To be prepared for a crisis, every Prepper must establish goals and make 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 the Comments. Let’s keep busy and be ready!
Jim Reports:
In addition to working on my latest book manuscript and blogging, much of this week was dedicated firewood cutting, hauling, splitting, and stacking. Most of this was cutting dead-fallen western larch. (Also commonly called Tamarack.) The small diameter logs (under 6″) don’t even require splitting. Those rounds can be burned in our main woodstove “as-is.” There was rain in the forecast starting Friday afternoon, so the whole family scrambled to get most of the small rounds stacked in our primary wood shed. The rest of the rounds were either stacked under eaves (for later splitting), or were tarped. My goal is to have our firewood basically set for winter by the end of August. Then, as is my routine in the fall, I will gradually split the large Tamarack and Red Fir rounds. And finally our kids and I will also split some short red cedar rounds, for kindling. There is still one large dead-standing White Fir that I need to deal with, but that could be delayed until next year.
Meanwhile, Lily has been very busy in the garden, as she will describe.
Avalanche Lily Reports:
Dear Readers,
I went to the store and bought veggies that don’t grow well here, or that our gardens did not produce abundantly this year: Broccoli, sweet peppers, celery. I froze half and dehydrated the other half. I will continue buying and dehydrating, I just have a feeling that I must do this now.
This food is probably not for this coming winter’s use, but for the next years following. I believe that we’re really close to the great tribulation, which means that if God chooses to hide us, we will experience two to four years of tribulation, then we’ll see the temple built and after that two more years of Great Tribulation. After much scripture study, we believe that at the 6th Trump the Rapture will occur, because true believers are not destined for God’s Wrath, in the sixth year. (So this puts us in the “Pre-Wrath” camp.) And in the seventh year is the year that God pours His wrath out on unrepentant mankind. Please do not get angry with this interpretation because the interpretation is quite fluid, still as it unfolds and God reveals more to us. Basically, we believe that we will see the rebuilding of the temple in Jerusalem, the revealing of the antichrist, the martyrdom of true believers in Christ, and the Mark of the Beast. In the latter, people will not be able to buy or sell without first taking the Mark.
We refuse to take the Mark and worship the Beast. Therefore we will have to store what we need for food, medical, housekeeping sundries, fuel, defense, and for bartering. These will be perilous times. We are preparing our hearts to be martyred or to survive, if He so chooses. Thus we will see Him return at the 6th Trump to resurrect the dead in Him first. Then He will take those of us who are alive and remain at His coming. Then He takes us to the Marriage Supper of the Lamb, and then He pours out His Wrath on unrepentant mankind. Namely: all those who have taken the Mark of the Beast and have worshipped His image. When His Wrath is complete, He will say “It is Finished” And Christ’s 1,000 year reign will begin.
We are soooo close to those days!
For water supplies, we have The Unnamed River that flows through our land, and an electrically-pumped shallow well, and some hand-pump shallow wells and a Berkey to filter and additional other methods to filter and purify water. We haven’t worried too much about not having available water. It will just take some effort to haul it from the river if need be. However, I woke up one morning, this week, at 3 o’clock AM, with a voice/the words running through my mind, insistently, four or five times, telling me, “You need to can water”. Therefore, the first thing I did when I woke up again, at 6 AM and remembered the words, was to jump up out of bed and run to the kitchen and grab my computer to look up how to can water and get onto the job. At this point, I’ve done one batch of seven jars. I will continue canning water until, I feel a release from doing the job.
We do not know what is coming, but we may need that water for contingencies, in the future. Canned water is sterile water. It can be used for drinking, but it is also great for washing out wounds or flushing objects that need sterile water, to keep from spreading illnesses. I think this was interesting, because canning water was not on my mind at all. About two years ago, I saw on the internet that someone had canned water, but it was not on my radar at all since then. I of course believe this is from the Lord. I must obey. Also, more so lately, I have been seriously asking the Lord to guide our steps every day and to help me/us to hear His voice more clearly than ever before. He has honored my request by impressing on me to do certain jobs out of the regular timing that I would normally do them. One for instance, within the last two weeks, I felt very impressed to make dinner in the morning, instead at the usual, afternoon time. At lunch time we had some very unexpected hungry guests stop by, whom I was able to feed immediately without delay or panic. Thank You, Lord. There have been similar instances, too. He will answer our requests. We only need to ask and be ready to do what He does request of us.
