I've just been playing

After reading a lot of stressful news items online, PH and I were both a little perturbed at the world in general.  I came in the kitchen.  I find I bake and clean the kitchen when I am upset.  It's the tiny little area of control that I have. ;-)

I came to the realization that I am not ready for the economy to tank even further.  I've been talking a good game, but I haven't been walking the walk.  I've been playing at it.  I was so devastated with myself.  I feel like the burden of responsibility is all mine, when I know I need to realy on the Lord, and that PH is carrying his load too.  But this preparation thing has been my baby since 1999, I thought I had it all figured out.  I don't.

I need to check for more propane cansiters on Craigslist, plus another grill, and perhaps a propane stove.  My propane grill isn't working properly PH said.  The stove burner on the right of the grill doesn't allow for regulating of the flame.  This is not good.  I had counted on the burner for being able to can and cook without electricity.  Now, I can't count on it.  I also have a Coleman propane stove, but ask me where it's at.  I have no clue!

I don't have enough quarts of food put up.  This is a new venture for me.  I've always made jelly every year, and pickles too, but that's it.  This year I made salsa and a seasoned tomato sauce, but I only have about 3 quarts of salsa, and 10 of the tomato sauce.  I find that I am needing to eat what I am storing now, and now able to save it for an "EMERGENCY".  What's going to happen in the next year when I really can't afford to buy food?

I've made a list and will be discussing these issue with PH to get his input.  I did find that I can order #10 cans of staples from the LDS Cannery in San Antonio.  I am torn if I should do this or not.  I don't  agree with the LDS "church", so should I buy food form them?  I'll be in prayer over this issue.

Today I did manage to can 9 - 1/2 pints of grape jelly.  I have enough juice I made from the grapes to can another 9 -1/2 pints.  I also have my 40 lbs of pears to put up, and then the prickly pear tunas to harvest, along with the nopalitos.  I am still looking for more mesquite beans to dry for flour, and to make into jelly.  I may have to eat biscuits a lot, but I'll have a couple different kinds of jelly/jam. 

I am following the example of another blogger and eating my way through my older freezer items.  I don't like depending on my freezer, so it is a good way to clear it out.  Tonight I made hamburgers.  I had a bag of frozen, pre cooked hamburgers in the freezer.  I made homemade buns and served them with onions from the garden, my home canned pickles and additional condiments.  I was able to make one loaf of bread, as well as, the buns, so I'll make toast in the a.m., and we can have sandwiches for lunch.

I'll look in the freezer in the morning to see what else I have to go through.  I'd love to have more room to store food, but living in 360 sq feet is limiting.  I don't want to put added pressure on PH to finish the house, but I feel desperate at times.  All of our extra money is going towards the house, but it isn't taking shape fast enough.  It's hard for one 44 year old guy to do it by himself .  I am worried about his health, but stressed about needing more food storage space.  My idea is to use the entire container for food storage once the house is done.  Well, most of the container.  I'll be keeping the kitchen, bathroom, and bedroom for a guest house, but the kitchen shelves and living room area will be my food pantry (I hope).  Sometimes PH and I don't see eye to eye ;-)

Who said the simple life is easy?

Because something is simple, doesn't make it easy.  I live the "so-called" simple life, but it often takes a little bit more work than the modern life. 

Because the fruit trees we planted 3 1/2 years ago didn't make it, I drove into town to pick up pears from a lady who was selling them for .50 cents a pound.  I bought 40 lbs/$20.00 worth.  I will be canning these pears, probably tomorrow (Sunday) or even Monday.  We've been eating a lot of them, PH likes them, as well as, PS#2.  I keep finding half eaten pears lying around outside where PS#2 throws them to the chickens.  These pears are small, due to the drought, but they are good!

We had company for dinner tonight, two of my sisters, niece, nephew and baby sister's boyfriend.  This is the first time we have met him.  He was really nice.  He loved our goat Curly, and took a picture with him. 

I wanted to be able to provide a meal entirely from my food stores.  I thawed two organic chickens.  PH sawed them in half with the bone saw.  I rubbed them with olive oil, sprinkled with lemon pepper and let them sit in the fridge for 2 hours before we cooked them on the grill.  The rest of the menu was:

bread
home canned pickles
home canned pickled onions
home canned salsa (sister brought tortilla chips)
corn on the cob (from freezer that I had put up)
home made brownies
iced tea
lemonate
chicken
sausage
gluten free cookies that younger sister brought for PD#1

I was able to bag up the GF cookies (two per baggie) and place in the freezer.  YS brought a dozen molasses, a dozen chocolate chips, a dozen M*M from a little GF bakery in Richmond VA.

Our little chicks are thriving, and the two roosters and three hens are trying to find their place in the "pecking order".  It can be hilarious to watch. 

