Bo's Crooked Legs

You may want to pull up a chair and pour a cup of coffee or tea, because this story will take a little time. If you are a very soft hearted individual, you may also want grab a box of tissue. No, Bo didn't die, but he had some struggles, and I won't tell you the end of the story until we get there somewhere down the page. Now if you're the kind of  person that turns to the end of the book to see how it ends before you even start reading it, you can scroll to the bottom of this article and see what happens. Otherwise, here is how the story began.

On Thursday, April 2nd, right on schedule at 150 days gestation, Cricket went into to labor. Cricket is one of our first fresheners that I have high hopes for. Her grandmother, Katy, was one of our first does. She was a good mother, good milker and all around very good doe. Cricket's mother, Ivory who we sold last fall, was also a very good doe, except for that very irritating hollering that she refused to stop doing. It's the only reason we sold her. 

Our friend, Faith (pseudonym), came over to watch and participate in the birth since she plans to start her own goat herd very soon. As the kids feet presented during labor, I realized the legs were crossed. At this point I wasn't sure whether these feet belonged to different kids or the same kid. Even though I had not seen this presentation before, I didn't feel I should intervene, instead I waited to see how Cricket would proceed.

After the feet but before the head appeared, Cricket got up and laid down several times, which is normal during labor. But one time when Cricket started to lay down again, she landed on a pile of hay. She had pawed up some of the hay in her birthing pen in a nesting type of behavior, which is also normal. This is kind of hard to describe, but as she lay down, she landed on the downward slope of this pile of hay, which caused her to roll all the way over on her back, then onto the other side. I was worried what might happen to the kid's legs during this accidental roll over.

Shortly after this event, Bo was born. As his head emerged, we realized one of his legs was quite a bit ahead of it, while one of them was not. After he was born, Cricket took a few minutes to decide what this thing was she had just expelled from her body. Even though it was a cool day, we gave her a few minutes to adjust because the umbilical cord had not yet broken. I wanted her to be the one to break the cord, instead of us. I moved Bo up toward Cricket's head as far as the cord would allow, to encourage her to begin licking and cleaning him. Faith removed the mucous from his mouth, and some of the birthing material from his body. A little while later, I cleaned, dried and stimulated Bo with some towels. Then a short time later, Cricket stood up, broke the umbilical cord and began investigating her new son.

After Cricket began licking and talking to Bo, I made sure the wax plugs were removed from her teats, and helped Bo get his first meal. At this point, all appeared to be well. A few hours later, as Bo began to get up and try to walk, we noticed his front knees were not straightening out as he stood. He had an awkward look to him, but still was getting up and around and trying to nurse on his own, just like any newborn kid. I hoped his awkward knees would correct themselves over the next few days. The first things that came to mind were the way his legs were crossed and being compressed with each contraction during the birthing process. The next thing that came to mind was that while his legs were crossed and outside of Cricket's body, she rolled all the way over during labor. Now, I'm beginning to wonder about birth trauma to his legs.

 

We decided to give Bo a few days to see if his legs would strengthen and straighten out on their own. They didn't. These videos are at day three and are the ones that really got to me. We knew that we would either need to try to do something to help Bo's legs, or put him down. Other than his legs, though, he is a strong, healthy animal.

Off to my goat books I went. This is the only book I have that really dealt with birth trauma, as opposed to nutritional deficiencies. I read all about nutrient and mineral deficiencies and bent leg, but none of these maladies matched up with Bo's predicament. In the book, All About Goats, on page 131 it says, "Contracted tendons, particularly of the forelimbs, are common in newborn kids resulting in an inability to straighten the leg. Mild cases with a partially bent leg will often resolve on their own as the tendons stretch with movement; more severe cases may need splinting to stretch the tendons and allow weight bearing on the foot." After finding this, I went to the internet to find out how other people have splinted baby goat's legs. There are many different ideas out there for the looking. Armed with this information, Frank and I decided to use stiff cardboard and duct tape. Here is what we did on Monday morning, when Bo was 3 1/2 days old.