Very basically, to can water, one boils water, heats up jars, prepares the Water Bath Canner with water, gets that boiling, ladles the water into the jars, caps them, and then processes them in the boiling Water Bath Canner for ten minutes.
Our Black Raspberries are almost past, so as I am gleaning and eating, as I pick the last of them, with both some sadness and “Yum!” I am also pruning out this year’s fruiting canes. The canes will be burnt on the burning pile this fall. I ordered and received this week, 12 more Black raspberry canes. I will plant them in some bare spots of my Black raspberry beds next week.
The Red and Golden raspberries are still producing very strongly, and will continue producing through the fall until the first hard frost. We’re still getting a gallon’s worth every other day. I’m so amazed and very pleased at the abundance this year! I am freezing and dehydrating them, alternately. Later, I will make freezer jams and fruit leathers with some of them. Mostly, we like putting them in smoothies. We don’t like the high sugar content of jams, so I do not make too many jams. I have made jams with honey, but honey detracts from the fruit’s natural flavor. White sugar is not good for us at all. So our family stays away from it, for the most part.
We have harvested our first two cabbages in the past two weeks. Very soon, as soon as we finish our small supply of organic store-bought potatoes, we’ll begin robbing potatoes from my potato plants, until the big potato harvest.
My tomatoes are flowering like crazy and only have a few fruit on them. It is looking like our very hot temperatures (in the low 90s) are soon going to break for the season. By the end of the week the temperature is predicted to drop down to high 60s to 70s during the days and the 50s at night. I hope that my tomatoes and squashes will be okay with the change, and will still produce. I really want my own tomatoes again this year.
The corn is tasseling and growing small ears. I hope it can handle the temperature change, too.
I harvested French beans and froze a gallon’s worth of them. The mystery bean I planted in the last garden section, did turn out to be yellow wax beans. Yeah! I will be letting them mature after a few harvests for seeds for next year.
I dehydrated a pint’s worth of parsley from my greenhouse.
I harvested another large amount of zucchini that needs to be froze or dehydrated. Later in the week, I went back to town to run some errands, and stopped into the local grocery store, and bought some more broccoli, and some carrots to freeze, dehydrate, and can this coming week.
I received the three Pecan trees and the Cherry tree in pots that I had ordered from Stark’s, two weeks ago. They were dried out, dropping their leaves and I thought, dead. I called the company and they told me to baby them for the next few weeks and then plant them. I am doing as they said, and lo, and behold, they are sending out new buds, and the cherry is already leafing out. Yeah! I understand that they will have enough time to form yet more new buds before going winter dormant. Therefore, they will be fine and should have normal growth in the spring. In about two more weeks, I will plant them down in the orchard. For now, they’re near the house, so I can keep an eye on them and water them frequently.
“A.”, our new heifer, is adjusting very well to the herd and is learning the ropes of our ranch. She still isn’t too sure of me, but watches, very closely, how the other cows interact with me when I approach and visit with them. I like to, and they enjoy, being rubbed behind the ears, along the poll, and under the chin. We will soon be good friends, Miss A.
May you all have a very blessed and safe week.
– Avalanche Lily, Rawles
o o o
As always, please share your own successes and hard-earned wisdom in the Comments.
Took some time off work to do work around the homestead. Did some wiring in the barn and installed 2 retractable electrical cord reels. Trimmed up some pine trees. Moved a bunch of wood and extra siding into the barn loft.
Took a bunch of stuff from the house in town to the auction. Went to the auction on Wednesday and picked up a pitch fork, 6 chains, a plastic drum and a wheel barrow. At the Salvation Army I picked up a Sextant (by the instruction with it, looks to have been made in the 1940’s) a case of canning jars and a Molle pouch.
