Experiences from country living; self-sufficiency; Christian values; amateur-ham radio; a hard working good life; and Humor is the Essence of Survival.
Things To Read
▼
Saturday, October 25, 2014
Musings From the Farm
The first thing I want to say is Thank You. Thank you for all of your prayers and well wishes. I am recuperating very well, and the best part of all is that I don't feel nauseated, run down and sick all of the time anymore. Hallelujah! I expect to make a full recovery very soon and be back to work around the homestead. Today, even though I am very slow and feel drained fairly quickly, I have been puttering around a little and enjoying every minute of it. The garden continues to produce in spite of it's continued neglect. We threw out about a gallon and a half of jalapeno peppers I had picked a while back, but was just unable to process and preserve. We sure hated to do it, but sometimes some things just can't be helped.
Today's harvest
Turnips
Kale
Swiss Chard
Broccoli
Carrots
Mangel beets
Potatoes
There are things all over the world that give us all cause for great alarm. And there are things right under our noses that give us all cause for reflection and great joy.
I am blessed with friends that I can talk to about the things of the world, and what else we can do to prepare for the future. I got to talk to two of them today. Our conversations covered many topics from gardening, to an adequate water supply if the collapse comes, to aging parents, to keeping our preparations private from our everyday worldly connections. I always come away from these conversations with something more to think about. What else can we do to be more prepared? What else can we do to ease the hardships of life when things get difficult and stressful and every task you under take is geared solely for survival? Yesterday we ordered laundry wringers to go on our galvanized tubs. I think that would make life easier when the time comes.
We've dried up the goats, so now we are buying milk. The small, local store sells it for $6.00 a gallon. Six dollars a gallon!! Like Frank said, we can buy 50 pounds of feed for the cost of two gallons of milk. We think we might have located someone at church who has a Jersey that just calved. Maybe we can arrange to buy milk from them until two of our does kid in February. I know the milk would be better for us, and we could still get some cream for butter in the process.
A while back I made up a couple of batches of casseroles in small foil pans and froze them. They are always nice to have on hand in case the need arises, like taking them to someone who is ill or lost a loved one. Well, this time, they turned out great......for us. Since coming home from the hospital, it has been very convenient to have something we only needed to heat up in the oven. It's good food, homemade and something we like. We started off with a breakfast casserole since it is fairly bland. Then enjoyed the green bean casserole. There was also a small Apple Cake in there that just hit the spot.
I will still have to give my body time to adjust to digesting my food without the aid of a gallbladder regulating the addition of bile to my intestines. I've heard all kinds of interesting stories and have read a fair amount about it. I have been drinking quite a bit of kefir throughout this whole process and continue to do so as part of my healing routine. I think it will help to keep things a little more balanced than they otherwise would be.
Times are changing along with the seasons. What used to be good, old fashioned common courtesy and kindness sometimes appears to be all but extinct. There are folks that try to find a reason to excuse anything to make their opponent look bad, whether it is politics, racial violence, differing religious opinions or that it is perfectly okay to go out in public and share known, highly contagious Ebola virus with anyone unfortunate enough to be in the vicinity. Just when you think it can't get any worse....it does. Allies across the world are realigning into new financial and militaristic pacts that are changing the way the world will do business in the future. The leadership of our country continues to get weaker and weaker until it appears to be all but nonexistent. Where will it take us? What shape will we be in when we arrive? There is no way to know. Just continue to do all you can to prepare you and yours. And if the time never arrives, and you don't need the preps you have prepared, Hallelujah! But if it does, you will forever be grateful that you took the time and the ridiculing to do something about it.
Glad to hear you are feeling better Fern....take your time to fully recuperate....my prayers are with you. Yes, things are causing us to feel uneasy. Faith & Trust in God is our strongest defense against the evil all around us. Take care. Donna in MN
Thank you Donna, I am feeling better, and I am going to take my time. There are a lot of people feeling uneasy. We try to keep our antennas up and pay attention, we don't leave the home area unless we have to, we keep our gas tanks full and try to stay prepared. We recommend the same for everyone. Thank you for the comment.
Fern, I hadn't known about needing time for your body to adjust to digesting food after the surgery. I don't know what the usual response is, but I pray you quickly and efficiently adjust. You seem to be a real go-getter, so you may be tempted to overdo, or to get back to your previous activities too soon, but please don't. This is not a good time to have to deal with complications from surgery.
We've had to go back to "store bought" milk after enjoying raw cow's milk that we buy from a friend for $7.00 per gallon. His cow is dried off now, but we should be able to get it again in a month or so. He lives too far away, however, in the event normal travel becomes impossible.