Cardboard, socks, duct tape and scissors

Start off with a sock for cushioning and protection for Bo's skin

Wrap in preformed, stiff cardboard

Duct tape cardboard in place, then fold the sock over both ends

Duct tape the sock in place over each end

Then do the other leg

One of the first things Bo did after we finished his splints, was nurse. That was one of our concerns, and he had no difficulty at all. Good. That was step one. We encouraged him to walk, just to make sure he could get around on his own. The next thing he did was try out his "new legs" and play. Yea! So far, so good.

Bo quickly got used to using his "new legs" and began to play with the other kids much more than ever before. We planned to leave the splints in place until Friday, which would have been four days. But, Thursday evening, when I went up to milk, I found this.

Since one of Bo's splints had worked it's way below his right knee and was no longer serving any purpose, we went ahead and removed them both. The encouraging sight I saw, was that his right leg was straight and he was using it normally. Now to see how the left leg was doing.

 

His left leg was awkward when he tried to walk on it, even though it was straight. We hoped a few days time would improve it's use. 

This morning, two days after removing his splints, here is Bo. We still feel his shoulder stance is a little wider than the other kids, but he now looks and acts like a 'kid his age', so to speak.

I have to tell you, it chokes me up a little and does my heart good, to see the improvement Bo has made. Frank and I both have soft spots in our hearts for animals that struggle. Bo has given us another great learning opportunity. We had never splinted anything before, animal or human. It gave us the chance to research, brainstorm, experiment, discuss improvements and what worked, and gave us a successful finished product - straight legs. All of this will still eventually lead to food on our table. Bo is destined to become a wether, like the other young bucks, which we will raise and butcher in due time. Does this make me sad? No. We raise animals for the purpose of providing ourselves with good, wholesome food. 

We were fortunate that this story had a happy ending. Not all of them do. We have had baby goats that were not able to overcome the obstacles they encountered at birth and have had to put them down. I didn't know how this story would end, that's why I have postponed telling it. But now I feel fairly certain that Bo will do fine. And as for Cricket? She has the makings of a fine milk goat. She has trained to the milk stand and milking routine well. I still have high hopes for her. And if I attend another birth where the kids legs are crossed, I will do my best to reposition them correctly in the hopes that this will not happen again. There is no guarantee that this was caused from birth trauma, but that is what my gut instinct tells me from all of my reading and research. Sometimes there is no way to know why some things happen. But this time, we were blessed with a successful solution. I am grateful.

Until next time - Fern

The Saga of Penny's Babies

The past few days have been very busy. You see, Penny, according to my obviously inaccurate estimations, was due to kid tomorrow, on Saturday. Instead, she and her kids decided this past Tuesday was to be the day. So we will start this saga that day and see if we can squeeze the events into one rather long post.

Tuesday morning when I went up to milk and feed the goats, I realized that Penny's udder had really filled in the night. I had been checking to see how far her hips, or ligaments, had spread for a number of days. I told Frank the evening before that Penny really seemed to be almost wide open and I just didn't see how she was keeping those babies in there. Well, it didn't last much longer.

Tuesday was supposed to be a laid back day that allowed us to clean out the barn and get the birthing pens ready at a lolly gagger pace. Not to happen. I called Frank on the radio, remember we use them all the time. I told him that I didn't think it would be long before Penny went into labor and that we needed to get the birthing pens set up. I asked him to scramble up some quick eggs for breakfast while I milked two does. His idea was better. Milk the goats, bring the milk down and start chilling it, then we would clean the barn and set up the pens before breakfast. Thus began the mad dash to prepare. Not our preferred mod of operation. We would have much preferred the lolly gagger pace. Anyway. I quickly completed the morning chores, took the milk to the house, filtered it and set it to chill in ice water, we woofed down a few bites of cottage cheese, and away we went. 

