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:
Our four grandsons were here at the ranch visiting for five days.
With the recent hot weather, I’ve adjusted my schedule toward doing most of my heavy work in the mornings, and my writing and editing in the afternoons. Despite the heat, I accomplished a lot this week. For instance: I drained, scrubbed, and re-filled our Redneck Pool. I helped Lily pull weeds and hauled them to a burn pile. Lily and I hauled 20 wheelbarrow loads of composted manure to the main garn, and a I roto-tilled that in. I wrapped up the sheet metal work on the exterior of our new outhouse. I packed just one Elk Creek Company order. (With the big sale on all of our investment grade guns that just started today, I’m expecting a lot more orders.) I hauled more rocks to a down-trodden area near a pasture gate, so that it will have a firm base, for the winter rains. (Some 3/4″-minus gravel will be added, to provide more comfortable footing there, for our livestock.
The thermostat went out on our SUV. It stuck in the closed position, causing the engine to almost immediately overheat. I’ll be replacing that myself. I now have a replacement thermostat and o-ring on order. (We’ll be using our pickup truck, in the interim.) If it was an emergency and we had no other vehicle, then I’d temporarily run it with the thermostat removed.
Since we are now at the peak of garden harvest season, I have set aside my firewood splitting and stacking project. I’m now planning to split that last couple of cords in September.
Now, Lily’s part of the report…
Avalanche Lily Reports:
Dear Readers,
We have had very nice dry clear weather with a Temperature high of Ninety degrees Fahrenheit, but still a whole lot of smoke from the fires in Spokane and Oregon. Grrr!
We have a lot of animal excitement that occurred this week. Jim wanted me to save one of the stories for next week, but I told him that if we’re going to be real, that some weeks a lot of stuff happens and other weeks not much of anything happens. That’s life, and I choose to be real about it:
First story: On Tuesday night we all went to Bible study at the neighbors. We got home after dark. Chickens were roosting on the outside of the protruding nesting boxes on their hen house and inside the grain stall of the hay barn. Someone had closed the guillotine door earlier in the day and I hadn’t noticed. So the chickens were not able to go into their hen house before dark and had to find a place to rest for the night. So the oldest grandson, Miss Violet and I took flashlights and rounded up as many of the fifty plus chickens that we have as we could find and put them in the hen house. It was a real rodeo that oldest grandson really enjoyed participating in. However we missed a few.
The next morning as I was walking out at 6AM to do feeding chores I walked by the hen house and my eye caught movement at the front right corner at the ground. There is a two inch gap under the hen house right there. I looked down and saw chicken legs sticking out from under the hen house. They moved. Hah! A skunk had got a chicken, had killed it, and was dragging it under the hen house. I walked up to the corner reached down and saw the chicken legs jerking hard. The skunk heard me and was trying to pull the dead chicken further under. I reached down and carefully grabbed the chicken legs and had a tug of war with the skunk for a moment. I won! I got the half eaten chicken away from it and marched it over to the burn barrel. I didn’t see the skunk nor did it spray, because it was far underneath the hen house and there is a very narrow two inch gap that it would have to squeeze under to get out from under there. No way would it come out and face me. So I wasn’t worried about it spraying, etc. I would love to kill it, but I hate it when they spray as they die. So that isn’t going to happen, plus I won’t risk shooting under the hen house and having both the smell of their spray and their rotting carcass stinking later since it’s too small of a place to get to, to remove it’s carcass. Been there, done that! Never again. I have told ya’s all before, I HATE SKUNKS!
Second story: Our cat killed a Warbler. That isn’t much of a news flash, but how it happened this time around is. One evening as we were getting ready for bed still light out at Nine-thirty, I looked out our sliding glass doors onto our cement pad outside the bedroom doors and saw a Warbler just sitting on the corner of the pad. Jim also saw it and we surmised that is was a very young warbler and that it might have hit our window and was stunned. We decided that I should go get it and nurse it back to health. I went out through the garage door and around the corner of the house and looked it was still there. I approached it and saw our two cats close to our porch. They were the real reason it was stunned. I leaned over and picked it up. I didn’t see any injuries. I cradled it in my hand for a moment, then let it perch on my index finger. It didn’t seem ready to fly, quite yet. But just as I was about to cup it in my hands, again, to bring it into the house, it took off, flew to the porch railing and landed there. The cats bounded up onto the porch. I walked to the railing and reached for the bird. It flew again but got caught between the glass sliding door and the partly closed screen door. It was fluttering up high about four feet. I jumped up the side stairs and was just reaching for it as it fluttered between the glass and the screen doors, when our cat leapt four feet into the air and grabbed that bird and crunched down, before I could get it. The bird gave out one chirp and splayed out it’s feathers at my feet in the cat’s mouth. And that was that. Kittycat snack! And I so marveled at the athletic agility and lethality that our cat had just displayed at that moment.