You and Frank are very blessed to have each other, and your goats!
C.M. Yes, after having your gallbladder removed there is an adjustment period for different types of foods. Some folks can eat a normal diet from day one, others have gas, diarrhea and nausea for a period of time until their body adjusts. Others go the rest of their lives not being able to eat some food groups. I've been eating normal food for a couple of days now, but I'm not trying to push the envelop.
$7.00 a gallon sure sounds like a lot to me. Frank was shocked when he bought his first gallon of commercial milk for over $6.00 from the store. Hope you find milk soon, sure wish we could. Take care.
Fern, so glad to hear you're feeling better. Do be sure to be careful with lifting, etc. as you don't want to pull the stitches. My surgeon cleared me for 'any food and any activity' after 3 weeks. My diet didn't change because I follow a very low fat food plan for other medical reasons but my activity level was severely disrupted.
Hubby and I are rethinking the pandemic and other catastrophic realms and our plan to cope with them. Only being able to garden in containers severely limits our ability to grow our own and of course livestock is out of the question. Moving elsewhere to have acreage is not an option. So, we are looking at stockpiling the basics, being sure we can stay in place to protect ourselves from outside forces and carefully watching the news for signs of imminent dangers.
Bellen, thank you, yes, I am feeling much better. We all have to do what we can where we are. Besides trying to grow a little food and raise a little meat, we have also stockpiled some freeze dried foods and water. Two 55 gallon barrels of water and a sheet of plywood across the top makes for a nice workbench. Remember, you have to have water. Thank you for the comments. We all need to do the best we can.
I am so glad our back home and starting to heal properly in your own home. Your garden looks really wonderful for Late October. You mentioned a water reserve and that made me wonder...do you catch your roof rainwater runoff and cistern it?
My surgery was outpatient, Fiona, so we were only gone a few hours. There is no place like home to be comfortable and heal.
We have materials to put guttering on the barn roof, then funnel it into three 1550 gallon water tanks. We were able to get the tanks from a company that manufactures them close to Oklahoma City. They are dark green and opaque to limit problems with algae growth. Once we are healed up, it's one of the projects we hope to get completed. We'll show you how it goes in the process. Thanks for the question.
Glad your feeling better. I worry about all those things you talked about. I also worry about not having any fresh milk. Since I got rid of my goats, I miss the good milk. The stores milk is just not the same. Not even close.
Thank you, SFG. You're right, store bought milk just isn't as good or as healthy. Maybe there will be more goats in your future..... Thank you for sharing.
So glad your home and doing good, just take it easy. I heard a preacher the other day and he was talking like something BIG will happen in 2017 over in Israel that will effect the whole world. Best to be prepared. Coni
You never know when disaster may strike, Coni. It could be a natural disaster, health, employment or intentionally man made. I agree with you. It's always best to be prepared. Thank you for sharing.
Hi Frank and Fern. I am looking forward to a post about doing laundry with your new wringer. Where did you purchase it? It sure would be good to have people close that you can talk about prepping with. I am praying that God would send someone to us. The best tool that we bought this year is a Hoss Wheel Hoe. I am amazed at how much easier it is to keep the weeds down now.
We have looked at the wheel hoes off and on for years, but have never tried one. It looks like it would be easy to use if the ground is already broken up and the soil is loose. How does it work if the weeds have taken hold? And how durable are they? Those were always the questions we had, but we have never known anyone that used one. I would be very interested in hearing about your experiences with it.
We have one neighbor about five miles away that has the same sentiment that we do. If there are more people around, we don't know about them. But, then, maybe that's a good thing, them not talking. They may be safer in the long run. You have to be careful. Thank you for sharing.
Glad to hear you are feeling better Fern....take your time to fully recuperate....my prayers are with you.
ReplyDeleteYes, things are causing us to feel uneasy. Faith & Trust in God is our strongest defense against the evil all around us. Take care. Donna in MN
Thank you Donna, I am feeling better, and I am going to take my time. There are a lot of people feeling uneasy. We try to keep our antennas up and pay attention, we don't leave the home area unless we have to, we keep our gas tanks full and try to stay prepared. We recommend the same for everyone. Thank you for the comment.
DeleteFern
Fern, I hadn't known about needing time for your body to adjust to digesting food after the surgery. I don't know what the usual response is, but I pray you quickly and efficiently adjust. You seem to be a real go-getter, so you may be tempted to overdo, or to get back to your previous activities too soon, but please don't. This is not a good time to have to deal with complications from surgery.
