The House is a Wreck!

Well, not really a wreck, but in a great deal of disarray compared to a normal day. Today we accomplished a long, long term goal. We had the windows in our house replaced. This house was built around 1983 and the windows were in pretty sad shape. Many of them had moisture between the two panes that limits visibility. When we moved in there was this yucky brown ick growing on the inside of most of them. Needless to say, replacing them has been on our project list for a while. 

To prepare for this event we needed to move everything away from the inside and outside of the windows to allow the installers access. That was yesterday. We finally finished all of that at about 9:30 last night. Frank also had to remove all of the blinds, which he finished this morning when he took down the ones in the bedroom.

Old window

 

The installers from Window World arrived right on time, were professional, courteous and hard workers. They had our old windows removed and the new windows installed in three hours. There were nine windows in all. I found it rather disconcerting to have strangers walking in and out of the house, going into every room, tearing out the old windows, and making a big mess in the process. But these men were very efficient and did excellent work. They put down tarps below every window outside and drop cloths on the inside. This minimized the mess and made their clean up quick and easy.

 












We never had any question about what kind of windows we were going to have installed. Double hung. Why? Ventilation. We have porches down the length of our house on the east and west sides. This is the same format of the house Frank and I built, not had built, but built ourselves, back in the 1990's at our first homestead. With the porches on both sides of the house, and double hung windows, we can create a cross ventilation that will greatly enhance cooling the house when we no longer have electricity and air conditioning.

Yes, these windows are part of our preparation for the coming collapse. They are tangible investments in our comfort in the future. If it is raining, no problem, we can still ventilate the house under the porches. If it is a hot summer evening, we can draw in the cooler air from the east porch. Having double hung windows is a great addition to our home that we are very excited about.

For now, we are tired. We have the minimal required window shades and curtains up for the evening. Tomorrow we need to clean all of the windows, which will be easy to do since they tilt in. Then we will need to reinstall more shades and think about how we are going to trim out the exterior. Fortunately, there isn't any rain forecast until next Tuesday. That will give us a little time to get that chore completed. We're thinking 1 x 6 cedar with an oil stain. That would look nice and should last a long while.

 

With all of the moving around of furniture and things on the porch, it has provided us with many opportunities to clean and dust things that don't get moved very often. We're also thinking to rearrange some of the shelving in the pantry to better accommodate our jars of canned goods from the garden. 

Speaking of the garden. There are tomatoes, green beans and three kinds of squash blooming. We should be able to have our first meal of fresh yellow squash in a few days. While the men were tearing up the house this morning, I escaped out to the garden and gave many plants a good dose of diatomaceous earth. I hope it helps make a dent in the slugs and cabbage worms. There are a number of cabbages trying to make heads, despite the worms and slugs. I also found some damage from some squash vine borers. I am tempted to reorder more beneficial insects since I think most of ours either drowned or got washed away in the last deluge we had. But the class I am attending about beneficial insects is Saturday, so I think I will wait and see what I can learn there. 

Life is busy, very, very busy. There are so many indicators pointing toward some sort of tremendous downturn, outright collapse or shutdown, that we feel it is very important to accomplish some of the things on our list of projects that are geared toward our survival. We have several more things in the wings that we'll show you before long. Investing in learning and tangibles that will increase our ability to make it on our own is more important than ever. We could leave what little money we have in the bank in the hope that it will still be there when the economy collapses, or we can invest it in our minds and in our homestead. Which one makes more sense? Which one will help us survive? Some folks have a problem with spending what they have, just in case. I find great security and comfort knowing we are investing in ourselves, our lives, and our ability to perform those tasks that are needed everyday to live. That's what we're about, and that's what we want to do. Live. And this is how we do it.

Until next time - Fern
 

We Are Two! Be Vigilant!

Guess what? We're two! We began our blog on May 30, 2013 with much trepidation and doubt that it was an intelligent move on our part. Doubtful that anyone would find it useful, interesting or even read it, and trepidation at putting our thoughts out there in internet land. But we felt compelled to share what we know, what we have experienced, and our knowledge of the need to prepare for the demise of our country and society. Unfortunately, the call to prepare still needs to be sounded for as many as will listen, so we continue to share our lives, our thoughts and our preparations.

