What I Did To Prep This Week: July 12th – July 18th 2020
Hello Pack. Our new beehive is thriving. They have already filled out five frames in the top box we added on. The Italian bees are so docile neither of us are wearing the bee suit when doing weekly checks and water refills.
After complaining about rain for months on end, we are, of course, now praying for rain. So goes July, I guess. Our creek is so very low in spots, but has, thankfully, never run dry.
We also have a pond, manual dipper for the well, rain barrels, and stockpiles of bottled water, so we are fine if the SHTF during a drought, but would still LOVE to stop having to water the gardens so often.
Some of my medicinal herbs did not make it through this weeks’ heat wave. I should have watered the ones in small pots far more often. I hate losing any of the chamomile, but at least I still have some of that variety still hanging on.
I spent a lot of time foraging this week. This time of year I pick a lot of purple clover, jewelweed, honeysuckle, yarrow, wild carrots, and chicory on our survival homestead.
I typically take my dehydrator trays outdoors, and stack them with a brick on top and just let them dry in the sun.
If I can beat the horses to it, I want to pick more plantain tonight to mix it in with jewelweed and dandelion for the best skin care, insect bite and sting, and poison ivy cream I have ever used.
Berry picking has been our primary date night activity this past week. We can typically get about half a gallon or more each evening.
When the grandkids go with us, we lose a lot of berries because they pluck them right from the blackberry and black raspberry bushes, and put them right into their eager little mouths.
We have quite a few autumn olive trees on our property. Researching them to see if they are edible or medicinal in any way is on the “to do” list for this evening.
Our little white poof balls (AKA the Pygora goats) are getting along fine. They sure are superb browsers, and are already doing a great job earning their keep and eating back our woods.
The militia group and related community leadership group my beloved has become involved with has great potential for new tribe members, such a wonderful group of folks – most of which are already accomplished preppers.
The community leadership group should be increasingly helpful in getting everyone in our county more aware and prepared – which is better for all of us when disaster, either regional or nationwide, strikes.
This Weeks’ Questions:
- What do you forage in the summer and how do you use the natural bounty?
- How is the hot and dry weather this July impacting your preps or causing you to revamp your prepping plan?
- What is your favorite way to use – prepare wild berries?
- What did you do to prep this week?