Frank fired up the tractor while I started in with the pitch fork. It was a surprisingly quick and thorough cleaning. Since Penny was not showing any signs of imminent birth, we went back to the house for a real meal and a cup of coffee. By this time we were hungry, I cooked up a big brunch of sausage and eggs hoping this would hold us for a while. We both knew this would turn out to be a long and busy day.

After we ate, I went back to check on Penny. She was out in the pasture grazing with the herd, showing no signs of labor, no discharge, nothing. She was talking a little which made me think she may be in the beginning stages, but that was all. So I left her grazing thinking this would be the last good exercise she had for a few days and that the new green growth would do her good.

We decided to go to the post office and buy gas. While we were at the gas station some folks from church called to let us know the bacon and sausage we ordered from the local ag class had come in and they were heading our way. So we waited at the little country convenience store, got our bacon and sausage, visited for a few minutes, then headed back home. The longest possible time we could have been gone was about 45 minutes, maybe an hour, but I don't think so.

As we drove in past the pasture, I could see all of the goats except Penny. Uh-oh. I still had my radio with me, so as soon as we hit the house, I hoofed it up to the barn. As I topped the little hill where the barn sits, Penny saw me from the pasture and started hollering at me. Double uh-oh! I called Frank on the radio to let him know what I was seeing as I went through the barn and into the corral on my way out to the pasture. As I got closer I called him back and said, "We have babies! I need your help!" As I got even closer, I called back again and said, "We have twins!" 

Now, we have had does birth or begin birthing out in the pasture before. I usually pick up the baby or babies, hold them in front of the does nose, and she will follow them to the barn. Penny would have none of it. She paced and she hollered, and she paced and she hollered, but she was afraid of her babies and would have nothing to do with them. I know I called Frank on the radio again and reported the situation, but I have no idea what I said this time. He was busy trying to get the bacon and sausage in the freezer because he knew it would be a while before we would be back down to the house. He asked me to think of what we may need from the house for the birth. We had just about everything there except some towels, so he gathered them up and headed up to the barn.

In the meantime, I decided to take the babies to the barn, get them set up in the birthing pen, then go back for Penny. When I took the babies to the barn, the whole herd followed me there. That is, the whole herd except Penny. She stayed where she had given birth, hollering and pacing. She knew her scent and the scent of her babies was there and she wasn't going to leave it. After I went back out to the pasture, it took me a while before I could catch her. One Stripe led the herd back out and helped me catch Penny by standing between us. Penny was comfortable enough with One Stripe, our old matriarch, that I could reach across and take Penny's collar. It took some coaxing to get Penny to leave her birthing place, but when the herd came with us, she did much better.

Now I have her in the barn, in the pen with her babies. I quickly leave them alone hoping she would begin to lick and tend to them. She still frantically called and called, even though her babies were right there, she ignored them. Not a good sign. But she was quite agitated. So we put a brass double end clip on the side of the pen down low, clipped it to her collar, then placed her babies right under her nose, and left her alone. As she continued to fuss and call, her babies answered. She started to smell them, then after a few minutes started tentatively licking them. Thank you. I was relieved. After she showed serious interest in cleaning her babies, we unclipped her collar from the pen and let her finish the job. I'm sure you're not surprised that there are no pictures of any of this process.

Now the next hurdle was for the babies to nurse, and to make sure Penny would let them nurse. I left them alone for quite some time since she was tending to them and I didn't want to disturb that. Lucky for us the temperatures were right around 80* so I wasn't too concerned about the kids getting chilled. Penny wasn't real excited about letting the kids nurse, so we clipped her collar back to the side of the pen again. I put one kid under her nose, while I assisted the other one in getting that first meal. Once the first one was full, I traded them off and made sure the second one had a good meal. We also trimmed off the umbilical cords and sprayed them with 7% iodine somewhere around this time. Now, I could sit back and relax for a bit.