Frank's first radio communications post was about rules and safety. From there he moved on to CB radios and regular family handheld, or GMRS and FRS radios. He has taught folks how to get their ham radio license, what equipment they need to meet certain communication goals, and how important radio communications will be to all of us when no other means of contact is available. We want to thank everyone that has asked questions and shared with us their success at obtaining a ham radio license. It is always great to hear that something we wrote helped them along the way.

Fern has shared goats, gardening and cheese making. Canning, cooking and insects. Even though she has shared many things in these categories, she has learned a great deal from the comments you have left. We enjoy the 'conversations' we are able to have with you through the comment section. The article is not finished or complete until we have had the opportunity to learn more, or be given food for thought, by you the reader. You see, even though we share many things here in hopes that it will be useful to someone, we have also learned a great deal from all you have shared with us. For that, we are truly grateful.

We have had the honor to be featured on several prominent blogs in the homestead/preparedness/survival areas. We would like to thank Patrice Lewis of Rural Revolution for tutoring us when we first began this blog. She took the time to answer many questions and give us pointers.

We would also like to thank James, Wesley Rawles of SurvivalBlog for featuring several of our articles on his blog. These folks have helped increase our readership and allowed us to share with many more people than we would have ever reached on our own. Every time you comment, you give us more to think about, research, and learn. We truly appreciate all that you teach us.

Besides radios, chickens, cheese and bugs, we all need to be astutely aware that our government is playing some serious games. Most of us are aware that the economy, not just of the United States, but of the entire planet, is in serious, serious disarray. We've all seen bugs and birds, fish and mammals do everything they can to survive. Our government is no different. It will do what is necessary to keep itself with it's head above water at any cost. Just take a look at quantitative easing. It doesn't work and hasn't worked. 

 











Now is not the time to become complacent. Look at Baltimore, or Chicago. If we look very closely it would appear that our government is stirring the pot and turning up the heat. I know these are sad things to say, but if we look closely, it appears that the lines are being set for some type of civil insurrection. Just watch a cattleman herd his cattle. If he wants them to go a certain way, he doesn't have to use lots of force, he just very gently coerces the animals in the direction he desires. This is what is happening in America. We're all being led like the cattle, ultimately to the feed lot and slaughter house. Metaphorically speaking, of course. 

Summertime is coming. Lots of daylight and lots of heat. October is the traditional month for stock market problems, and some of our financial bubbles cannot continue to survive. You need to keep an eye on Greece, because if they go down the drain, that will be the end of the European Union. You need to pay attention to congress, also. This is unquestionably the highest concentration of corrupt, white collar criminals ever organized. They, like the government, will do anything to keep their heads above water. We do not have a representative type of government any longer. Are there exceptions to the rule? Of course, but they are few and far between. So, if our government will do anything to keep it's head above water, and congress will do anything to keep it's head above water, I don't think that you and I, the common people, are really on anybody's agenda. We are just slaves.

There are a few other topics to pay attention to. We have a serious immigration problem. Our borders are being flooded with unskilled criminals, not just from Mexico, but from other countries with which we have serious enemies. The Department of Human Services, or whatever your state calls it, has created a huge population that refuses to work, and our government has conveniently created a majority welfare subculture. The educational system, as I stated before, is a pathetic, cesspool pretending to be educating our children, while the children are actually being indoctrinated. Are there exceptions to this rule? Sure there are. 

Now is not the time to drop your vigilance. A lot of prominent individuals are predicting a serious disruption this fall, and some are saying earlier. Please pay attention and get prepared. If I am wrong, Hallelujah! If I am right, may God be with us all.

Frank's favorite poster

 
God gave us the incentive to share our lives here, and in turn we have been greatly blessed. We thank you for reading our words and sharing your lives with us.


From the humble hearts of, 

Frank & Fern Feral

Are Insects Beneficial? They Can Be

It's time for me to share my latest bug adventure. This year I have imported bugs to our homestead. It's not like we don't have enough bugs here already. I know there are bugs that live in other places, but sometimes it seems like we have every bug known to man living on our homestead. One of the problems with that is that they want to eat our vegetables before we do. This year the bug battle is being fought in earnest.

