# Monthly Prep Thread, July 2008



## Guest (Jul 2, 2008)

Well, here it is July and the year seems to be flying by. Prep stuff is moving a bit slow, but it is moving. I have three new-to-me prep books that I'll be recommending to folks in another day or so when I have finished with the third one. 

We're slowly moving on our bike related preps, mostly because it's too hot and sticky to really want to ride much just now, but we are making progress. Just bought a new bike for the K. Major now that she's outgrown her old one. 

Also picked up a couple of new LED Minimag flashlights. I managed to break the one I'd bought earlier in a moment of foolishness. 

We are in the midst of another periodic house decluttering which always seems to coincide with reworking our personal bugout bags. This in turn will lead to buying some new gear I am certain, but as yet what that will be hasn't yet revealed itself. 

How's the prep month looking for you folks? 

.....Alan.


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## FalconDance (Feb 4, 2007)

Looking good so far. 50# bag of lentils yesterday for $21, hard white wheat berries 50# $24.25. The 50# bag of sugar is holding steady at #20 (wish I'd gotten an extra bag now since I'll be putting up preserves and making more liquers than planned originally). 

Garden's looking good. In fact, going to go play in the dirt in a few minutes . Gotta replant the watermelons - they were washed out in the last storm.

Only glum spot is roofing materials. Two weeks ago we priced sheathing and shingles at $5/sheet and $55/bundle, respectively. Yesterday they were $8 and $75!   This is bad, very very bad because we MUST replace two sides of our roof at the least. There is no option to wait any longer. I'm hoping this weekend one of the big box stores will run a summer special. Hope springs eternal, and all that.


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## CowgirlGloria (Jun 19, 2008)

We are still in the midst of refencing our pasture. YIKES! I'm in some pain at the moment, but I'll live. This is a prep because it will now hold animals sans electricity. I feel your pain, Falcon, on the rapidly rising costs of materials. I took a week, prior to the beginning of the fencing project, to call around and price out materials. By the time I went to actually get the materials, the total cost went up $100. OUCH!

Next up is a hen house. Possibly, with that, we will also be re-doing the chicken pen, as Cowboy announced the other day that he would like it to be larger, for those times when we cannot let the birds free range. Ooooo boy, another project. We NEED more projects! LOL!

That is likely all we can manage to accomplish this month - we'll see!


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## NEOhioSmiths (Sep 28, 2007)

Met a tree guy on the way home from work yesterday - got a big load of already cut maple and he told me of a big job they are starting in a few weeks. Based on his description, I'll be able to accomplish my goal (this year's goal anyway) of having a 2 to 3 year supply of wood on hand! Free firewood is like gold to me ... strange, but hopefully some of you can relate.


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## CowgirlGloria (Jun 19, 2008)

FREE FIREWOOD!

Be still my heart! Yes, that is like gold indeed! Being able to be warm without paying a huge amount of money to do so is a very good thing. Hope it works out for you!


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## MountAiry (May 30, 2007)

I cleaned out most of the small room in basement and filled it with more shelves and now have lots of great shelves to work with. I started out with 6 and now have 12. We stacked them 2 high so they almost go across the room and to the ceiling. 

I am trying to go through things and organize and come up with a better system for keeping tabs on supplies. Imagine my dismay when I ran out of brown sugar last week! I was very upset with myself and thought I had a better handle on things. So its back to the backboard for me in the inventory keeping department.


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## baldylocks (Aug 15, 2007)

We are planning to pick blackberries Saturday and can a bunch of jam and syrup. Garden is looking good and we are starting to eat around the edges of that. Bees are looking good so we should have a good supply of honey this year. 

I have recently felt compelled to address power in our preps. I have been trying to read up on solar and wind and may just try something to get a "dog in the fight" so to speak. I have been looking at the 45w system that they have at harborfreight to learn what I can.

We also just started to build a more serious first aid kit for our supplies. We got something in the mail from red cross that had a starter list. I added to it from suggestions here as well as other locations online. Some of the first aid stuff can be incredibly expensive! I was pretty shocked at it actually. Anyhow, we are started on that.


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## ailsaek (Feb 7, 2007)

Oooh, free firewood! Yup, that's a treasure.

I re-homed all but one of my cockerels last weekend. I'd been going to raise a couple for meat, but the only place I could do that is in the attached garage, and DH and DS have both been having allergic reactions, so I decided that was a bad idea. If I can get the shed in the far back yard fixed up, I might try with CornishXs later in the year, but I'm tabling the idea for now.