Faith came to see the babies. She plans to have her own goats soon.

Now for some reflection. What a surprise this birth was. Here is what we based our decisions on this day. Penny is a first freshener, meaning this is her first set of babies. Most, obviously not all, but most first timers take a while when they birth. Most pending births are indicated by the amniotic sack breaking and a long string of mucous type material hanging from the doe's vulva. This is fairly standard. So, when I checked on Penny in the pasture before we went to the post office and she had no discharge, I figured it would still be at least a few hours before she gave birth. Now, we haven't been able to see all of our goats birth over the years, but we have seen many. I don't remember any of them having twins from start to finish in under an hour. Penny is definitely the exception when it comes to that observation. 

If I had known she would be giving birth in such a short period of time, I would have penned her up right after we finished cleaning the barn. No matter how much experience you have dealing with animals, there will always be an exception, or a difference that needs to be dealt with that you can learn from. Penny has been an interesting teacher for me this week.

After Penny calmed down and bonded with her sons, yes they were twin boys, she was very attentive, talked up a storm and just fussed over them for hours. She showed no signs of rejecting them, and they are healthy, vigorous and doing great. Since One Stripe and Copper have already provided us with boys named Breakfast and Lunch, we are calling Penny's boys Dinner and Dessert. They will be banned and become wethers when they are about two weeks old.

We let Penny and the boys out with the herd this evening. First we penned up One Stripe and Copper's babies in the baby pen for the night, so there weren't any extra babies around to cause any confusion. And little do the older kids know, but they had their last drink of milk this evening. In the morning we will move them from the baby pen to the weaning pasture. They are now eight weeks old and their moms are ready for them to be weaned. So we will have new little babies in the barn with the herd, older babies in the weaning pasture, and the buck and older wethers in their pasture. We still have wethers that need to be butchered and had plans to put one in the freezer today, but there are only so many hours in the day, and there just weren't enough of them today. 

Cricket had a son yesterday, but that story will have to wait for another time. I think I learned some important lessons from her as well, and I want to share them with you. Life is an interesting journey. There are many, many lessons to be learned. Some of them are even taught by a goat.

Until next time - Fern

TEOTWAWKI, Two Years Later

We first became familiar with the term TEOTWAWKI when we read James Wesley Rawles book How to Survive the End of the World As We Know It. Mr. Rawles is over at SurvivalBlog. If you haven't been over there, check out his site. It is full of information and resources.
 

It’s TEOTWAWKI (the end of the world as we know it). The SHTF (stuff hit the fan) and now you are on your own. Are you prepared? Do you have the spiritual, mental, emotional, psychological and physical tenacity to survive?

What have you done to prepare? Okay, let’s look at the list. We all have lists and some even have lists of lists. Most of them include the following basic categories: Food, Water, Shelter, Protection and Tools. This is not an inclusive list. There are other facets of survival that are not addressed here, such as medications and pre-existing health conditions.

Food

What do you have that will maintain your health and vigor for an extended period of time? Staple goods stored correctly will last for an extended length of time. These goods could include: wheat, flour, rice, beans, sugar, honey, cereals, oatmeal, pasta, powdered milk, cornmeal, powdered eggs, freeze dried meals, freeze dried meat and/or vegetables, shortening, and salt. Canned goods, either from the store or pressure canned at home will include a variety of items such as: green beans, corn, soups, stews, tomatoes, fruit, juices, broth, olives, salmon, pickles, and relish. Condiments and flavorings that will make meals more appealing: spices, mustard, mayonnaise, salsa and dressings. Dried or canned meat with a healthy fat content is a very desirable commodity. Seeds, nuts and dried fruits add many different vitamins and minerals that would otherwise be lacking in a survival diet. Vitamin and mineral supplements can also provide some nutritional needs that may be in short supply. A quality multi-vitamin is a good thing to have on hand.

