Homestead News, Volume 13

Life on the homestead continues unabated, sometimes it's like running full steam and sometimes it's more like a walk in the park. Lately we have been surrounded with steam. Here's a look at what's been happening.

Isn't this a beautiful ditch? You're probably thinking I've been in the 'steam' too long, right? Well, the ditch itself may not beautiful, but what it represents is very exciting. Emmet has returned to barter more labor, for radios this time, a few evenings after he gets off of work. Weekends are devoted to his family, which is as it should be. Emmet found many, many more rocks in this ditch than any of us were planning on, so it will take longer to accomplish this task that we first thought. This ditch will hold the conduit, that will hold two strands of wire, which will connect this building to the house. Why is that exciting? Because these wires will soon connect our radio shack and house, to a battery bank and solar panels. We're not sure just how soon, but sometime in the not so distant future.

Yesterday while Frank and Henry installed storm doors on the house, which are great, I butchered a goat. Frank dispatched him for me and brought him down to the garage in the bucket of the tractor. I have to tell you, though, I did not take one picture yesterday. It was a long, long busy day. The goat provided us with about 45 pounds of meat, 10 pounds of dog food and some soup stock.


Dressing out an animal really doesn't take that long. Processing the meat does. We only kept two partial hind legs as roast. The rest of the meat was deboned, ground and frozen. I wrapped the ground meat in one to one and half pound packages and got them in the freezer at about 7:45 pm, just a few minutes before our second Survival Radio Relay Net. After the digging, Emmet stayed for a cup of coffee, and to see how Frank ran the net.

As I removed the meat from the bones, I kept looking at all the meat left on the bones. In the past, I have always just thrown these bones away. The longer I looked at them, the more I knew I needed to boil them and make some soup stock. So I did. I cooked them for several hours as I worked on processing the meat.

The net went very well with most people from the previous net returning and some new additions. Not long after the net we received a phone call from a man that joined for the first time. I don't know if this happens to you, but sometimes when life is really busy and we wonder why in the world we are 'putting ourselves out there' and possibly increasing our danger factor, we get a phone call or a comment that lets us know we are doing exactly what we are supposed to be doing. This phone call was one of those. I almost cried. Not because of the content of the phone call, but because of the unmistakable message that we are doing exactly what we are supposed to be doing. So, I guess I'll keep writing here for the foreseeable future.

We finally had supper at 10:00 pm in the midst of a very messy kitchen. I actually left this tub of dog scraps and many, many dirty dishes overnight. I had totally run out of steam for the day, and 6:00am would come very soon for the start of another day. I also forgot to bake the bread I had made this morning. I just shook my head and hoped it would taste good when I baked in in the morning. It did. Frank thought it was some of the best sourdough bread we have had so far. It sat for 24 hours after I made the dough and before it was baked. Interesting.

 







This morning it took me a couple of hours to clean up the kitchen. I returned the pots of stock to boiling, made rolls from the bread dough and left them to rise while I fed and milked the animals. Frank and Henry got to work early on the framing for the outdoor kitchen floor. Here it is today, but tomorrow these forms will hold a new concrete floor for the kitchen. We will keep you updated.

Frank worked over the lid and top edge of the All American Canner that wouldn't seal well enough to reach adequate pressure and we tried it again. It still doesn't work so we will be sending it in to see if the company can fix it at our expense.

 








It's now 6:00 pm and there are two canners of soup stock on the stove with more left in the pot to go. So far we have 21 quarts of stock and we will put what's left in pints. It looks like the last one won't be finished until about 10:00 pm. Update. It's now 8:00 pm. The last seven quarts will be ready to take out of the canner around 9:00 pm. I just put the pressure weight on the canner with 13 pints, and it has to come to 10 pounds pressure and stay there for 90 minutes. We won't be finished by 10:00 pm, but we're happy with the amount of soup stock we'll have to put on the shelf.