This week my son cut and stacked one cord of fire logs and another cord of kindling from the trees he felled earlier this year. He bucked the trees to fit in the tractor bucket and brought them up to work on near the house (easier on the back). After changing the oil in the lawn mower, he took the blades off, straightened and sharpened them; there’s always maintenance to keep the tools working!
Harvested a batch of habenaro peppers and made hot sauce. I try to store 12 to 15 bottles to get thru the winter. The jalapeno peppers did not do as well this year but I hope to get enough for several bottles of relish.
Dried sweet mint and chocolate mint, basil, thyme, sage and rosemary. Still have lavender to dry. This is an on-going chore until we get the hard freezes in November. I bought some lemon grass shoots at the farmers market, rooted them and planted them this week. I’ll bring them inside before the hard freeze. We use lemon grass tea mostly to improve breathing during allergy season and to prevent asthma attacks. The cats and dogs also like to eat lemon grass leaves, probably to relieve stomach irritation.
Harvested a 5-gal bucket from the 2-year old grape vines and processed 16 pints of jelly and dried 4 qts of fruit leather. Freeze-dried asparagus, broccoli and cabbage. Still have herbs, strawberries, chick peas and corn waiting their turn in the FDer. Canned several qts and pints of pasta sauce, which is an on-going project until November.
Stopped by walmart while I was in the city and saw the fresh green veges are back but still see signs in the canned goods areas saying limited products available. My feed store is having trouble keeping non-GMO animal feed in stock; their suppliers are in Alabama/Mississippi. Wonder if the INS raid slowed down production?
Have a safe week!
Try smoking jalapeños and canning in sauce,a true Mexican delicacy
Sounds yummy; l’ll fire up the smoker. Thanks for the idea; it will be a hit at the hillbilly block party!
Dear Lily,
I had to smile when you wrote about being prompted to start your supper meal in the morning. I once was prompted to bake a poundcake and make a pitcher of sweet tea. (I have made perhaps 3 poundcakes in the past decade, so it wasn’t a common thing for me to do.) I then went back outside to work in my garden. Shortly afterwards, a lovely family walked down our road and stopped at our driveway to say hello. They had just moved to Montana from a place in the South, and I invited them inside for a typical Southern offering of sweet tea and pound cake. They looked so surprised and one of them commented that he had been missing things (especially foods) from their previous home. They turned out to be a Christian pastor and his extended family who had been called to our community and they are now among our dearest friends and neighbors. 🙂 God surely attends to all the details (including hospitality) if we will only listen to Him.
As for celery in your garden, I am so impressed! I have not had success with it, but I have found the wonderful perennial called lovage. It is just a tad stronger than celery and the leaves give delicious flavor to soups and stews. There is the added benefit that it comes back each year with no effort on my part…. something I appreciate as I plant annual veggies in the spring! At first I thought the flavor of lovage was a bit strong but I have grown to enjoy it and just cut back accordingly when I use it for seasoning.
Thank you for sharing the promptings of Holy Spirit. I think it is helpful for us to remind each other about these things during the spiritually and physically challenging times ahead.
Sending prayers for protection and blessings…
Dear GritsinMontana,
What a wonderful story of God’s prompting of you, and the fruit that follows our obedience. 🙂
Celery does do well here, in the northern Redoubt, IF, one starts their seeds in February, in the house, of which, I did not do, forgot… to do this year. I do have a celery plant that overwintered out in the garden, and is now putting out flowers. I’m hoping that I may be able to get viable seeds from it in a few weeks. But there isn’t another celery plant to cross pollinate with it…, so I don’t know what will happen… I do have one strong celery plant that, survived, from a group, I started from seed in April, growing in the greenhouse. I will harvest stalks from it later in the fall, and preserve them. But it won’t be very much. Hmm, I will have to look into lovage. I’ve heard of it, but, I didn’t know it was like celery.
Many Blessings to you,
Lily
I feel like taking a break for a cup of coffee just from reading Animal House work accomplishments!
A great week here starting with the family reunion finale on the Lords Day afternoon of an exercise of 2A God-given freedom. I hosted with .45 ACP, 5.56, and .308 tools and ammo for redoubt relatives here who normally just use bolts and wheels. An English custom was to have mandatory archery shoots on Sunday afternoons.