About a month ago, I ordered 1000 green lacewing and 600 praying mantid eggs, along with enough nematodes to cover all of the garden and herb bed area. This is the first time I have ever purchased bugs of any sort. I guess I get stranger as I get older. I have bug books and get bugs in the mail. Neat, huh? Even though the cabbage worms have appeared after the first batch of lacewings were applied, I received and applied another 1000 eggs last night. I just hope they hatch and latch onto a plant so they don't get washed away in yet another bought of rain that is arriving for the 

weekend. I won't be able to see them when they hatch, according to the directions, even full grown they only reach 1/2" to 3/4" long. According to my bug book, The Organic Gardener's Handbook of Natural Insect and Disease Control, the lacewings are effective against corn earworms, cucumber beetles, corn rootworm, and thrips. Frank just asked me, "What?" And I said, "Thrip. There are actually different kinds of thrips, and some of them kill onion plants." Yep. Stranger every day.

 
The praying mantid eggs haven't hatched yet. When I talked to the company to place the second order, they told me it could take up to six weeks. Praying mantis will eat any insect it can catch, beneficial or pest, including each other. My order came with three cases, which I would describe as cocoon type structures made from something that resembles the outside surface of a wasp nest. Two of these I placed out in the fork of a tree on the edge of the garden, the third I put in a jar with a paper towel and rubber band on top. It's sitting in the kitchen window so we can watch them hatch.

 
 

The nematodes I ordered are only viable here in the summer, since at 20* they will die. At first I wasn't going to order any because I wanted something that I could get established in a way that would be sustainable. But when I found out they are effective against many pest

insect larvae, as well as fire ant larvae and queens, I decided to give it a try. When I asked what nematodes actually are, I found the description to be rather interesting. They are a microscopic worm that parasitizes other soft bodied insects. Some of the insects nematodes are effective against are carrot rust fly, carrot weevil, cucumber beetles, cutworms, flea beetles, grasshoppers, grubs and June bugs, and strawberry root weevil.

First application, May 3rd

Nematodes live on the moisture barrier of soil particles. Interesting, huh? To 'apply' nematodes you need water. If you have one of those fertilizer sprayers that fit on the end of a garden hose, that would work. We don't have any of those, but we do have a two gallon sprayer that worked just fine. It also allowed me to apply the nematodes in very specific areas as I

May 21st

walked through the garden and herb bed. Last night I applied nematodes in these areas for a second time. We have probably lost over an inch of topsoil in parts of our garden this spring due to some torrential rainfall, and I wanted to make sure we still had a good population of nematodes. 

 Yesterday we also received 250 assassin bug eggs. We already have some assassin bugs, but last year there were very few compared to the years before, so I ordered these to boost the population. I saw an assassin bug nymph a few days ago on the comfrey, and was glad to see they have survived and are starting to emerge. I hope the new additions will increase the overall population for years to come. Assassin bugs will eat many different kinds of insect pests, including flies and caterpillars. Even though they look pretty creepy, once I figured out what they were, I encourage their residence in our garden.

 

And last, but not lest, I also received over 1000 parasitic wasp, or trichogramma eggs yesterday. A few years back I kept seeing these little, light golden wasps working over our corn crop. I couldn't figure out why they were there. I didn't think they harvested pollen, but I was stumped. Then one day I was looking in one of my bug books and ran across parasitic wasps. Wa-la! I was excited to know that the draw for the wasps was the corn earworms, of which we had few that year. Since then I haven't seen near as many parasitic wasps, just like the assassin bugs, so I ordered these to boost the population. They are effective against Colorado potato beetles, corn earworms, European corn borer, gypsy moth, Japanese beetle, leaf hoppers, leaf miners (which we have actively working now), mealy bugs, Mexican bean beetle, stink bugs, tent caterpillars, tomato hornworms, fall webworms, and whiteflies.

 

 

 











It will be very interesting to see if the introduction of these insects have an impact upon our food production in the garden this year. I will keep you updated and let you know whether this was worthwhile, or a waste of time, effort and money. I also wanted to let you know that another interesting development occurred this week. I discovered an all day class that is being offered in our area discussing beneficial insects. So I signed up. We talk about learning all the time here on the blog. This is an example of taking

advantage of what is being offered around you, whether it is a class, the chance to work with or listen to an older person with experience in what you are trying to learn, or the good old school of hard knocks with hands on trial and error. It always helps if you find what you are trying to learn fascinating. Like Frank and radio communications. He has found his calling as we approach the edge of the precipice in civilization as we know it. Me? Food. I need to know how to produce, harvest and preserve food. This role has been given to me, and so has the fascination with fulfilling this role. It is varied and includes plants and animals, wild and domestic. Again, I urge you to learn something new and useful that your family will benefit from. You just never know when you will be called to put it to use in a most important way.

Until next time - Fern