 






We have one more incubator full of eggs hatching as we speak. At first I took this picture to share with you, but before I could finish writing and publishing this article, they started hatching. That means I need to butcher and can the last 12 or 13 chickens out there from our last hatch. They are a too old for fryers, and we wanted some chicken meat on the shelf anyway. Looks like that's a job for Friday because tomorrow is mozzarella. The refrigerator is over run with milk again.

There have been several questions and comments about the greenhouse since we put this picture up on the header. It still doesn't seem quite real that we finally have a greenhouse, and we have already decided it's not big enough. 

 





We were asked if these barrels hold a back up water supply. The answer is yes. We don't plan to use the water very often unless it is needed. We hope to have other sources of water connected and ready to use before long. But since we do want this water to remain potable, we treated it with bleach as we filled the barrels. We did a search on recommended amounts of bleach and came up with 5 teaspoons per 50 gallons of water. Five teaspoons is approximately one ounce, which is easier to measure when you're trying to pour it out of a new gallon jug.

 

After we filled the barrels and got everything placed where we wanted it, Frank added some brackets to the back of the 'table tops' to hold them in place. We brought them an inch and a half away from the studs to allow room to place two trays side by side. This will allow us to use the space more efficiently. The bus tubs, there was a question about them, are the same ones that restaurants use to clean or 'bus' tables. Sam's Club has them with the restaurant supplies. They have been great, but the sun just kills them and makes them very brittle. We will build our own before long and fit them to the trays. I hope they hold up better in the sunlight than the bus tubs did, we'll have to wait and see about that.

The purpose of the water is for thermal mass. We are hoping it will help even out the temperature in the greenhouse. On sunny days when the outside temperature is in the 80's, it quickly rises to 100*+ inside. The first day we moved the seedlings off of the porch and into the greenhouse was before we added water to the barrels. I didn't water them enough, and in the afternoon, a few of them cooked, even with the fan Frank had installed. Since then, I have tried to make sure the tubs are watered very regularly, and we do think the water in the barrels makes a difference. Even if the thermometer is registering 100*, the plants don't seem to suffer for it. I plan to dig up some strawberries and comfrey and bring them in for the winter and see how they do. That will be interesting. I also have kept the mandarin orange and lemon tree idea in the back of my head that someone mentioned a while back. 

I brought these two black peppercorn vines, piper nigrum, in to the greenhouse. They have been growing on the porch all summer. I also brought in a preying mantis with them. I hope it sticks around and helps with the bugs that may show up.

 










I planted more seeds in more tubs, but there's not much to show for now. There are carrots, turnips, muskmelon, squash, lettuce and spinach coming up. I also planted some onion sets that I bought in the spring and never planted. Maybe we will have a few onions to eat this winter.

Tomorrow is another busy day, cheese and concrete. If you're interested in radio communications, stay tuned. We will have new antenna towers going up soon. This will increase our ability to reach the folks in our area which is critical. The solar panel project will also help insure our ability to communicate. The radio shack will be the first thing to go 'on line' once we have the 12 volt system connected and functional. We really look forward to that day. Meanwhile the water storage tanks at the barn are still on the docket for completion. We need a few more supplies and some more ditches dug before we can proceed.

There are days that it would be easy to quit, days that we're tired and worn out. There are some days that we just don't want to get out of bed and tackle the day. But we do. There is much to complete and time is short. Our pace seems to quicken a bit more each day. When we get out of bed, we pour a cup of coffee and check out the news of the day including the blog. There is usually another comment telling us what you're doing to prepare, full of encouragement, and we know we're heading in the right direction. Make sure you are too.

Until next time - Fern

Fit to Survive

There was a link on Ol' Remus the other day to an interesting, short letter found on SurvivalBlog. A letter you may not take notice of at first, but after we read it a couple of times, we found a number of messages there. The part that struck us most were the last few sentences.

"Being fit enough to survive won’t happen overnight. It takes a long time to harden especially if you are older. Most “tactical” courses are money that is wasted. The way you have been trained to eat will kill you. Prepare for war. Pray for peace. God bless, – Mark X."