We have the materials for the chicken tractor, now we just need to get it built. We harvested peas last night, and tomorrow I am going to pull up the vines, feed them to the chickens, and plant something else in their place (possibly loofahs). Tonight I'm putting up another batch of strawberry jam, and processing all but a few of the remaining strawberries for freezing.


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## Jerngen (May 22, 2006)

Last night I bought three more cases of canning jars, a dozen more boxes of lids, and another 4-6 weeks worth of general household items above and beyond what we normally use (adding to our storage). Our first garden is doing good. Got an order from Emergency Essentials last week. 
Now we need to start working on filling up all these jars!!


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## Callieslamb (Feb 27, 2007)

Big month for us. Busy month too.

I canned 40 lbs of meat over the last two days- 20 more to go for this month. I made meatballs but wish I had my own spaghetti sauce to can them in. Oh well. Green beans are coming on strong and I can a 1/2 dozen quarts every other day. Tomatoes are almost there. I picked 3 gallons of blueberries tonight at a pick-you-own place. I have never worked so hard for blueberries in my life. The weeds are taller than the bushes and they are huge bushes - over my head. The berries only ripening here and there rather than the whole clump. I am going back next week for more. Maybe I can find my glasses? I am also determined to get some butter in jars. Just to try it out.

Have the garden moat finished and the chickens are happily pecking away, until about 10 am, then they head for the shade of the run. Today I started working chicken wire around the base of the fence to maybe persuade the resident rabbit varmit to find another place to live. 

My mom has been with me for the three weeks since my Dad died. She just went home yesterday. Hopefully, now I will have a bit more time to get things organized. DH is building me a new pantry shelf - floor to 9 ft ceiling for home canned items. He needs to hurry since I have no place to put anything now and the dining room table has about reached it limit too. We are putting in a propane tank for an emergency heat supply and having a well dug. But the well digger is behind about 6 weeks. I have to pick out a new kitchen range- poor me! 

Can't wait to start making salsa!


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## radiofish (Mar 30, 2007)

With my sister and nephews coming to visit, I have been going thru my preps to get at the camping gear/ sleeping bags. I'll let them have the house at night, and I'll camp outside with my .357 magnum just in case the neighborhood bear or mountain lion comes along.. 

I also try my very best to never pay full price for anything, if I can help it!!! So I have been preparing for their arrival, hitting the loss leaders for the past few weeks. I ask my sister, what foods the boys will eat out of the weekly sales papers.

I have been busy making candles from freecycle candle wax, wicks, and metal candle molds. I even received four older candle making books, including "The Gulf Wax Candle Book" price 50 cents. That and a pound of "Gulf Wax" still in the original box..

I am gonna make some "Buddy Burners" (cat food/ tunafish can filled with tightly rolled corrugated cardboard and melted wax inside along with a "Hobo Stove" (a #10 can with holes around top) plus paper egg cartons filled wood shavings and wax for firestarters. I will teach my nephews on how to do that while they are here, along with other activities they may have never been exposed to. They will get to go shootin' here on the hilltop, and it will be their very first time doing that. So their uncle the gun-happy Marine will teach them the correct way to fire a weapon, and how to clean/ oil the weapons afterwards. I can remember the very 1st time I ever fired a rifle at the age 9 years old.

Today while in town, I found the small coleman propane cylinders on sale along with coleman fuel. So the lighting/ cooking situtation is covered. I don't need a tent, but there were some good deals at Big 5 Sporting Goods. I was shocked at the price for a brick of .22LR while I was there!!!

There are lots of loss leaders going this week for camping/ cookouts. I found alkaline and heavy duty batteries (AAA, AA, C, D, and 9V cells) on sale at Walgreens. Safeway has meats on sale for the 4th of July cookouts - I filled my freezer with chicken at .69 cents per pound. 90% hamburger at $1.79 per pound, and steaks at $2.99 per pound. Ray's (a local grocery store chain) has store brand (Western Family) items marked at very low prices. I had to find places to put all of my purchases, when I got back to the hilltop. 

I did see an innovate idea at the ham radio "Field Day" last weekend. One of the guys had mounted two rigid thin smaller sized 6"X6" solar panels inside a glass fronted picture frame. It had a mechanism on the top frame to angle it towards the sun at the correct angle. I have a set of four seperate 12"X12" rigid 16 Volt DC solar panels (from Ebay), and I had been thinking about how to mount them. So I will look for an old glass covered picture frame, either a couple of 12"X24" or a single 24"X24" or larger to mount those rigid solar panels with dual sided foam tape. My flexable solar panels are no problem to mount anywhere I go..


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## Spinner (Jul 19, 2003)

I bought a neat little gadget on ebay today. It's a manual pasta maker that is also a meat grinder. I'll try it out when it gets here, but I'm still looking for an electric model to use as long as I still have electricity.