Networking pays. The farmer I contracted to process my hay the past two years took me in his flatbed truck down to a lumber yard and we got 30 twelve foot long 5×5 yellow cedar posts for my orchard and garden perimeter fence. Now to treat and tar the bottoms in soil contact areas, and top endcut to prevent water infiltration.
Deer got over my hot wire a re-stripped several of my trees. Deer prefer the freshest young tender growth so it always impacts the best growing trees.
Still irrigating our hayfield, moving sprinklers every 6 to 8 hours. The garden in it’s first year of converted hayfield is mixed success. The wisdom of planting several varieties of each vegetable and planting more than you need is good.
Three varieties of squash planted, only spaghetti squash yielding well. Three plantings of two varieties of beets are yielding just a dozen beets, etc., etc. My heaping hills of alder sawdust onto 5 varieties of potatoes while the drip irrigation system remained at the original soil surface level….so far have pitiful yields. Next year I will get potato innoculent .
This weekend are two fun events locally. A Revolutionary War encampment with numerous living history demonstrations along with classes in patriot life and philosophy, and reenactment of Lexington and Concord for four days, is in full blast.
A day called Unity of Effort is being sponsored by the security company that inspired the one starring in the book series 299 Days. The Unity of Effort includes fre admission and picnic, and will have emergency services, shooting simulator, medical airlift, various LEO agencies, blood drive, county emergency management people, and a great opportunity to interact with like-minded people.
An additional event at the U of E is book release day. A friend who is a veteran, and my NRA shooting coach has just published his first novel about a pending national disaster/survival scenario, titled the Cascadia Fallen Series: Tahoma’s Hammer. The teasers I’ve read look good and are just like the author in real life.
At the Revolutionary War locatoion yesterday I was fortunate enough to obtain a gallon of heritage wheat seed. The landowner has a 1/4 acre plot upon which the state is conducting seed trials of heritage grains dating back to 1760 and as they were harvesting I asked for some to grow on my property. I have seed now for a variety dating to 1850’s to plant this winter.
Wheat varieties are always undergoing trials, funded by big seed companies. When I was in college in Montana the varieties were being selected for their responses to commercial fertilizer. and disease resistance, and response to insecticides and herbicides.
Quite often the seed industry-funded university research facilities promoted varieties which had short stems in the theory that more plant energy, in other words they were mining the soil nutrients out of the soil which resulted in soil fertility depletion.
Many heritage grains produce less pounds of grain per acre but are long stemmed varieties. Long stems provide thatch for roofs in Europe, but for us here it is more important that thatch is a source of valuable organic matter for directly incorporating into our sustainable food production operation.
The grain straw can become mulch for maximizing water use efficiency and nutrient cycling, composting, or using animals to convert it to nutrient-enriched animal waste for a higher level of plant nutrition and yield.
Best wishes and God Bless to you all.
How do you find the the time to get everything done?
I have spent the past year accumulating a stable of simple and functional ARs from Survival Blog affiliate Palmetto State Armory; a few hundred dollars apiece for basic weapon systems (Short of my number-one daughter I am not handing over a $2k rifle and optics setup to many people). I have a multi-state group of like minded friends and family who each have pledged their homes and property as a safe-house for travelers who get caught up while on the road. The intent is if SHTF and any of my tribe arrive lacking in resources I can make them functional and contributing members of the security and outreach teams.
I spent a few days this week arranging and rearranging kit bags for each AR in the corral. Because I was building out multiple kits I shied away from the $100 tacticool bailout bags and went with Herters range bags from Cabela’s for $20 each. After much stuffing and folding and tweaking each kit has 7x loaded standard capacity PMAGS, CLP, a multi-tool, 3x meal replacement bars, 20-oz aluminum water bottle, SOFT-T tourniquet, OLAES trauma bandage, and H&H Sterile Super Combat Cravat. They can add as they need, but my goal is to issue the weapon and bag on the fly so they are fully-capable for any need without having to diddle around with more complex gear setups. The money saved by buying perfectly serviceable low-cost firearms enabled the outfitting of the bag. I do have a couple ‘extra’ full plate carriers pre-loaded with mags and gear, but a simple shoulder bag and an AR tucked away discretely will likely draw less attention than someone kitted out in Gucciflage.
