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:
I got a later-than-usual start to my firewood cutting season. Thusfar, I’ve been concentrating on deadfall trees. Thankfully, only one of those trees ended up on a fence — just its top — with no damage done to the fence. I’ve also marked about 20 more trees for felling, with flagging tape. They are all showing signs of any of the following: Dead-standing, broken tops, dead tops, sickly-looking, “leaners”, or grossly-bowed trunks. Most of those are firs, cedars, or larches. The largest one of those is only about 22 inches in diameter, so felling this year should be quite easy. Next year, I may finally move on to thinning out some dobules and triples.
Early in the week, I slaughtered, de-winged, de-legged, decapitated, gutted, and skinned four roosters and two hens. One of the latter was known to be an egg-eater. Lily finished up the clean-up on the birds, as usual.
Now, Lily’s report…
Avalanche Lily Reports:
Dear Readers,
The weather was quite rainy early in the week gradually becoming sunnier and warmer by the end of the week.
Not much happened this week because we went to town several times for Miss Violet’s last day of her mentorship, for a dental cleaning, other errands, and shopping.
Around the ranch, I re-rototilled the Main garden, I planted six more rows of potatoes, onions, cabbage, and sunflower seeds.
In the greenhouse, I planted more onion seeds, tomatoes, Honey Dew, cantaloupe, and watermelon seeds.
I reorganized my seed tote. I had all of the seeds out in piles on the living room floor for about five days until I couldn’t stand it anymore and I finished reorganizing them and re-bagging them. Then I continued that day as a nesting day in which I cleaned and reorganized the Great Room. We had another oldish poofy couch that we acquired last year and decided that we didn’t like it too much, therefore, ditched it this week. We have a futon couch that was in the great room and rearranged that and some chairs. It looks and quite nice in there now, not so cluttered and over-stuffed. Honestly, I would be happy just to have our Persian rug with some cushions on the floor, instead of all of our furniture and clutter that we have. But that is not American culture…Our family, friends, and houseguests wouldn’t appreciate that too much… We have to somewhat “Keep up with the Joneses”.
For the first time ever, I pickled four dozen eggs this week.
Jim and I slept out in one of our tents again for two nights, hoping to see an Aurora that didn’t occur.
This week on our trips into town we listened to Psalms 50-98, Acts 17-25.
I have not done weight-lifting for the past two weeks because I have really sore muscles that I am allowing to heal as much as possible, despite garden work. I’m quite bummed about it.
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 want to hear from you.