Now that you have acquired an adequate food supply what is your next step? What are you going to do when your supply runs out and there is nothing left? Are you going to be able to provide new food to your store of goods in a great enough quantity to maintain health and vigor for your family? Are there too many people to feed? Are there enough people to do the work necessary?

New food. Where will it come from? I have heard many people say they will just go out in the woods and hunt. Okay. That will work for…maybe, one week, because you and 5000 other people have the same idea and in a very short period of time all game will be hunted out….everywhere. Now what? I have also read about people who claim they will just go out in the country and find a farmer and become their friends so the farmer can feed them. I’m sorry, but what a laugh. About the only thing I know that a farmer will let ‘someone from a town or city’ shake hands with in TEOTWAWKI situation will be their shotgun. So that rules that out. Next? Will you turn to a life of crime to feed your family? If you are watching your loved one starve, to what lengths will you go? Have you thought about this? Are you prepared for it? So, back to new food and where or how to obtain it, much of which will depend upon where you live when the SHTF. There are a couple of different scenarios that will happen.

First, if you live in a town or city and have only been able to make preparations there, this will greatly limit your options of obtaining new food supplies. Many, many people have prepared a way to G.O.O.D. (get out of dodge) when the time comes. Some have a destination planned, but many don’t. Some have stocked a retreat that they hope to get to when the time comes, some have made arrangements to go to another family member’s or friend’s place. I can only say my prayers are with everyone in this situation. It must be very difficult to know that at some point you will have to flee and try to beat the odds in successfully leaving a highly populated area before it is too late and end up in a safe, survival place and not a starving refugee.

If you are already at your retreat, then I would imagine you are doing everything you can to obtain the things you need should we experience TEOTWAWKI. In that case, what are you doing to insure that you will be able to produce a new food supply? Another thing I have heard some people say is that they will eat their cows, or even their neighbor’s cows. Do you know how much meat is on a cow? How will you preserve it so the vast majority of it will not just rot? Do you have enough salt to preserve it? Do you have the means to dry it and make jerky? Do you have a way to store it and keep insects and varmints out of it? I would recommend a smaller animal – goat, sheep, chicken, etc. – smaller carcass, less waste, less fuel/time/energy to preserve/can/dry. Smaller livestock have lower feed requirements and will provide more offspring in less amount of time. Chickens will also provide eggs and can be fairly hardy at scavenging food for themselves. Sheep and goats do well on just about any type of forage. The goats may not produce as much milk if that is one of your plans, but they will produce some. If you do have any kind of livestock how are you going to maintain them so that someone else doesn’t steal or eat them? Are you able to protect your retreat, the people and animals that are there? Livestock guardian dogs are a great asset, but they need to eat too. What are you going to feed them?

Ok, that takes care of meat. What about vegetables or fruit? Wherever you are, you can practice growing something to eat. Grow tomatoes on the porch or balcony in a pot, spinach in the window sill, just practice with whatever you can. If you are at your retreat, preparing a garden, enriching the soil and learning what grows and produces successfully in your area is critical. Those cans on the shelf are only going to last so long and unless you are expecting Uncle Sam, mom and dad, your children, neighbor or friends to feed you and take care of you when the chips are down, then you had better learn everything you possibly can while there is still time. Buy gardening books – how to, what to do when the bugs eat it up, companion planting, seed starting and saving, if you don’t know it, buy a book about it. Even if you don’t have time to learn it all and read all of them now, you will have them for references. Seeds – how many do you have? You know the saying to never plant your last seed, right? What if there is a late frost? What if there is a hail storm? What if the bugs decimate everything? You can never have too many seeds. Some will keep their viability for years and some barely last a season. Again, know what grows and produces well in your area and stock up on enough seeds to last your life time and then some. In my opinion, they will be worth much more than gold. 

I hope this has given you something to think about pertaining to your food supply. Re-evaluate what you have, what you need, how to obtain it and store it. Food for thought, right?