I did some prepping in the back yard by butchering a few chickens. They sure look better in the freezer than they did in the yard. 

Tomorrow I'll be ordering a solar battery charger for all the rechargeable batteries we have laying around. It'll recharge radios, cell phones, and hopefully my little portable TV too. 

I ordered the book "The Cure is in the Cupboard" today. I'm looking forward to reading it. A friend highly recommended it.

I'm cleaning out my storage room and finding all kinds of things that I had forgotten I had. It started out as a search for camping gear, and it's ending up a "spring cleaning" of the entire room. 

Last week I picked up a new propane camp stove for a little of nothing. I also bought a foldup camp oven. I tried it out and discovered there is a learning curve so I'll be playing with it often until I get it mastered.

A couple of kids up the road taught me how to butcher a goat. I now have it in the freezer along with the chickens. I hope I can remember everything. If not, I'll call them asking if they'd like a temp job butchering goats for me.  I learned that I need to invest in some real big and real sharp hunting knives and a good stone to keep them sharp.

I planted 2 more apple trees. These ones are Granny Smith. I also planted a weeping willow to help shade the house from the hot summer sun.


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## Callieslamb (Feb 27, 2007)

radiofish said:


> I am gonna make some "Buddy Burners" (cat food/ tunafish can filled with tightly rolled corrugated cardboard and melted wax inside along with a "Hobo Stove" (a #10 can with holes around top) .......
> 
> 
> I did see an innovate idea at the ham radio "Field Day" last weekend. One of the guys had mounted two rigid thin smaller sized 6"X6" solar panels inside a glass fronted picture frame. ...........


The buddy burners are great. I have taken them camping before. Good idea for kids something to do. maybe you should list that on the tread about 11 yr old boys and keeping them busy in the family forum.

What can you power with that small of solar panels ? It sounds like a great idea!!!!!


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## FalconDance (Feb 4, 2007)

WooHOO! Just brought home a two-burner box stove for my "summer kitchen" . These things are rarer than hen's teeth in these parts nowadays. Now I have an alternative cooking source other than a camp stove or a bbq grill!


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## MisFitFarm (Dec 31, 2007)

Food preps have slowed down for now, but boy did I score big for the new farm this week! I got a light pole with box and accessories, and two 150 pound stacks of five foot length insulation all for free! Now, if I can come up with the money for the deposits, I can have electricity run to the farm and to the travel trailer! Then we will be able to move to the new farm by the end of the month for sure! I am so excited! If I keep looking, who knows what I'll find before the end of the month?


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## Jaclynne (May 14, 2002)

I've spent the last couple of days canning extra meat that was in the freezer. I have much more chicken I got on sale and butchered to do, but those quart jars of sliced bbq brisket look delicious!
Peas are coming in. I have always frozem them, but think I will can them this year to make room for the goats that need to be butchered.

Halo


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## radiofish (Mar 30, 2007)

Callieslamb said:


> The buddy burners are great. I have taken them camping before. Good idea for kids something to do. maybe you should list that on the tread about 11 yr old boys and keeping them busy in the family forum.
> 
> What can you power with that small of solar panels ? It sounds like a great idea!!!!!


Those small rigid solar panels that were there, will deliver around 600mA (milliAmperes/ just over half of an Ampere of current) at around 13.8 or more Volts DC (in full sunlight). He was charging his cell phone at the time. Or it would trickle charge a 12 VDC ham radio handi-talkie (HT) battery also. Just need the correct adapter/ power connector.. Figure on two or three hours to recharge just one of my 1100 mA 13.8 VDC Yaesu FNB-4 ni-cad battery packs in full sunlight.

Maybe I will post pics of the nephews doing outdoor activities on the family forum. They are from suburbia and it will be a treat for them to be in a very rural area. They are gonna be down at the beach, in the forest up here, and at several outdoor locations. I will let them read my copies of "Roughing It Easy I & 2", for some more innovative ideas. Reflector ovens, solar cooking, what can I expose the boys to in just 4 days????

I forgot to add yesterday, that I did purchase several dual packages of glow sticks at 2 packages for a dollar. Today I put a package of 2 glowsticks in each of the 40mm ammo cans, and the 5 gallon buckets with gamma seal lids filled with preps.


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## unregistered29228 (Jan 9, 2008)

I've learned from experience that those glow sticks don't always work when needed. We had some for camping once, and only 2 out of four sticks activated. I also saw a teenaged boy once bending the glow sticks and activating them in the wrapper, in the store.