All in all the six bags cost about $210 apiece, and when added to the $450 firearm I can outfit a wayward tribe member for just over $660. Functional on a budget.
I blazed through the retreat owner profiles, https://survivalblog.com/profiles/. The one that caught my eye was Mrs. Golf, the 65 year old (“gray haired” lady) with an income of only 15,000, with a job on the side. She has not only the priorities straight, but the necessary determination to get it done. If she can do it, anyone can do it. And she move to Arkansas. With less than $3.00 for property taxes, maybe I should too!
I suspect there are many of us that are also getting old, and crippled up, and live on next to nothing. We have a tougher job, but we can get it done. Do not stop, or give in. I live on less than 3 to 5K per year, and am loosing the ability to walk without severe pain. And I have other health issues that had to be resolved, 6 heart attacks and more. It hit all at once, and wiped me out. However, I refuse to accept help from the gooobermint, and receive no checks from any source, and so will not become dependent, but force myself to established alternate and self sufficient means that may exist after a collapse. In a strange sort of way, I am already living it. I live in conditions some what, but not as extreme as if the collapse as already occurred. I embrace it, and consider the situation as a FTX, a Field Training Exercise for the coming collapse. Like Mrs. Golf, who uses brain, not brawn to get it done, us older folks can survive.
Fortunately, when I was younger, fit, and had a good income, I stocked up, and thought I was ‘good to go back’ in 2007. The sooner we accomplish our basic goals, the better. Life can be unpredictable. Of course there has been a lot of refinement going on since then. Yet even so, in my current situation, I can still stock up substantial amounts of food, equipment and other supplies far beyond what my income suggests that I am capable of doing. Far out of proportion. I get more done than those with 6 figures, who waste their advantage. But it is only done with the Lord’s help, and He has been faithful though out these years of trials and tribulations. Believe me, the Lord works in mysterious and wonderful ways, and He is faithful. That is something I did not have back in 2007. I had the Lord, but I was not close to the Lord. I am in better shape now, then when I was younger. It is not over, until the Lord says it is over.
I’m like you Lilly. I have a very sensitive, intuitive heart and I hear the Lord telling me to do things. There was a short time in my adult life when I didn’t listen and boy did I find myself in a pickle! I’m good now and I too feel the urgency. I feel that I must prepare for my large extended family to come live here. I have a sense of nagging if I don’t work at preparations every day. I try to dismiss it as the apprehension the shootings have caused. But, that’s not it. I felt this way before. I keep flipping my Bible open to the prophecies of the end times. I figure, if I’m wrong and I’m misreading the urging I’m feeling, then no harm, no foul. God bless you. As always, keep the faith, your powder dry, and oil in your lamp.
Dear Lily, last year you were lamenting the battle with star thistle. How is it going this year? For us, the annual hand pulling in the orchard, trying to catch it before it seeds, continues to pay dividends. It’s not eradicated, but every year there is a little less and the fight gets easier.
Hello SB in CA,
Uh, well, this year I am concentrating on the Main garden and food preservation. We have a depressingly over abundant supply of thistle and knapweed in the orchard and in the Annex garden. However, this year, I have kept the thistle from flowering by mowing the orchard, but didn’t pull any, yet. I ended up NOT planting anything in the Annex Garden. But, 2/3rds of the Annex Garden has been kept mowed down, and a 1/3 has been ignored. I think those weeds in that 1/3 are going to seed right now as I write this, Grr. However, one of these days soon, I will weedwhack that section and take the blow torch to it to burn up the seeds and then rototill it under and lay down manure and rototill, again, to build the soil. At least that is the plan. Just now, preserving food is more important to me. I just noticed this week that in our south pasture, of which our animals are not in and seem to not to choose to go there, is currently inundated with flowering knapweed, another Grr! 🙂 I need to get in there and weedwhack that too, and torch it. I will have to wait until after the fall rains begin. However, I am happy to say that other areas of our ranch where we have actively waged this war are mostly knapweed free. Those areas, when I walk through them, the odd weed I see, gets pulled. So we know that we can have success in this battle, when we wage it.