Water – the most precious commodity

We all know we can’t live without water. Wherever you live try to have a variety of sources for water that are easily accessible. There has been much written about how to purify and store water. If you are planning to bug out, try to take as much pure water with you as you can. Make sure you have more than one easily portable means of filtering and purifying water. If you are trying to make time, don’t plan on boiling any. Think through your water supply very carefully.

At a retreat there are many different options for water supply. If your location allows for it, drill one or two water wells. Install a hand pump on one and a 12 volt pump on the other powered with a solar panel and battery. Have well buckets, pulleys and rope on hand in case you need it. Devise a rain catchment system using guttering and water storage tanks. Make sure the tanks you use are opaque and will help prevent the growth of algae in the system. Dig a pond and plan for a feasible way to transport the water to your home. Gravity flow systems work well. You will need a way to filter the water. The Katadyn Gravidyn or Big Berky filters work well and last a long time. Buy extra filters. 

Along with water, think about sanitation. All of that water is going to go somewhere. When you are no longer relying on a toilet, what will you do then? Do you know how to dig a latrine or outhouse? This item is very important. Sanitation will keep you healthy or lack of will kill you. So make plans to safely dispose of all waste whether you are in an apartment in town or at your retreat.

Shelter

Where will you live when TEOTWAWKI happens? Most of us reading this post already have some distinct ideas or plans where we will live. If you don’t, you need to make plans now before something happens and forces you in a direction not of your choosing. 

The climate and surrounding population will impact your living conditions when the SHTF. Again, if you plan to bug out have a destination in mind. Don’t go blindly driving out of town hoping to run across some place you can stay. I don’t think that place will ever materialize. Have a plan. Don’t head to a place that everyone else you know is going. It will not be survivable.

If you have or are preparing a retreat, plan everything around a total grid down situation forever. If the power ever does come back on it will just be an added bonus, but don’t count on it. With that said your shelter needs to be livable in the summer and winter. If you live in an area that gets hot in the summer, what are you going to do to maintain shelter and stay cool enough to manage? If you live in an area that is very cold in the winter, how will you stay warm enough? Wood burning stoves or fireplaces are wonderful and have the bonus of a place to cook meals. Do you have enough firewood? Is there more available close by? Are you in the physical condition to obtain the needed supply for as long as you live? A large stock of fuel – propane, heating oil, kerosene, gasoline, etc. – will eventually run out and probably won’t be replaced. Then what? Make a plan. It may not work out, but it will give you the chance to carefully consider what is needed in your location.

Do you have enough beds, bedding, towels, clothing, shoes, shoestrings, socks, underwear, coats, gloves……etc. for everyone that will be living with you? Your clothing will often be your number one line of shelter. What will you do when your last pair of jeans wears out? When your last pair of shoes is nothing but holes? Have you looked that far down the road? If you have children, do you have clothes for them to grow into? It’s hard to contemplate or imagine the types and quantity of clothing you and your family will need for the foreseeable future. Can you sew? Do you have material, needles, thread, buttons, zippers, and a treadle sewing machine? Can you mend what you have so it will last as long as possible? How are you going to keep your home and clothing clean? Do you have an extra broom or two? Do you have soap? How much and how long will it last? What are you going to do when it runs out? I really don’t see ever going to the store to buy soap if we really have TEOTWAWKI. How will we keep clean and healthy and able to work hard enough to survive? That goes back to an adequate water supply. Where will you bathe? How often? How will you heat the water to bathe, wash your clothes and wash dishes? Think. Think hard. How much do you need and what will you do when everything you have been able to store and produce yourself is gone. What will you do next?

Protection

We all see difficult times in the initial phase of TEOTWAWKI. Do you have an adequate way to protect you and yours? Innumerable articles have been written about the best forms of protection, be it gun, knife or self. What you need is what works best for you, your family and your situation.

