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 your e-mailed letters. We post many of those –or excerpts thereof — in this column, in the Odds ‘n Sods Column, and in the Snippets column. Let’s keep busy and be ready!
Jim Reports:
I’ve had another quiet week here, out of state, helping an elderly relative. I’m anxiously awaiting my return to Lily and the kids at the ranch.
I can report that I’ve been doing my best to buy inventory for Elk Creek Company, but I’ve been amazed by how quickly the prices are escalating for pre-1899 cartridge guns. Whether I’m buying at antique stores, gun shops, estate sales, auctions, or from newspaper classified ads, it seems that everyone has substantially increased their prices. Hopefully, the price inflation that we are witnessing with ammunition, guns, fuel, and lumber won’t become the norm in the general economy. Because if it does, then we are in a heap-o’-trouble!
Now, over to Lily…
Avalanche Lily Reports:
Dear Readers,
The weather has been gorgeous this week, sunny and “warm”. We have spent a lot of time walking around the ranch and also laying out in the sun for at least an hour a day to get our vitamin D levels up. I heard the Winter wren, the Varied Thrush, and our frogs singing this week. Spring is well on it’s way.
This week was planting seedling time for the Indoor Bathroom Greenhouse. I filled seven trays of 72 pack cells with soil from a bed in the greenhouse and planted them with three trays of cabbage, one of broccoli, two of peppers, an 18-pack with Jalapeno peppers, leeks, cumin, anise, and calendula. The cabbages and broccoli, I plan to transplant outdoors by the third week in April. The rest of these items cannot be planted until the end of May or June depending on the trend of the weather.
In the greenhouse, in bussing trays and other containers, I planted collard greens, spinach, kale, mustard, more cumin, Swiss Chard, dandelions, and beets and I covered them with some clear acetate that was used in the past as a tablecloth, under which we put maps to study during meals or for schooling, as extra warmth protection. Additionally, I planted walking onions and small onions that I harvested from the garden last summer in the bed that I had planted the garlic.
I planted red potatoes in several large pots in the garden greenhouse for an early harvest, maybe in June?
I am prepping seedling pots to plant tomatoes and squashes in a few weeks.
I have a general Azomite fertilizer that I spread out in all of my strawberry beds, around my blueberries, black raspberries, and around all of my fruit trees in the orchard.
We are continuing to clean up manure around the parts of the ranch near the house as the snow melts and uncovers it.
I set up the Luxe Hot Tent and the little wood stove in the orchard. The chemicals on the tent material stink, so I am airing it out before we actually try sleeping out in it.
Speaking of the orchard, my second bee hive died in the past two weeks. I checked on them on Thursday and not a one was living… There was a lot of moisture and mold in the box. 🙁 So sad! It is very difficult to keep bees through the winter in our part of the Redoubt, it seems.
Jim, the girls, and I have used Wire (video-calling) to have family Bible studies together while he is away.
In my personal studies, I have listened to Second Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, and Philippians.
May you all have a very blessed and safe week.
– Avalanche Lily, Rawles
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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 still want to hear from you.