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## Wildwood (Jul 2, 2007)

I haven't added to my grocery preps in a few months and after the sticker shock of last weeks local grocery run, I'm hoping to go to the city in the next few days and top some stuff off. That means I'll be doing a prep inventory tomorrow and cleaning out the fridge and freezer to make room. The goats were last months preps and I've spent the last month trying simple cheeses and testing a few soap recipes.

With all the rain we've had this year, we'll be lucky to get enough veggies out of the garden to eat this summer...not looking for enough to can or freeze so I'll keep that in mind on my shopping trip.

I plan to order another hundred pounds of wheat and corn this next week because the coworker I ordered for a while back is getting antsy and wants several hundred more pounds of stuff. I'l need a few more buckets too. Haha it never ends does it?


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## MisFitFarm (Dec 31, 2007)

I'm going to get more food preps next week, but right now I have another great Freebie that I'm excited about!! I now have two old clothes line poles for the new farm! :bouncy::bouncy: My daughter joked that with the creek on the farm, and the clothes line poles, we can beat the clothes on the rock and sling them on the line for free. Errr, maybe SHE can beat the clothes on the rocks!


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## Guest (Jul 5, 2008)

Well, the Hagan family celebrated the Fourth of July Independence holiday engaged in the great American past time of... shopping. But part of it involved a trip down to the new Gander Mountain store in Ocala to the south of us where I celebrated our right to bear arms by buying a pair of steel swinger target sets for the kinder and I to pop at with our .22s. Teaching your children to shoot straight is an important prep!

I also picked up another pocket knife. I've been suffering along without one for nearly two years making do with just my Leatherman after having lost _two_ Spydercos. I was so annoyed with myself about having lost that second one I wouldn't buy another knife, but when we were in Gander I saw they had the exact model I'd always carried so I bought it. When I explained why it had taken so long to buy another pocketknife Diana granted me an indulgence to always buy myself another knife if I should lose the one I had! {laughing}

We finally fled before we spent ourselves broke. It's a perilous place I tell you.

.....Alan.


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## Henry (Mar 1, 2006)

My dw and I transplanted 500 huckleberry and saskatoon bushes to a prepared plot near our gardens this spring. The weather was good to us this year as it stayed cool and wet. We have always picked large quantities of berries every year but thought it would be a good thing to have a supply near at hand. With the raspberry and strawberry patches we will have a good berry feast at our door. 
The plants were free but I moved 150 tractor buckets of top soil from our bottom land to build up the area as we only garden with raised beds here. That was a lot of dirt to move last year. We are lucky to be blessed with beautiful soil down by the river. Just have to move it up the hill. We keep every thing near to the house so we can protect it. We also built deer proof fences around everything. The berry bushes have transplanted well and we hope to have good berries next year.


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## tn_junk (Nov 28, 2006)

Coffee on sale at Kroger. Whole bean for $2.79 lb. Bought 10 lbs. Already have a manual coffee grinder or two. Gotta have my coffee.


alan


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## MikesMate (Feb 26, 2006)

I've never commented on this forum, but I love reading about different prepping ideas. I'm wondering if any of you shop at "salvage stores" for your preps. I've been doing this for several months now and it's amazing how much I can purchase for so little. I have found some items that weren't that much cheaper than a regular grocery, however most stuff I buy I get for pennies on the dollar.


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## Ann-NWIowa (Sep 28, 2002)

We had a busy weekend working around the house and in the garden. Also, canned 17 pints of green beans on the 4th and have another 16 pints in the canner waiting for the pressure to go down now. We had a nice shower this evening so should have a lot more beans throughout the week. I did some rearranging of shelves in the basement to make room for the jars of beans. It was great to be able to do canning during the 4 day weekend instead of staying up to midnight doing it after work.


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## Quiver0f10 (Jun 17, 2003)

I was able to buy 100 used wide mouth quart canning jars today for $15! She has more set aside and I plan to buy 100-200 more of different sizes next month.

Now to find a good deal on a canner.


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## Cindy in NY (May 10, 2002)

MikesMate said:


> I've never commented on this forum, but I love reading about different prepping ideas. I'm wondering if any of you shop at "salvage stores" for your preps. I've been doing this for several months now and it's amazing how much I can purchase for so little. I have found some items that weren't that much cheaper than a regular grocery, however most stuff I buy I get for pennies on the dollar.


I recently went to a salvage store/Mexican grocery and got a great deal on bread flour - $1.49 for 5 pounds!


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## AR Transplant (Mar 20, 2004)

WelcomeMikesmate glad to have you here.

I love salvage stores but all my favorites have kinda dried up. Have you found that the prices have gotton higher at the salvage stores than they used to be? Sometimes I can find it almost as cheap at the local stores.
You just have to know your prices.