You will have to read the rest of the letter to get the whole gist of his meaning, What You "Learn" Can Kill You.

For some reason that Frank and I have yet to figure out, December 3, 2014 was a day that we decided to change our lives. Why that particular day we don't know. We had a conversation with the neurosurgeon

that did Frank's back surgery and he told us about a book called Protein Power. When we left the office and got in the truck, we talked about it, looked at each other and agreed, we can do this. We had talked about losing weight many, many, many times for a number of years. We'd try for a while then go back to eating too much of the things we liked the most. We still wonder why this time was different, but we are very, very glad it was.

Now fast forward 10 months. Frank and I have lost almost 50 pounds each. We feel better and are able to do more than we have in a long, long time. Now go back and look at the quote from Mark X. "Being fit enough to survive won’t happen overnight. It takes a long time to harden especially if you are older." We would have to agree with that. It has taken a while to get in better shape and adjust to the weight loss, and neither one of us has reached our weight loss goal yet. 

Now for his next sentence. "The way you have been trained to eat will kill you." If you read the rest of his letter he talks about fat, carbs and the popular healthy ways we're 'supposed' to eat. Most people are surprised when we tell them we are eating all of the meat and fats we want, lots of them. We are very careful about the amount of carbohydrates we eat because of how they are metabolized in the body. It was surprising for us to find out that the body, and especially the brain, prefers to obtain it's energy from protein instead of carbohydrates. We had always thought of carbohydrates as 'energy' food. Turns out they are the 'sleeper' foods because of the insulin spike needed to deal with all of the sugar produced from the carbohydrates. The book Protein Power explains it much better than I can, so if you are interested, I would recommend reading it.

Last Sunday at church, the preacher commented on Frank's weight loss and told him he looked very good. Frank told the preacher that he is better shape now at age 65 than he has ever been and the reason for that is because we have a war coming. You see, even though we're not sure of the how's or why's of the life changing events in our diet and life, we do know the purpose. We agree with Mark X, "prepare for war, pray for peace".

We wrote an article the other day called A Group of Your Own. There were multiple comments, but I want to share one in particular along with Frank's response to the comment.

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"Even the people I know who do believe everything in America is coming undone are either too ignorant (I mean "not having knowledge") or are too afraid to admit that everything they have believed in and loved will soon come to an end. They seem to feel that, if they can just keep their heads down and not acknowledge it, the crises will all go away and everything will be okay. While that attitude perturbs me, I can understand it. I, too, am overcome with inexplicable grief for the loss of culture, country, and the bountiful prosperity and liberty America has known. Some days, I just want to ignore what is going on and never read or watch "news" again.

People I love seem to understand what is happening, but they refuse to move a muscle to do anything about it -not even to prepare with a few weeks extra groceries. This makes it all the harder for those of us who have been preparing. It is so hard to trust people anymore, even those who have been friends for years. 
Anonymous"

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"Hello and thank you. We feel the same way, there are days that I just don't even want to think about it. It grinds on my spirit, soul and heart. But I pull myself up, and continue on with everyday life.

If folks will study history, wars don't start with a single event, there are multiple divisions and factions that are precursors to war, or what we call the beginning of a war. We are well advanced into those stages right now. We are going to experience war in this country. The lines are being drawn. Our government is actively dividing this country. I can't speak of the divisions, because I could be charged with a hate crime. This is where we are, and remember, we are well into this process. This process can't be stopped. Get ready. Frank"

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Now Frank is absolutely not an historian or an expert on war, but then you don't have to be a meteorologist to see the obvious signs of a storm coming. We have war coming in this country. So what are we going to do to prepare? Continue to talk about it? Or we can wish, or we can hope, but hoping for something is a very poor strategy. Whatever you need to do,

get it done. If you need to be in better health, do what is necessary to take care of yourself. If you need to lose weight, lose it. If your diet is killing you, change it. Do what is necessary. If you watch too much TV, turn it off. If you are on the internet too much, quit reading this, get to work. Do what is necessary. Or, go turn the TV on, get a bag of Cheetos and zone out for a while, that will sure help you get in touch with reality. If you think this sounds a tad bit curt, it is. There is a reason why. You can't help save my life, if you can't save your own. Think about it, during the commercials. When this world falls, and fall it will, there will be no commercials, no time to get in shape, no time to learn how to survive and no escape.