Our cats know that hummingbirds and chicken chicks are absolutely off limits, but I have always let them hunt other birds. So I suspect that they thought that I was helping them at that moment. I have helped them catch mice before, too. So to them this was a “Team effort”. Well, so much for helping that little bird. I let the cat have it. I want our cats to hunt and supplement their food intake, because there may come a time when we won’t be able to feed them and they will have to fend for themselves. So I wasn’t much upset about this incident. I opened the sliding glass door and went into the house to tell Jim what had happened.
Third story: I went into the orchard to move the hose around to the blackberries. As I entered the orchard two turkeys took off into the trees. Our pup was running around the orchard while I moved the hose. I went to leave the orchard and was about to call the pup and saw her sniffing something in the grass at the bottom. She had the gentle curious look on her face that made me suspect that she was checking out some animal. I am still hoping that our Matriarch kitty is still around. I called her to me and she came towards me reluctantly. I then decided to go check out what she had been sniffing. So I went back into the orchard to see what she had been sniffing. She went back to what she was looking at. I arrived there and saw a back of a bird about the size of a robin. I nudged it with my toe. It seemed dead. Something inside me told me to pick it up. I tried to pick up the bird. It’s head was deep in the grass. When I dislodged it from the grass, as I was raising it up, the head shot up and I was looking at a baby turkey chick in the eyes. So cute. It cheeped and instantly mama turkey flew right up to me and landed in our plum tree just feet away from where I stood. She was clucking away, all upset. So I gently tossed baby into the air and it flew into the Extension Garden and mama turkey flew after it. I hope there are a lot more other babies around — more than just that one. Update: mama turkey and baby turkeys are up around the house. I haven’t yet seen them, but while working in the garden I can hear their cheep, cheep, cheep, as they talk to their mama. I guess I will go throw some grain to them when I do chores tonight.
Fourth story: One of our heifers had a bull calf, her first calf, on Wednesday of last week. That will be our last calf for this calendar year. On Tuesday, grandsons and I looked in on “S” our heifer and I noted that she would probably freshen within twenty-four hours.
The next day, in the very early AM I checked on her and there was nothing happening. Later, a Grandson checked, still nothing. Then around 11 AM Oldest Grandson went and checked again and heard her bawling and came back and told me that he thought she was in labor. We all went out to check on her and she was in labor but she was having a tough time with it. I saw the hooves peek out during a contraction and her vulva was so painfully stretched out. It didn’t look to me that she would be able to get that baby out. We have never had to help our cows up to this point, though. We had caught her in the beginning of her labor with contractions about five minutes apart. I marked the time. We went inside and looked up the amount of time it should take for her to birth before we should call the vet. No more than an hour and half. Then I kept checking on her every ten to fifteen minutes. It is stressful for me to watch the cows in labor, because, I’m not sure when to intervene and didn’t want to. I had checked and the calf’s hooves and head were in the correct presentation. I even felt the baby’s tongue lick at my fingers when I had checked. So that was in our favor. So I kept leaving the barn and coming back — plus the grandsons were still with us and one of them had developed a fever overnight. So that was also stressing me. Because of the fever, we had decided to leave to bring them home around 1PM. Which was earlier than the original plan for that day. So now we were in a crunch time. So anyway, I kept checking. She was bawling with every contraction and it looked so hard for her. I felt bad for her and prayed that the Lord would have mercy on her and me and help her birth this baby.
The other cows were with her all five of them in a tiny milking parlor until the last fifteen minutes. I checked and then sent them out then went back to the house to eat lunch. When I went back fifteen minutes later, which was at the end of the hour and a half time limit, if she hadn’t had the baby I was going to call the vet. But when I went back out, she had had the calf, Thank God. And all the cows were with her, again, because I hadn’t secured the bar gate. So I sent them out yet again. Cows are very communal and no doubt they were encouraging her in her labor. But still, I wanted her to have her privacy and time alone to bond. Mama was just lying there with the baby behind her, not doing anything. Not licking or sniffing or anything, just trembling and looking shocked. So I brought the baby around to her front. I looked to see what its gender was. Mama then stood up, sniffed him momentarily and backed off. “Oh no”. I had a dreadful thought: “I hope that she isn’t going to reject him because of the painful birth she just went through.” I took off one of the two t-shirts that I was wearing and wiped his nose with it. Then I rubbed my hands all over him and then rubbed my hands on the nose of the mom and had her lick my hands with the placenta fluid and baby smell on them. Then I ran back to the house to get the calcium-magnesium-potassium gel. I told Jim, and we both went back to the barn and gave her a dose of that with our big veterinary “grease gun”. (Outwardly, it looks like an adhesive tube gun, but the cylinders twist to lock in place.)