PH is still plugging away at getting the piers for house set.  Only 6 more to go!  Yay!  After that, he'll be able to place the joists for the floor. I am so happy!

It's still HOT, and our pond level is declining.  Pray for rain please!

I wanted to share our church website.  Our pastor has decided to brave the realms of the blogosphere
;-)  www.fobcc.blogspot.com.  Please consider following him and our congregation in our journey to discover what plans the Lord has for us in the areas of worship, ministry, evangelism, fellowship, discipleship and in getting prepared for the emergencies our world may throw at us.

Meet Chicken Nugget

Here is our second chick, the first one died, it never made it out of the shell all the way. 

Here is the chick all dried and fluffy

We have a third one that has hatched, it isn't dried yet, and is stumbling around learning how to walk.

PS2 listening to the chicks peeping inside the incubator



What have you done today to prepare?

Here is a picture of the well guy pulling the pipe from the well in order to replace the pump. 

I've seen this online before, so I thought I'd list what PH and I have done today to get more "prepared" for when TMHTF (whether it be job loss, economic collapse or worse).

PH left early this morning to go pick up some of his tools from his father's house, buy concrete to continue working on the piers of the house, and to get fencing.  When he arrived home I was hanging laundry, and I heard a loud rooster crowing.  I thought it was PH messing around, but he brought me a beautiful Americauna rooster!  This guy is beautiful, but pricey.  I had stopped at the man's house where he was purchased, but he wanted high way robbery prices for his poultry.  I had talked to PH about a beautiful rooster he had, a red sex-link named Rufus.  PH came home with another one, as Mr. Greenjeans (my name for chicken guy) wanted $50! I was very excited, though shocked that PH would pay $30 for this rooster, but he said he wanted to make me happy.   It is one of the best gifts I've had in a long time.  How funny is that?  I'd much rather have a chicken, goat or Berkey filter for a gift than flowers or a fancy dinner.  I'm so strange, but at least after 23 years PH knows the way to my heart. 

So here is MacArthur (named after our American General), we have a banty rooster named "Napoleon", just cuz he's 'lil (ha! ha!):

General MacArthur

We had to go into town to the post office (dropping off Frontier House from Netflix), so we stopped at the Ace Hardware in the small town closes to us. 

I purchased:

two replacement globes for my oil lamps (need two more)

macaroni and cheese (Kraft) that was on sale

kool aid ( we don't drink it much, but I try to keep it on hand)

new 20" chain saw

PH also unhooked the empty propane tank from grill/burner and put in his truck, he can refill it at work for much cheaper than my paying for a refill.

I have my kerosene bottles ready, and will fill two of them on Monday at the local oil company.  Much cheaper!  (I was paying $21.99 for a gallon at Academy or Ace).  By using the oil company, I am paying $5.40 a gallon.  I can fill up four gallons for the price of one.

Once that is done, I'll fill my oil lamps, trim the wicks, and talk to PH about making oil lamp holders to bolt onto the metal walls of our container cabin.  I have six oil lamps, plus four battery operated (AA) lamps.  The PDs use one of these as a lamp in their loft.  Plus, when I go do laundry at night, I hang one from the ceiling in the wash house.

PH also disced the dead cantelope/watermelon vines under.  We were going to plant, but with the heat.  We decided to wait until the end of September (for now) and plant the cold weather crops.  Hopefully, they will need less water than those that would be planted now. (Heat index 110 today).

Our chicks are starting to hatch today...one has died so far, but another has broken through, and we are waiting for it to emerge all the way from the shell.

Water, water everywhere

We have water!  I am so excited!  PH opted to not repair the wiring on the previous pump.  Our old pump was a 7.5 hp irrigation pump that was here when we purchased the property (almost 4 years ago).   I've been wanting a way to get the water out of the well if our grid electricity went out.  We have a generator, but the old pump needed way too much electricity (amps) and our generator couldn't provide it.  So, PH (relunctantly) replaced the old pump with a 1.5 hp deep well pump that we can operate off the generator, if needed.

We will work on the non-electric aspect of getting water out of the pump, hopefully soon.  So, PH spent this evening flushing the tank, because the initial batch of water that was pumped into the tank smelled really bad.  Smells like sulphur, and when we would drink it, it tastes like when you touch a metal fork to a filling.  Pretty gross.  The water in the tank was emptied into the pond tonight, and filled with fresh water.  Tomorrow PH will replace the water filter here in the house, and we hope this takes care of the issue.  I am moving up the Berkey filter purchase closer to the top of the list.

I've been able to wash lots of clothes today, and hung most on the clothesline.  But due to rain in the forecast tonight, put the last load in the dryer (PH work uniforms). 