Until next time - Fern

A Group of Your Own

Is it a natural occurrence for people to come together as times get harder? In some instances, I would say yes, and in others, no. For example, there are more and more violent attacks happening around our country. Some only involve one victim and others many victims, but the same event touches people in different ways. In some people it fosters a festering hatred for anyone associated with the perceived offending group. In other people it brings out an increase in empathy and altruism. These are two diametrically opposed opinions and perspectives about a single event.

For instance, take the murder of police officers across the country. For some reason, there are people that have decided, and some even loudly advocate, the murder of law enforcement personnel. Not because these particular officers have done anything to offend the killer personally, but just because they chose to protect and serve the community for a career and as a means to pay the bills and raise a family. That's a good, logical reason to commit murder, wouldn't you say? I know that is dripping with sarcasm, but really, some people seem to truly believe there is nothing wrong with this activity, they even preach it from their pulpits.


As offensive as this situation is, it has brought some people together. In some instances, I would even guess it has brought people together that never had anything to do with each other before. These murders have become their common bond and motivator. They have joined together to take care of each other in some form or fashion.

The murders that took place in Oregon a few days ago targeting Christians have resulted in comments by a number of people. One I read said that Christians need to have concealed carry permits so they can protect themselves. The campus that the shooting occurred on was a gun free zone. If someone there had been able to carry a concealed weapon, legally, you have to wonder if there would have been as many casualties and injuries. 

But there is another group these shootings have brought together. They are those that would take away guns from everyone. Except the criminals, of course, they would have them anyway. 

The people in these two groups will never see eye to eye. One group claims guns kill people, even though they are inanimate objects and can do nothing of their own volition. The other group claims that the right to keep and bear arms is part of the basic foundation of our Constitution and no other law can infringe upon that right. Along with the right to keep and bear arms comes the right to protect yourself against those that threaten your liberty or life. 

Group. Faction. Division. Clique. Sort. Classify. Club. League. Cabal. Caucus. Union. All adjectives that can describe a number of people that join together for a particular purpose. 

The time is drawing near that everyone will have to choose what group they will belong to or attempt to join. So why not choose ahead of time and develop relationships with folks in your area? Folks that have the same goals of survival and self-reliance that you do. For a long time Frank and I didn't talk to anyone locally about what we were doing and how we were trying to prepare for the coming collapse of society. We tried to gently warn people to have some extra food, grow a garden and store some water. Most people just gave us that funny stare like a third eye had just popped out of our foreheads or something. Others saw no reason to do all that work when you can go to the store any time you want for anything at all. Then we started the blog and started sharing with you. At first we were very careful about what we shared and what we said. Don't get me wrong, you don't know everything we're doing or thinking. We're still careful. But the time has come that we have started sharing with some of the local folks, like the people from the radio class.

Frank told you in the last article that you too can start a survival radio communications net, and he's right. That is one way you can join with other people to increase the chance of survival for everyone in the group. It is a way to begin a core group of people that are now beginning to look out for each others safety and well being. Now think of ways you can expand that thought. That is what we are doing.

We have friends who garden and preserve their harvest. This is another way to join together for the benefit of everyone. You don't have to garden together, but let's face it, there is a lot to be said for encouragement. If your friend down the road is fighting the same squash bugs you are and has found a better solution, that's very good information to have. It could mean the difference between a productive garden with food on the shelf, or a failed crop with no food on the shelf. In a collapse scenario, that could mean the difference between life and death. Dramatic? I really don't think so.

So how are you going to communicate with that friend down the road in a collapse situation? By radio, of course. See how everything ties together?