Many Blessings and successes to you in your weed war! 🙂
Lily
And blessings and well wishes for you in your weed war. Understand getting pulled in many directions. It is the season of the “P’s”, picking, processing, preparing, preserving, pickling, and pruning.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u2zhGJ0Olsc
any attempts in goats to manage the thistle?
Dear Lilly , I must thank you for being an inspiration to us all . And I must agree that I too have been sensing the time is getting near . I believe our lord provides us the means to do his will . I can think of no year and I am 66 now , that both fruit and vegetables have been so abundant . It is truly amazing , and this indicates to me that I should not waste it and should store it away , urgently .
May God bless you and yours
We’ve been adding to our food supplies again, mainly basic staples. We’ve been told via prayer to prepare to move, so out of obedience we are selling non-essential items off in preparation for this. We dont know where yet but we are thinking Tennessee. My company will allow me to work from home in any state in my assigned territory. It’s going to be tough to establish a new network but we are looking forward to it. Keeping our eyes open for 5-10 acres near a small town.
Take a look at my #1 Son’s site, SurvivalRealty.com. ( https://www.survivalrealty.com/ ) There are currently three listings in Tennessee, and more are listed regularly.
With company coming, the house got a long needed deep cleaning. I continue on my goal of sorting and organizing. Still things to find and put into place after being gone for so much time. It’s good to be home full time. I finally found the hard white wheat that I thought had for the grinder and put it into mylar bags for storage. Time to get the spreadsheet updated for our Redoubt place.
I did freeze a number of peaches and green pepper strips for immediate use, but have really been concentrating on using up food from the freezer. I’m not as trusting about having continuous electricity and am trying my best to move toward dehydrating and canning when possible.
I decided to start working on making another quilt. I thought I had plenty of blankets until we started getting prepared for company. And, it’s summer.
Wood work is moving along slowly but surly. We have made great progress on where to stack the wood. It’s going to be a real race to get enough wood for this winter, but we are working on it daily. Winter is around the corner.
Dear Lily,
I am so blessed by what you shared. Thank you!!! I look forward to meeting you in heaven one day. Until then, I will be one of the prayer warriors uplifting your family to our Father.
God bless your week, Krissy
After nearly a month running wide open with work, including several weeks on the road, I finally had some time this week to work around the farm. Our summer garden did poorly, though I still have hope for the okra which is looking good. I’ve also planted the fall garden, in hopes for a good harvest around October. On a good note, my blueberries are doing outstanding this year, the muscadines and scuppernongs are coming in good, and the persimmons are fruiting and should start dropping in the next week or so. I tried out my Granite Ware food mill with some scuppernongs and turned 2 lbs. of fruit into 3 cups of juice in quick order, freezing it for jelly making in a few weeks. I look forward to trying it out with persimmons as well. Our flock is growing, with the addition of 5 chicks (4 purchased, 1 hatched), all hens and all thriving. I share the concerns about our times, though I’m unsure whether it means we are facing a period of tribulation or The Tribulation. I also fear next year we’ll be living in “interesting times”, regardless. Either way, we can only prepare ourselves to the best of our ability, and trust in the Lord for the rest.
Oops, slight correction. Persimmons have started dropping.
Topped off all vehicles full of gas – we always keep them half full, but one was low.
Big grocery store run.
Ordered another Baofeng Radio, 5 total now.
Ordered 2 Baofeng Batteries that allow you to plug the charging cable directly into it bypassing the base station.
Ordered USB to Baofeng input so can charge VIA solar panels, USB battery banks or car charger.
Order 100W folding solar panel. Up to 297W of portable panels.
Finally started studying again for the HAM license. Going to do it this time.
Checked in with prepper friends, and notified them of my recent purchases. As a result they got 7 more radios, 2 batteries and another 100W panel on top of my stuff.