My latest and favorite find was last Christmas. A truck load of leggos, all new and in the box, just like in target but about a fifth the price. We sold an airplane set on ebay for $72.00 that we paid $18.00 for.

again welcome!

ar


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## MoGrrrl (Jan 19, 2007)

We went to the Mennonite Store over the weekend. Didn't get too much, but some turbinado (raw sugar?), pasta, sunflower seeds, and junk food. 

Aside from gardening, I think July is going to be a slow prep month for me. I've got night classes, which drain a lot of time and energy.


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## MikesMate (Feb 26, 2006)

AR Transplant-thanks for the welcome. I've only been shopping at the salvage stores since last winter. So far, the prices have stayed steady. I only shop at two Amish stores that are fairly close to me, they're very clean and orderly and their stock is constantly changing. Along with the salvage items, they have bulk foods also. Some items that I've picked up:

Energy bars (Power Bar, Luna, etc.) 6 for $1 or .10 a piece.
Cans of tuna (white, albacore), chicken, ham-usually .69, sometimes .89
Beverages like gatorade, powerade, propel-.35-.50 each.
Lots of organic canned foods
Butter $2 lb, consistently, although it's sometimes cheaper at WalMart.
Vitamins and OTC meds-$1 a bottle.


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## MisFitFarm (Dec 31, 2007)

Quiver0f10 said:


> I was able to buy 100 used wide mouth quart canning jars today for $15! She has more set aside and I plan to buy 100-200 more of different sizes next month.
> 
> Now to find a good deal on a canner.


WOW! What a great find. Even used jars are going higher than that around here. I need a canner, too!


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## FalconDance (Feb 4, 2007)

Stopped last night on the way to a friend's house at a truck pulled over at the side of the gravel road. Turns out it was a local wheat farmer who was securing his grain truck for the night. Husband struck up a conversation and I *think* we have about 200# of wheat bought this morning (told him I wanted to check it first). I'll mix it (when grinding) with the 100# of hard white already tucked away. Personally, I prefer white, but you go with what's available, ya know? :shrug: 

The guy was clearly astounded that anyone would want to buy/grind their own wheat - he thought everyone just bought flour at the store.


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## vickie (Aug 8, 2002)

I stopped at a farm on the way to the shop today and asked if i could buy 200# of his wheat. he said yep. Bring a truck when i call you and i will shoot it right in. Yah! he said it should be next week. He was suprised i wanted it for baking too. Have a great day.


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## ChristyACB (Apr 10, 2008)

Having always lived a military life, with frequent moves and buying condos to live in at stations where cost of living is very high, I've always been very limited in my preps. Now I live in a house and am retiring from the military in a few years so I've started the process of getting those permanent things I'll need that tend to cost a bit. Yikes, some of this stuff is expensive! Who knew...

This month I got all my hurricane supplies taken care of. Re-packaged and vacuum sealed into daily rations, dehydrated lots of fruits and veggies and vacuum sealed those. Canned up more jam. Got yet another propane bottle for the grill. Ordered a new solar oven. Got more emergency lighting and all those little things you know you need if a big storm comes. 

Still can't find wheat around here. Shipping is ridiculous so that is out. Urgh...

What I want to know...is how do you find the room to store this stuff discreetly? I don't want to make a whole bedroom into a storeroom but there is simply no room for this stuff. I can't imagine what kind of room I'll need for a whole years worth!

Oh..and one more question. How do you seal up the TP to protect it from water damage? Do you seal it up in one of those giant vacuum bags or what?


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## Mutti (Sep 7, 2002)

Got 300# of wheat from Hintonlady...thanks so much. Made some waffles for breakfast,sooo good with my "didn't set" strawberry jam. Found a source for dry ice and got buckets ordered and wheat in freezer waiting to be packaged.
We are supposed to get excellent weather all next week(sure we are) so hoping to get our spring wheat cut. Son wants to try his scythe...Pa says weedwacker blade will work just as easily! Only have an acre and seems just about ripe/dry enough. Field corn is 8" tall and tasseling,too. Unlike other places we've been caught in this weekly pattern of rain 2-3 days each week and our garden couldn't be better. Sure not an average MO summer of screaming heat and watering. Didn't even set up the irrigation system this year!
Blackberries soon ready so must look up the Deet--guaranteed to be bug bitten/ridden when you come home. Usually we let the neighbors pick the majority of them and they give us enough for a few cobblers! DEE


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## FalconDance (Feb 4, 2007)

Got a call from the farmer. He said that, upon checking, his wheat is "a bit" wet (last night he said he thought it was at 16%) and a little weedy BUT a friend of his had good wheat and was combining it as we spoke. Come to find out, husband had just spoken to his friend who informed him that he was NOT selling any more wheat to anybody and was going to store up the rest of his from the (acres and acres of) fields. Well! Guess he figures the price will keep rising, and then he'll make some $$$. Anyhow, the first farmer also said that if the guy didn't have any extra (which he does, he's just a jerk ...) then he'd try to make sure we had some somehow.