The most important means of protection, bar none, is your mind. This is one area that you have to be able to wrap your mind around or it doesn’t matter what gun or training you have had. If there are people coming to take everything you own or harm your family you have to be ready to do the unthinkable. Period. Otherwise, you will lose everything. Then all the preparations you have made will come to naught. Spend time thinking, role playing in your mind a plethora of scenarios that may come to pass when the SHTF. See yourself protecting your family and home. See yourself successfully dealing with whatever threat may come your way. Practice it over and over and over. Then practice it some more. Mental preparation will provide you the opportunity to react in a more effective manner. Throwing your hands up in the air in total surprise with “Oh! No! What do we do now?” coming out of your mouth will only get everyone captured, hurt or killed. This is a very important part of your plans and preparations.

So, now some time has passed and most of the ‘bad guys’ have come and gone. You will still need to be ready to protect your family and home. What about those that have given up on the place they were staying because they have run out of everything they had stored and are starving? What do you do when they come straggling up to your gate begging? What do you do when you turn them away and they become angry? What do you do if you give them food and a few days later some not-so-friendly people show up demanding food since you fed the folks a few days ago? Then what? You need to decide ahead of time how you are going to handle these situations. What if you turn away the angry people and they come back later with 20 more angry people? Can you handle that?

Let’s say you have several firearms that you can use for protection and hunting. Do you have enough ammunition? What will you do when you run out? Then what? We all know the current state of ammunition supplies. If you don’t have what you want or need now, you may never get it. If you are in this condition, what are you going to do for protection? Think long and hard about how you will handle the safety and security of your family.

Tools

There are so many tools that will be useful in the case of TEOTWAWKI. I will break them down by categories and hope this list stimulates many ideas and the creation of more lists for your situation.

Kitchen/Food

These will be tools you need every day to prepare your food and many of them will depend on if you have any food to prepare. That thought goes back to the first section on food. Daily food preparation will include items like silverware, plates, bowls, cups, cooking utensils (spatula, large spoons, etc.), pots, skillets, bake ware, can opener (for all of those canned goods you have stocked up on), pressure canner, water bath canner, jars (which are great drinking glasses), lids, rings, tongs, percolator (if you have stored any coffee), dishpan/bucket for wash water and drain water (take the goose neck off of the drain under your kitchen sink and catch the water in a five gallon bucket – use it to water the garden), wash cloths, towels, soap (what are you going to use when you run out?), table and chairs for both inside and outside. That list will get you started.

Gardening

I consider gardening to be a must. If you are going to survive past what food you have stored then you are going to have to be able to generate more food. So – gardening tools – always have more than one. Is one person going to grow everything? I hope not. So store as many of each item as you can – they will also be great for bartering. I don’t think we are going to be forging new shovel blades. Tools – shovels, rakes, hoes, buckets for water and produce, dishpans/bus tubs (are handy for storing and washing produce or dishes or clothes or…) , galvanized washtubs and watering cans, gloves (hard work will be easier if your hands are protected), wide brimmed hats (you will be out in the hot sun growing your food), bandanas (you will be sweating), wagon (for toting all kinds of things – mulch, dirt, tools – get one that doesn’t have tires that need to be aired up), sturdy shoes (and extra pairs – these will wear out), scissors, knives, outdoor chairs and tables to process the garden produce, something to save seeds in, something to dry seeds and produce (window screens will work, have extra screening material – it comes in large rolls at the hardware store) and gumption (you can’t buy this but you will need to be able to produce it in large quantities).

