-related ewe had twins and one was a ram. That ram lamb I put in with the twins and his older brother from last year’s lambing. Because I didn’t want him to breed his mother in case that senior ram didn’t ward him off. The older brother made it his mission to beat on him for a few days. I thought he would stop once the point was made. The ram lamb was keeping his distance.
But Wednesday night, his brother really hurt him. So, Jim butchered him. We should have butchered him instead of putting him in with the other ram, but they had been together all along in the ram pen with the big senior ram, so I thought that they would be okay together. By the way, for this senior ram, it is his first opportunity to breed. So he is taking his job and any other competitors very seriously. The other senior ram is his father and his father kept him in check with benevolence which is another reason why I thought he would be kinder with the ram lamb, his younger brother…But not! We live and learn.
We have four other ram lambs in with their father and that ewe. But the Father ram keeps them in check, So, I am not worried about them breeding the Ewe. Anyway, if any one of them did, it would be okay since they are all from the twin ewes in the other pen. We are going to let those boys grow some more. All of them are heading to freezer camp later this year, or sometime next year.
Number Two son visited us for a few days this week with his pup, “N”. While he went to help some friends move, we pup sat our “pup granddaughter”. She and our “pup”, “H” get along super well. One afternoon, I took her and “H” out for a walk. Both dogs stay right with me with just voice command. I love that they are so obedient to “come” and “stay close” with my voice. Anyhow, we walked the north fence line and went out into the big meadow.
“N” who is kind of a city dog was in her glory running through the tall grass so freely and for such distances. However, she isn’t too familiar yet with the ranch and doesn’t yet know the layout of our land. We have a creek running through the big meadow that dumps into the Unnamed River. This creek divides a part of one of our meadows into two meadows. Just one culvert bridge connects those two pastures. On the non-side-of-the-river part of the culvert, there is a bit of a pond just before the culvert. There is currently very tall grass growing around it. So one cannot see where the grass ends and the water begins. “N” following “H”, crossed over the culvert bridge and was running around with “H” in that part of the meadow. I had not yet caught up to them and had not yet reached the culvert to cross over into the meadow that they were in.
The creek was between us, hidden by the tall grass. “N” was running ninety and ran a wide circle around the tall grass in the meadow and then came running right towards me. I realized that she couldn’t see the creek and small pond and was going to run right into it, before I could say anything. But what could I say, anyway, to her to make her stop? We didn’t have that kind of relationship, yet. I could get her to “come” with me, but “Stop”? I don’t think she knew that command. So, I stood there helplessly watching her come right for it. She ran right through the grass and dove head first into the deepest part pool of water, disappearing from my view because of the grass surrounding it next to the culvert. I thought she would pop right back up out of it onto my side, but she didn’t. A moment went by and still she didn’t appear. When another moment came and went without her appearance, I became concerned for her, “Oh oh!” I walked up to the edge and had just began to peer down, when she popped up her head looking all wet and shocked, blinking her eyes, kinda pointing her nose up, sniffing the air. She was a sight to behold. The bank is actually a drop off. She is a smallish medium-sized dog. She tried a couple of times to come up the bank and was struggling to do so. But just as I bent down to grab at her collar to help her, she bounded up to me. She immediately shook the water off. And she kept looking at me as if to say, “Why didn’t you tell me about this pool?”, “I’m all wet!”. “I have water in my nose, and in my eyes, and in my ears.” She shook again, and again. And started to run after “H” a bit more slowly and shook again about five more times. Poor girl! I have to admit it, though: I laughed! She was a sight and she was so funny about it!
When we came back up to the house, I came into the Office bedroom to tell Jim all about it and boy did we laugh together then at poor “N’s” expense. In fact, I was laughing, again, as I was recounting this story for you to read. Next time she visits, I think she will remember to be careful around there. Actually, I have to admit a mistake of my own: Later, after she came out of the water, we walked back across the culvert and walked along the river and then came back. Both dogs chased a family flock of Mergansers from the bank that were in the river and took off in flight down the river. On the way back, instead of going over the culvert bridge, we all crossed the creek near the mouth where it dumps into the river. I misjudged where the channel was in the deep grass and plunged my right foot down into it up to my knee. So, I had a wet hiking boot and foot and the last laugh in that department…Karma for laughing at the poor pup!
The Redneck Pool temperature is down to 55 degrees Fahrenheit. Outdoor swimming season is over for us.
I rode my bike numerous times in between rain showers this week.
I’m writing out Matthew Chapter 18, Nearly done.
Friday was Yom Kippur. The Day of Atonement! We observe the Seven Biblical Appointed times. We will be fasting and Reading the Word of God and praying for the unsaved on Friday. We will be attending our Shabbat Bible Study on Saturday. So I am writing this on Thursday. I pray that if you observed Yom Kippur that you felt the deep, sweet forgiving presence of the Lord God of Israel and His Son Jesus and the Holy Spirit this day and weekend. May your names remain in the book of life in this new year. And may you know the peace of the Creator Father God and His Son Jesus the Word made flesh. And if Jesus is not your savior, I pray that you will make him your Savior, this weekend. There is very little time left of the Age of Grace before Jesus returns for His own and the Father God unleashes his Wrath/the Seventh Seal out on all who take the Mark of the Beast and reject His Salvation. Please call on the Name of Jesus Christ and repent of your sins and be saved through Jesus Christ. Then get yourself a Bible and devour His word! There is little time left.
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.