Gotta admire an honest farmer! And one willing to work with a person if possible. (Admittedly, the other guy is known hereabouts as a bit of an ass.)

(Although husband is going to go to the elevator and see what they have coming in that might be a bit drier and at what prices. We don't have a problem doing the work of further drying and cleaning, but if it's already done, that's less we have to do with an already extra busy summer. Who knows, we might still get that farmer's wheat after all!  )


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## unregistered29228 (Jan 9, 2008)

This has been a busy week in my kitchen. Canned 12 quarts of green beans, made 8 pints of dill pickles, dried several quart bags of cilantro, mint and oregano from my garden, and made a bunch of jerky. Our blueberries and raspberries are about done, but I still pick every morning, and vac sealed and froze two quarts of each this week.

I ordered a neato self watering tiered, raised bed for strawberries, and I can't wait to get it! It comes with a cover, a bird net and frame, and the strawberry plants too. I've got a perfect partly sunny place picked out to install it.


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## sgl42 (Jan 20, 2004)

Got a haybox. it's a thermal shipper from a shipping company, that's insulated, and supposed to have a mylar reflector bag. (didn't get the bag yet, but should get one in the future.)

haven't had a chance to try it, but looking forward to seeing how well it keeps the heat in. Soups, stews, beans, all those long-cooking items should be a lot more energy efficient to cook (especially in TX in the summer!)

--sgl


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## DaleK (Sep 23, 2004)

FalconDance said:


> Got a call from the farmer. He said that, upon checking, his wheat is "a bit" wet (last night he said he thought it was at 16%) and a little weedy BUT a friend of his had good wheat and was combining it as we spoke. Come to find out, husband had just spoken to his friend who informed him that he was NOT selling any more wheat to anybody and was going to store up the rest of his from the (acres and acres of) fields. Well! Guess he figures the price will keep rising, and then he'll make some $$$. Anyhow, the first farmer also said that if the guy didn't have any extra (which he does, he's just a jerk ...) then he'd try to make sure we had some somehow.



So how does it make him a jerk that he'd rather wait and sell it for more money than sell some to you? He's the one that put the work into it, he's the one that put big $$ into growing a crop, he's the one that took all the risk growing it.... he owes you nothing. Nothing jerk-like about that. Don't like it, grow it yourself.


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## CowgirlGloria (Jun 19, 2008)

Yes, if a farmer has the storage space on farm this year, not selling right at harvest is the smart economic move. The price will likely go up this year, and he can probably make more selling it later. I would not call him a "jerk" for doing what is best for his family.


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## vickie (Aug 8, 2002)

The farmer called yesterday. My dh went to pick it up. He went to the cruched stone company and weighed the empty truck. Then went to the farm and they shot it in the truck it was about 1/4 of the truck bed. Went back and weighed it again it was 800# ( i was planning 200#) it cost $80.00. I think that was a great price. We spent the evening hunting down buckets, bags and trash cans to put it in just to get it out of the truck. I will be working on rebagging it to rotate it in and out of the freezer to make sure nothing lives. Then storing it for long term. Its going to be a fun weekend. Vickie


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## FalconDance (Feb 4, 2007)

No, Dale, just by storing his excess he's not a jerk. I wasn't clear in what I meant. His personality is .... abrasive. His manner of telling husband (and of dealing with folks in general) was excessively jerk-ish. He acted as if we expected to have the wheat given to us - which we did not, we intended to pay a bit higher than the elevator was paying! - and after husband told him that, he acted as if he were lying. All THAT made him a jerk.

But that's fine. There is wheat to be had in these parts. We'd just hoped to deal with a local to mutual benefit with an eye towards future business (between us). :shrug: Maybe things just aren't done like that anymore in the U S of A.

Picked up six small-ish boxes of canning jars - half were wide-mouth quarts and the rest older (and pretty) pint jars - at an auction for $1.50/bx with no bidders against me.


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## CowgirlGloria (Jun 19, 2008)

FalconDance said:


> But that's fine. There is wheat to be had in these parts. We'd just hoped to deal with a local to mutual benefit with an eye towards future business (between us). :shrug: Maybe things just aren't done like that anymore in the U S of A.