ReplyDeleteWe've had to go back to "store bought" milk after enjoying raw cow's milk that we buy from a friend for $7.00 per gallon. His cow is dried off now, but we should be able to get it again in a month or so. He lives too far away, however, in the event normal travel becomes impossible.
You and Frank are very blessed to have each other, and your goats!
C.M. Yes, after having your gallbladder removed there is an adjustment period for different types of foods. Some folks can eat a normal diet from day one, others have gas, diarrhea and nausea for a period of time until their body adjusts. Others go the rest of their lives not being able to eat some food groups. I've been eating normal food for a couple of days now, but I'm not trying to push the envelop.
Delete$7.00 a gallon sure sounds like a lot to me. Frank was shocked when he bought his first gallon of commercial milk for over $6.00 from the store. Hope you find milk soon, sure wish we could. Take care.
Fern
Fern, so glad to hear you're feeling better. Do be sure to be careful with lifting, etc. as you don't want to pull the stitches. My surgeon cleared me for 'any food and any activity' after 3 weeks. My diet didn't change because I follow a very low fat food plan for other medical reasons but my activity level was severely disrupted.
ReplyDeleteHubby and I are rethinking the pandemic and other catastrophic realms and our plan to cope with them. Only being able to garden in containers severely limits our ability to grow our own and of course livestock is out of the question. Moving elsewhere to have acreage is not an option. So, we are looking at stockpiling the basics, being sure we can stay in place to protect ourselves from outside forces and carefully watching the news for signs of imminent dangers.
Bellen, thank you, yes, I am feeling much better. We all have to do what we can where we are. Besides trying to grow a little food and raise a little meat, we have also stockpiled some freeze dried foods and water. Two 55 gallon barrels of water and a sheet of plywood across the top makes for a nice workbench. Remember, you have to have water. Thank you for the comments. We all need to do the best we can.
DeleteFern
I am so glad our back home and starting to heal properly in your own home. Your garden looks really wonderful for Late October. You mentioned a water reserve and that made me wonder...do you catch your roof rainwater runoff and cistern it?
ReplyDeleteMy surgery was outpatient, Fiona, so we were only gone a few hours. There is no place like home to be comfortable and heal.
DeleteWe have materials to put guttering on the barn roof, then funnel it into three 1550 gallon water tanks. We were able to get the tanks from a company that manufactures them close to Oklahoma City. They are dark green and opaque to limit problems with algae growth. Once we are healed up, it's one of the projects we hope to get completed. We'll show you how it goes in the process. Thanks for the question.
Fern
Glad your feeling better. I worry about all those things you talked about. I also worry about not having any fresh milk. Since I got rid of my goats, I miss the good milk. The stores milk is just not the same. Not even close.
ReplyDeleteThank you, SFG. You're right, store bought milk just isn't as good or as healthy. Maybe there will be more goats in your future..... Thank you for sharing.
DeleteFern
So glad your home and doing good, just take it easy. I heard a preacher the other day and he was talking like something BIG will happen in 2017 over in Israel that will effect the whole world. Best to be prepared.
ReplyDeleteConi
You never know when disaster may strike, Coni. It could be a natural disaster, health, employment or intentionally man made. I agree with you. It's always best to be prepared. Thank you for sharing.
DeleteFern
Happy to hear things went fine & that you're on the mend, we missed you both while you were away. Jan in NWGA
ReplyDeleteThank you for the kind thoughts, Jan. I'm sore, but mending, and ready to get back to our project list. Take care.
DeleteFern
Hi Frank and Fern. I am looking forward to a post about doing laundry with your new wringer. Where did you purchase it? It sure would be good to have people close that you can talk about prepping with. I am praying that God would send someone to us. The best tool that we bought this year is a Hoss Wheel Hoe. I am amazed at how much easier it is to keep the weeds down now.
ReplyDeleteWe ordered our wringer from Woodward Crossings Country Basics, Spinnersaw.
Deletehttp://shop.woodwardcrossingscountrybasics.com/All-Steel-Hand-Wringer-Attach-to-Round-or-Square-Wash-Tubs-76-3.htm
We have looked at the wheel hoes off and on for years, but have never tried one. It looks like it would be easy to use if the ground is already broken up and the soil is loose. How does it work if the weeds have taken hold? And how durable are they? Those were always the questions we had, but we have never known anyone that used one. I would be very interested in hearing about your experiences with it.
We have one neighbor about five miles away that has the same sentiment that we do. If there are more people around, we don't know about them. But, then, maybe that's a good thing, them not talking. They may be safer in the long run. You have to be careful. Thank you for sharing.
Fern