Repair and Production

You know all of those great tools we have? Drills, chainsaws, skill saws, etc. that run on AC or batteries that charge off of AC? Unless you have a solar system that has the capability of running and/or charging these tools, they will be great paper weights. Hand tools and the knowledge to use them will be critical. Don’t make do with one set of screw drivers, pliers, wrenches, hammers, files, brace and bits, drill bits, chisels, heavy snips, bolt cutters, chains, ropes, pulleys, carabineers, eye hooks, screws, nails, duct tape (which, unfortunately, will run out one day), wire, cable, fencing staples, barbed wire, t-posts, extra fencing, stock panels, lumber, plywood, concrete blocks, PVC pipe with connectors and valves, and books about things you don’t know how to do – have redundant sets of everything if possible. This is one of those lists that could fill a book. There are few of us that know how to build a grist mill or a blacksmith shop. But there is information on the internet and out there in books that explain how. Even if we did have the knowledge would we have the tools and materials needed to construct/produce the needed item or machine to accomplish the task? Think beyond what you have now to what may need to be produced in the future and then plan accordingly.

All of this is written to help us think beyond the preparations we are now making. When TEOTWAWKI arrives, there will be a time of incomprehensible shock and denial. Then a time of desperation and despair will come. Be ready for it and be ready to mourn and lament your lack of preparedness in some facet of life. There is no human way that we can all be prepared for every eventuality – it is humanly impossible. Deal with it when it comes. Be ready to be able to survive and thrive beyond your ‘preps’. Be ready to make it on your own when the time of TEOTWAWKI has passed and a brave new world has come. God will still be ‘Our Father who art in Heaven’ who leads and guides us along the way.

Blessings to you all,

Fern

Our Labor on Labor Day

Since this was a 'day off' from work, we had a lot to get done. Even though Frank has a sore back and seems to be coming down with a cold.

 
I started a batch of chevre cheese in the morning.

After milking the goats and feeding the chickens, dogs and cats, I picked the garden while Frank got the salsa, jars and water bath canner ready to go. We canned 7 pints of salsa that I had put together a few days ago.

I hadn't picked the green beans in several days and was really, really surprised at how many there were. Time to can green beans. There is also okra, tomatoes and a few squash to do something with.

We got the salsa canned, made a squash/meat casserole for dinner (which I will post later), fixed bacon and eggs for lunch and mixed up a batch of bread.

In the meantime, we had two quarts of store bought cream in the freezer that needed to be used, and plenty of milk in the frig, so we made up two batches of ice cream (which I will also post later).

While the bread was rising and the last batch of ice cream was working, we stopped to have a bowl of ice cream with peach butter. We are really enjoying the peach butter. I hope making it will be an annual event.

After that short break it was time to snap the beans and get them ready for the pressure canner. We ended up with 16 pints and some left over, which is great.  There will be another batch to can tomorrow after work. We are glad for the harvest.

 
The bread is always a welcome treat. Hot from the oven with homemade butter. We ended up having bread and butter for dinner. We had already had the ice cream in the late afternoon and decided to save the casserole until tomorrow. We had to wait for the green beans to be finished in the canner so we could go do the evening chores for all of the animals.
 

So, after the chores, we worked the cheese and have it hanging to drain, set the green beans out to cool with the salsa, and cleaned up the canner. It has been a long day, but very productive. Frank ran into a saying a while back somewhere that is very appropriate for our times. We have it hanging on our refrigerator. "Every day now your options diminish. Get it done!" We don't get things done everyday, but many days we do. Another saying I have come to repeat lately is, "There are not enough hours in the day or energy in my body to get everything done we need to do." But for today.......Whew! What a day! That's what we celebrate on Labor Day, right? Good old hard work and the intrinsic satisfaction that comes with it.

Until next time - Fern


P.S. When I got home from work today, Frank had the canner, jars, rings and lids ready to can the remaining green beans. There were only 10 pints of bean, so we canned 6 more pints of squash to fill up the canner. 

I have started freezing my okra again for now. I wash it, slice it, coat it with a mixture of cornmeal, seasoning salt and pepper and put it in quart size freezer bags. Tonight we put up 4 quarts. As soon as we get the green beans and squash out of the canner, it is time to go do chores.

Enjoy the blessings of work.