 
Medical skills will be a highly valued commodity in a collapsed society. Do you have any skills? If not do you have supplies that can be bartered for those services? Do you have medical supplies that can become part of the service needed? 



What I'm trying to do is give examples of ways we can develop a means to help and support each other when the time comes that what we have is all we have. That includes people and their skills, whether it is gardening,

radio communications, running a sawmill or tending livestock. Even though Frank and I are natural loners and would like nothing better than to be alone on our homestead, in a collapse situation, that just won't work. We can't do all the work necessary, guard our place and each other, and get enough sleep to survive. No matter how much we want it to be so, it just isn't feasible. That means we need other people, and for us to fulfill that need, we need to reach out to others and develop the relationships necessary to not only receive, but provide support to others.

Is this a scary proposition for us? Yes. At times do we feel vulnerable to what may come of sharing some of what we are doing and how we are preparing. When, not if, the SHTF will there be

people showing up at the gate we have to turn away, even by force if necessary? We can only pray that it would not be so. I was talking to a long distance friend today and we discussed this very thing. What she told me really struck a chord. She said that we have been called to live this life in this manner. Not only that, we have been called to share with others to try to help them prepare as well, and if that leads us into danger then God will take care of it. 

Folks, it's time to join together in neighborhoods or communities to support each other during the coming calamities. Trying to make connections and build relationships after the SHTF will be very trying and stressful. If you have built a foundation ahead of time, you will have something to fall back on, others to turn to if there is a need. Don't wait until all hell has broken loose to show up at your neighbors gate and say we need to work together now. It will then be too late and you will be seen as a taker. Takers are apt to be turned away with whatever force is necessary. Don't be a taker, be prepared to be a benefit and support, not a burden. Frank and I have been saying this more and more, and I'll say it again. The time is now.

Until next time - Fern
 

Survival Radio Net #1

Hello Everybody, Frank here.

If you recall back a few weeks, our little community started and completed a Survival Radio Class. This class included preparation for those seeking their ham radio license, which ended up being about nine Technicians and three Generals. Pretty good turn out. Also, for the record, all of the students that took the test, passed. In most circles that is considered to be 100%.

But, back to the main gist. Besides the folks pursuing their ham radio ticket, the class was geared for those that wanted to learn to communicate by other means. Those means being scanner for listening, and folks listening is CRITICAL, also CB, GMRS/FRS,

MURS, shortwave and smoke signals. Just wanted to see if you're paying attention. We had a handful of people in the class that this was their goal. Well, you say, this is all redundant information, and it is, but when I was a child and I went to cross the street, my daddy told me to look both ways every time I crossed that street. Just because somebody hears something once, doesn't mean it's going to penetrate or settle. Some folks, myself included, need to hear things more than once.

I know lots of you had CBs when you were kids. It was real popular. It was a form of freedom, able to get out. Pitch in four wheel mobility and life is good, till you have to start paying your own bills. 

GMRS came along later, new technology, FM not AM, higher frequency. For those not familiar with the term GMRS, these are the little handheld radios you can buy at any sporting goods store, and they work real well. Hunters use them, kids playing hide and seek, it's a handy tool, and some businesses use them. Fern and I have used them for years.

MURS is also a free group of frequencies that is for citizens use. It is rarely, rarely used, a great way to communicate, FM, higher frequency than CB, lower than GMRS. It's in about the same frequency range as most small and medium size towns' police and fire departments. 

Let's not forget the scanner. Most, if not all, scanners can receive the VHF/UHF ham bands, GMRS and MURS. Some scanners, but not all, can receive the CB frequencies. Remember, listening or being able to hear is CRITICAL. 

But again, you say, this is all redundant information. Go back and read the explanation of redundant above. Some of us need to hear something more than once before it soaks in. Does that need repeating again?