Next, Jim and I gave her grain, hay, and water. She went right for the grain. “Good!” We then left her alone with him for an hour. Just before we had to leave to bring the boys home, I went out and checked on them again. Baby was standing with his head right at mom’s udder, looking for the goods (mom’s teats), and mom was standing stock still for him. Phew! We left them alone for about six hours until we got back home. I went and looked in on them and baby was romping around his mom. Everything is good. Double phew! The next morning, I checked the mom’s udder. One side was empty the other was slightly packed. I milked out about three cups of colostrum to freeze for emergencies. I also found yellow poops on the stall floor. Good sign! We named him “A” after a friend of our grandsons that we met this last weekend because I liked his name, it isn’t a usual name that you would run into, and he is a very cute little four year old boy. This calf is very cute also. I let the other cows out of the corrals so mama and baby can be alone to bond together.
And yet a fifth animal story: Monday morning, Jim and I were working in the garden. Jim rototilled the bed that I had just harvested four rows of potatoes from, and then we put composted manure all over it with the wheelbarrow. During the manure transfer, I took a break to use the loo and get some water. As I passed through the great room, my eye caught movement outside the window down in the open meadow. I saw two huge birds flying together low to the ground. “Hmm”, thought I. “I wonder what is going on?” I grabbed my binocs and looked out.
I saw a Vulture flying low. I clipped on my paddle holster and trotted out the door and headed down the near-house meadow towards the open meadow. The pup who is always at my side to see what was going on. As I drew near to the cross fence separating the near-house meadow and the open meadows, I saw a Bald Eagle attack a vulture that was on the ground. The vulture looked either old or sick — or perhaps it was molting. My pup ran out ahead of me into the open meadow. I yelled, “Hey!” at the Bald Eagle and at the sight of the dog it took flight and flew low along the ground out towards the Unnamed River. My pup chased it until it went up over the river and vanished into the trees. As the dog came back towards me, the vulture who had been in a ditch popped up and struggled to fly towards the fence near where I was standing.
It landed near the fence and stood there with it’s wings up. I saw its face it looked like it was older and had some gray feathers, etc. It turned towards the approaching dog and ran and took off — with much difficulty. I know they struggle anyway to take off, but it seemed to be even more of a struggle. It eventually gained a bit of altitude and headed north. I lost sight of it around some trees. I though it might land in the trees. So I followed it around the trees, to an area where I could see if it had landed. I did not see it. I walked up through the trees to our horse exercise arena and walked through the arena towards the parking area. Suddenly I saw the vulture (the same one?), flying just above the level of trees over the arena looking down on me and our chickens. Then it went over the trees and out into the open meadow and was gone. I suppose we saved it’s life that day.
Another sheep died this week. My favorite most compliant, sweetest and the one with the best udder and the best milk. As Jim and I took her away from the herd, I heard her weaned ewe lamb give the small intimate cry they make when communicating with each other. Such a cute little sound. To me it sounded sad and like she was saying “Goodbye”. Later when I was alone weeding the garden thinking about it, I wept. I’m hoping that she is the last of them to pass from the illness that ran through our flock this summer. The vet had no results come back from the lab, so surmises that it was some bacteria that turned into pneumonia that the antibiotic probably killed but their weakened condition caused some of them not to be able to bounce back. The rest are all looking good healthy and robust at this time. This girl had been touch and go since the illness struck three weeks ago. So it wasn’t too surprising that she didn’t get through it. Sheep are so fragile.
I harvested the first four rows of potatoes.
I harvested the second half of the garlic.
The summer raspberry harvest is coming to an end.
I picked the first few ripe Transparent apples from our orchard.
It looks like this year we’ll finally have a measure-able blackberry harvest.
I harvested the seeds of the Parsnips that were planted last summer. I have two paper grocery bags full of the seed-laden flowers. They will continue drying out in the greenhouse before I thresh them from the flowers and put them in little seed envelopes.
Jim and I and Miss Violet did some serious weeding of the garden beds. They are starting to look better again. We still have more weeding to do.
We are getting the potato bed ready for winter crops that will probably be planted this day (Tuesday) while you are reading this post. Well, I’m so excited and pleased. Monday evening after dinner, I decided to plant this bed. We will be putting a hoop greenhouse over it a bit later, just before a frost hits. In this bed that I set up like Eliot Coleman’s winter hoop house, of his “Four Season Gardener” book: I planted Pac choi, Vit Mache, Claytonia, Arugula, Mesclun lettuce, and other mixed lettuces, Deer Tongue lettuce, Mizuna, Asian Greens, Cut and Come Again Mustards, Scallions, Broccoli Raab, and Celery. (We’ll see how it grows and over winters. I didn’t plant very many this summer so we’re really low on fresh celery. We do have lots of dried, though.) I also planted parsley, Water Cress, Tatsoi, and Red Russian Kale. The rest of this week I hope to finish weeding the other beds in the Main garden and to tackle filling the bussing trays with composted manure and planting more winter crops in those, to grow in the greenhouse.
We went Huckleberry picking up on “The Unnamed Mountain” with the grandsons on Tuesday afternoon. Between the six of us, we picked two gallons of Hucks. They took theirs home to their mom. As well as about three quarts worth of raspberries that they helped me to pick.
You’ll probably enjoy Hold Fast Alaska‘s latest video. I really enjoy watching this family forage and hunt in interior of Alaska along the Copper River.
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.