You just need to keep contacting local farmers. Two is not a representative sample, really. I buy oats directly off the farm here - lovely family. I buy hay from another local farmer. It benefits all concerned. Keep asking around, and I'm sure you will find someone nice to deal with.


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## Mutti (Sep 7, 2002)

Been canning beets and tomatoes daily. Onion tops starting to die back so will have to get out the wire racks DH made. We set them on sawhorses and cure the onions in the hot metal garage. End up putting them in spare bedroom which is cool until later in fall. Got the one-way bee escapes on finally and took off the honey and inspected the hives. Eight doing super and one failed...DH tried to keep it going but failing queen. We usually requeen each fall. No signs of disease though. Apple trees loaded with fruit; already picked the Lodi and beat the deer for a change! Grape vines loaded,too so looks like a good juice year. Have been gradually adding to stores by watching the sales. Libby fruits were $1 a can so bought four cases of them yesterday. We seem to do well in the veggie dept. but don't eat enough fruit. Blackberries ready to pick. Still freezing eggs ahead. Always something needing doing....DEE


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## Ann-NWIowa (Sep 28, 2002)

Dug a hill of potatoes and found treasure. Last year we did not harvest a single potato as they all rotted in the ground due to crazy weather. We were concerned this year might be bad due to early flooding and then quite dry but it looks like we're going to have a big harvest. Lots of rain last night and more forecast for the next 4 days so it will be awhile before we can dig again. If this hill is representative, we should have enough for the rest of this year and thru the winter. Finished canning green beans at 100 pints.


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## FalconDance (Feb 4, 2007)

I surely hope so, CowgirlGloria. Problem is, most farmers in this area either raise corn or soybeans - wheat farmers are pretty sparse. But, nothing worth while comes easy, right?

Wow, wish we had an oats farmer like you do! We're planning on trying to grow both wheat and oats (in small plots) this fall after the main harvest is over. It'll be a first, and all we have to go on is what we read and you guys relate from _your_ experiences, so who knows ........


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## mamajohnson (Nov 27, 2002)

Wow! I can't believe the month is half over already!
I guess I have been busy! I have about 12 quarts of peas put up, 20 pints of various wild fruit jellies (grape, plum, sumac). 
My Walton order finally got here. We got shorted on all brown rice. SO.... Halo Head and I went on a hunt in town and I found two 20# bags of Basmati at Sams for $18.80 per bag. Brown rice in the natural food store was $32 for 25#. 

We are taste testing meat substitute, drink mixes and other various items from Walton, all is going well in that department. Next order will be much bigger. 
Along the prep lines I will be contacting Walton next week and trying to set up a more local drop, possibly getting a local food co-op together.

We are pumping water up to a cistern from the creek, having a few pumping issues. We will be building a ram pump soon to make this a little easier.

Planning a fall garden, the more recent one did not go so well, it has already about burned up, but with the water pumping problems getting worked out looks like it will be better for the next go around. Hopefully I can save my melons from burning up.
I had planted magel beets for goat feed during the winter, and either they didn't come up at all, or the goats got them on one of the escapades into the garden.

Looking to getting some building done on the house addition in August, most of the July money went to water pumping issues.


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## Marilyn (Aug 2, 2006)

RE: purchasing wheat from local farmers...I have heard that Indiana wheat is used for pasta, we would need western wheat for bread. If this is the case, is it that cut and dried? Could you find bread wheat in a pasta locale? Is there any chance that it could be interchangeable? Could a newbie learn to tell the difference by sight?


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## Guest (Jul 21, 2008)

Knocked off two family reunions last weekend (scheduling screwup on the part of one family) so had a chance to do some non-local shopping. For some reason my local Sam's doesn't carry dried mushrooms so we loaded up on those. A few more bottles of whisky for the stash, some locally made barbecue sauce that we like and a couple of gallons of blueberries from the Hagan farm. Took a cooler full of eggs up for the family then filled that cooler with the loot we brought back.

.....Alan.


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## FalconDance (Feb 4, 2007)

My family reunion is this weekend. Joy.

Taking a break from canning. Picklers are going mad producing as are the jalapenos. Dehydrator's going round the clock now. Neighbor brought over a box full of big zukes and asked me so sweetly if I could _please_ make some Z butter (it's even better than apple butter!). I was exhausted before I ever rolled out of bed, and the season hasn't really even started.


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## tab (Aug 20, 2002)

We got our hay done! That's a year's worth of animal feed. DH got greedy and filled up two stalls . Both fields took some rain delaying baling but it was second cut and it wasn't enough rain to ruin it. It could have been worse. The weather this year is funky. Most weeks we get rain a couple of times. Not enough to really water the garden but enough to screw up your hay. The last two Sundays we have gotten nice rains which the garden has appreciated. The garden was late this year and am really hoping it produces. Am getting ready to order some chicks, at least meat birds which can go in late fall.