Let's not forget shortwave. Everything we talked about above is pretty much short distance, line of sight, sometimes one mile, sometimes 40 miles depending on the terrain. Shortwave is the ability to listen to long distance signals. It lost popularity with the introduction of the internet, but there is still traffic out there to be heard. That means that there are things out there to be heard around the globe. Many shortwave radios will also receive the lower ham radio frequencies, because that is where shortwave is located. So if you have a scanner and a decent shortwave radio and the appropriate antenna, you can hear local and long distance. Remember, being able to hear and receive is CRITICAL.

So, one more time, where is this going? It's going right here. Last Tuesday night we attempted our first ever Survival Radio Net. Now you're going to have to follow me here because we did a lot of things in a short period of time. Most of the participants of this net were from the radio class with a few additions. I sent out an email to the folks that were in the class letting them know about what we were going to try to do. This email had time, date, place and purpose.

• Time was 20:00 (8:00pm)
• Date was Tuesday night.
• Beginning place was our local ham radio repeater.

You say there's a problem here. The CB, GMRS and MURS crowd can't communicate with the repeater. Well, that is only half right. If they have a scanner, or a handheld that will receive the repeater, then they can listen to and follow instructions. 



A side note here. I got permission from our local emergency management director to use this repeater at that time for this purpose. He was more than happy to accommodate. 

The email included some instructions about what we were going to try to do, which are as follows.

1. We would start at 8:00pm.
2. I was the net control operator.
3. We started off with basic introductions, took care of the legal things, and then started taking ham radio check ins.
4. After the check ins, those of us that had CB capabilities, did the same activity, except on a local basis. Not everybody could hear everybody, but some could hear and others would relay.
5. During this time, which took about 10 minutes, we asked those that could hear, who they could receive, and then we continued this process. Who hears who, their location, their name or call sign or handle. Now, get this, we had folks that could hear CB reception from 40 miles away. Okay, one guy lives on the side of a tall hill, and another man could hear him 40 miles away.   You see, this contact is what this net is all about. Hearing, listening, receiving. It is CRITICAL. 
6. Next, we went back to the repeater, which was our base and we had a discussion, those that could talk on the repeater, about some of the contacts we had just made.
7.  Then we proceeded with GMRS and MURS with the same activities.

Due to the characteristics of the different frequencies, CB, GMRS and MURS, different people at different locations could receive different transmissions. Like I said above, follow me here. Example. Two guys, 20 miles apart might be able to hear each other on MURS, but not CB. One of them may be able to transmit on CB to somebody else that can't hear MURS.

A side note here. The big ham radio group in this country that has been around for a long, long time, is called the ARRL. Amateur Radio RELAY League. That second 'R' is what radio used to be, Relay. That's what it's going to be again in the future. RELAY.

This was a first time experiment and most of the participants would agree that it sharply exceeded their expectations. We're going to do it again very soon, and we're going to try to do it the first and third Tuesdays of each month. I was surprised at the number of people that eagerly participated in our net. But then it dawned on me that they also see an urgent need for communications. 

The reason I am telling YOU this, is that this same activity can be duplicated in your area. We need a time to communicate. Let's pick 8:00 at night. Well, we need a frequency to communicate on. How about CB channel 22, which is 27.225 MHz? That's a good start. How about GMRS channel 22, which is 462.725 MHz? How about MURS #2, which is 151.880 MHz? This is something that you can do. Anything that I can do, you can do better. Talk to your local emergency management director, these guys like public attention, remember that. Always say please and thank you. You could even talk to your local ARRL branch. Some of them will be helpful, some won't. This is doable. Now do it.

Another side note. We developed a simple form, 20 lines, about 5 columns. First column was call sign or handle, next name, then location, then mode of communication (e.g. CB, GMRS, etc), lastly we left a column for comments, which could include people contacted or relays made.

Ladies and Gentlemen, most of you know we have perilous times right around the corner. But even if we don't, how about a natural disaster, or a man made disaster? We need to be able to communicate. I'm going to leave these thoughts with you. Knowing what is happening in your area is of CRITICAL importance. You never know what a man made or natural disaster could look like, and you might want to know what is coming down the road. Ladies and Gentlemen, don't get on the bus. 

We'll talk more later, Frank