What I Did To Prep This Week: March 29th – April 3rd 2021
Hello Pack. I appreciate all of you who reached out to make sure me and mine were doing alright since there hadn’t been a column for a while. Although I did have a health issue that had me nearly sidelined for a few weeks, all is well. We are only going to do these columns twice a month for the time being.
On our survival retreat this week we have been quite busy getting ready for spring planting, doing seasonal fence repairs, tending to all of our sprouting seeds, and welcoming some new critters to the farm.
Brea got a new horse, a wonderful palomino Tennessee Walker. While we could use some more pulling horses and hopefully will be investing in some soon, Walkers are my favorite breed. There is virtually no hill they cannot climb or terrain too rocky to traverse.
During a long-term SHTF scenario, a Tennessee Walker will be excellent for perimeter patrols, hunting, and getting around all of these beautiful hills in Appalachia to avoid roadways.
His name is Parker, and he came from just a mile or two down the road, so he is already used to our terrain and weather fluctuations.
Our banty chicks are doing well, and so are the mature hens I got from an Amish acquaintance. The goat kids just seem to keep on coming. We are probably going to have about six more and then the spring kidding will be complete.
Our ducks are starting to lay copious amounts of eggs, and the new hens are chipping in pretty well too. I expect to be dehydrating excess eggs in the very near future.
In my personal experience dehydrated eggs taste as good as the real thing when using them within two years to scramble, cook, or bake with in the kitchen … or over an open flame.
I have been working on a gardening homesteading homeschool set of lessons with the grandkiddos for weeks now. Part of the lessons included getting some caterpillars and ladybug larvae to hatch – since they are helpful to growing crops.
Both the children and the adults have had a great time watching the process unfold and successfully helping to bring five new butterflies and seven ladybugs into the world.
Our maple tree tapping season was a complete bust. The weather was just not with us this year since you need temperatures above freezing during the daytime and below at night to get the sap flowing.
We did manage to harvest a decent amount of honey, and a lot of wax from my Bobby’s beehives. In late May, we can pick up another NUC of honeybees to add into the new hives, and increase our yield and crop pollination.
The search for more Mason jars, lids, and rings is about as crazy as it was when looking for rubbing alcohol late last year. If, and that is a big if, you can find any, expect sticker shock to ensue.
I got to meet Joe Blystone who is running against Mike DeWine in the GOP primary for governor. Thoroughly enjoyed the experience, and he is going to come to the Old School Survival Boot Camp in May to address the crowd from the stage on Friday evening.
This Week’s Questions:
- Are you having a difficult time finding canning supplies where you live?
- What are your favorite foods to dehydrate and how long do you store them before eating?
- Are you all in on getting the pandemic vaccine or deciding to skip the whole ordeal and why?
- What did you do to prep this week?