PDs and I also went through a ton of clothing today, and have a huge stack of clothes to get rid of, and one to put into a tub for winter clothing.  Washed sheets for the beds, and the girls cleaned out their loft.  I was able to wash dishes, mop the floors, and clean the bathroom as well.

On the list for tomorrow is cleaning out the fridge, finishing the kitchen, making Wild Mustang Grape Jelly, organizing the outdoor kitchen, cleaning the living area and decluttering lots of stuff, plus continuing with the laundry.  The PDs will be picking up trash around the land, and cleaning up the playground. 

Our chicks are scheduled to hatch tomorrow (13th of August), and tonight PD#1 heard a little peep, at first I thought it was the tea kettle, but when I opened the incubator, sure enough one egg has a cracked little hole!  I picked it up and heard a peep!  We are so excited.  We have a dozen eggs in the incubator and it'd be great if they all hatched, or at least most of them.  I wasn't sure our little banty rooster was doing his job.  My girls (hens) are bigger than he is, one is a Rhode Island Red and the other three are Buff Orpingtons.

I checked on purchasing additional hens and a rooster yesterday.  They were beautiful, but the gentleman was asking $25 a bird.  That is way too rich for my blood.  On the positive side, these people are fully aware of the potential problems looming ahead.  My first group of people in "main stream" society who have it going on.  They have two RVs, where family members have moved in with them.  They are raising chickens to sell for income, and have a huge yard (1 acre) to be able to grow a garden, and could even have a couple of goats.  I mentioned that to them, and the lady said it was in their plans.  I was very pleased to see "someone" waking up to what is going in the world around us. 

Mini Tour of Homestead

See below for the start of our tour...

Selena - Our Quarab Mare

The Wash House

I have my washer and dryer in here (though I rarely use it).  Plus, my new chest freezer, and I do have a retractable mini clothesline which is handy when it rains.  The little door you see is a child size door on the front porch of this little house.  There is a regular size door on the left rear (not pictured).  There is also a loft where the PDs used to play before PH built their bigger playhouse.  Now, I use the loft for storing winter/summer clothes, depending on the season.

PD2 holding one of our baby chicks we hatched from the incubator

1100 gallon water tank

(well is on the other side, the little shed is to help keep the sun directly off the tank,

otherwise boiling water comes out of the shower head)

The bedroom end of the "cabin"

Day 5 of no water - Bathing

Front gate

View from the gate looking down the driveway

Here is the start of a mini tour of our homestead.  Blogger isn't cooperating tonight, so I've only been able to attach a couple of pictures.  Our "cabin" is on the right at the end of the drive.

We haven't been able to shower since Saturday.  We have been going swimming every night though, and I do mean night.  Around 9 p.m. we jump in the pool and swim around, jump out, soap up, shampoo hair and then pour water from the pool over our heads to rinse.  PS2 is enjoying this new ritual.  He loves running around without anything on. 

My bath tub for the moment

I did two small loads of laundry in the Wonder Wash tonight.  Towels and a few light clothes.  I am not sure I am doing it right, as one of the towels didn't come out really clean.  I think I need to use spray and wash, and allow the clothes to soak in the soapy water before cranking the handle.  I like being able to wash something to wear if needed, and not having to wait for the water or even electricity for that matter.

The well man (WM)came out today.  It wasn't a positive experience.  Not because of the work needing to be done, but the man's attitude was very unprofessional.  For being an older man I expected more from him.  I don't know why, but I assume they were raised in better days and were taught manners.  He and PH had "words".  To give PH some credit, he managed to keep his cool longer than I thought he would.  PH is known for telling it like it is, and he refrained until the well man was very rude and insulting, then PH told him what he thought.  WM was making us feel like he was doing us a favor, and that we were less than desirable people, plus because he came out here he was losing business.  PH told him that it wasn't our fault that he didn't use an appointment book, and didn't know how to schedule himself.  He also told him that our money was as green as anyone elses.  We were paying him, he wasn't doing it for free.  PH told him that our children were staying with relatives until we had the water issue handled.  The man said it wasn't his concern.  Basically PH told him that if he was unwilling to do the job let us know, there were others who would want the work.  Suffice it to say after the WM finishes the job in the morning, we won't be using him again. 

PH had the option of replacing the wiring again on our 7.5 hp pump, or putting in a new 1.5 hp pump.  PH chose the 1.5 hp pump, and we will keep the other as a backup, just in case...The WM pulled 300 feet of metal pipe out of the ground and has left it lying beside the well opening. 

So, this time tomorrow I pray we will have running water.  I really need to catch up on laundry, do the dishes and clean in here...I could do all of it without the water on, but it would make it a lot easier ;-)

I am happy about the new pump, because there is the potential to be able to run it with our generator in the event of a power outage.  Now to get the fuel tanks brought home and start filling them with gasoline...just in case.