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## DW (May 10, 2002)

We have recently acquired a new pup (she found us) but I was thinking about needs and I don't think it is mentioned. If we had to leave here, we would take cats in crates and would need to have a dog chain (more than a leash) for her. We have went yrs w/o needing such an item but this one does not have excellent behavior, yet. I need to dig them out of the shed and see if they are any good.


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## Guest (Jul 24, 2008)

Cannery run today. Six more cases of red wheat and another case of milk. No white wheat and no idea when they'll get anymore.

Paid for the two Great Pyrenees pups today as well. One of the two we wanted got himself run over by a tractor this morning so we had to pick another. After going through umpty different names the kids finally settled on naming them Merry and Pippin to which I agreed. The fact that we just last week finished reading the Lord of the Rings might have something to do with that...

.....Alan.


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## Sabre3of4 (May 13, 2008)

I got some more buckets from the WW bakery yesterday. I've gotten into the habit of askine whenever we might be in a place I think will have them.
Also at Wally World, They have the rechargable solar camping lanterns on sale so I got on to check it out.... 
Got to counting and we have 10 cases of ramen.:dance: Kids go through them so we buy a case whenever we go to the store.... Been adding up

Sabrina


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## soulsurvivor (Jul 4, 2004)

A few months ago, I did a move around on the supplies, and had put some of the older ones back in the bedroom in the old desk drawers, so I'd know what had to be used first. Back bedroom is also where my home office is and I was back here working when I heard a loud explosion in the desk drawers. It was a can of pears in a pull-tab top can. So, I went through the inventory and pulled out all the tab tops to go on and use. 

We went on and had two dumptruck loads of kindling and wood delivered to our son and his family. 

Garden is coming up good. We've had just enough rain off and on to help. Won't have anything until fall though. We're just plain late this year with everything it seems. We've had lots of squash and zuccini given to us by friends and family and sure have enjoyed it. 

DH has been to the slaughterhouse twice already in the past week to hit their advertised meat sales. We've pretty much got the freezers full now. 

Apple trees are loaded with fruit this year, more than we've ever seen in our years here. We've been picking some green to help get extra weight off the branches.

After inventory, I see that I've got to add to our supplies and hope to do that at the beginning of next month. 

We're good on the first aid and OTC inventory, so no additions needed there. Do need to get some D batteries. Still ok on all other size batteries. And I'm looking to find some more gallon glass jars with lids for drinking water storage.


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## thequeensblessing (Mar 30, 2003)

July has been a busy month here at the Queen's Blessing Farm. 
We harvested our hay, got 20 half ton bales put away from this cutting.
We also robbed (harvested) our honey and went through our bees. They're looking great! For spring honey, this stuff is sure DARK. I wonder if someone is growing buckwheat around us. This spring honey looks nearly like light molasses. But we have a lot and it's delicious, so we're happy!
We also put our broilers and rabbits in the freezer, and I've canned 30 pints of green and wax beans. Our tomatoes and cukes are just starting to come in, as are our hot peppers. I'll be doing pickles, catsup, and pepper jelly in the coming days. I checked out our potatoes in the ground the other day and they look great, so we're keeping our fingers crossed for a good harvest this year. Last year's wasn't so hot.
I've also canned loganberry jam (from a local pick-your-own farm), strawberry jam (our strawberries produced amazingly well this year!), plum jam and conserve, and currant jelly. (Our currants did better than ever before!) We also put up our blueberries in the freezer, as well as some loganberries, strawberries and a few gooseberries. We're picking blackberries now. 
A neighbor traded me 10 lbs of extra green beans for some apples, but I had to pick the apples myself. (I picked the greenbeans for her too). I didn't mind at all, and when I got there to pick the "yellow transparent" apples, she help me pick and kept picking and picking and picking! She gave me 4 bushels of apples. Wow...what a trade! I need to make applesauce and baked apples with them for canning.
We went to the storehouse and picked up 150# of hard red wheat. They're out of hard white wheat and don't expect any back in until 6 mos. to a year from now! We also got 50# of quick oats, 25 # of great northern beans, 10 # of dried onions, 15# of dried carrots, 25# of soup mix, 50#of rice, 100# of flour, 75# of white sugar, 50# of brown sugar, 25# of powdered milk, and 25# of dried apple slices. We brought these home in bulk and sealed them in mylar bags with the church canning equipment.
Today, we're doing the rest of our broilers and rabbits, as well as starting on all those apples.


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## Elizabeth (Jun 4, 2002)

I got tired just reading about all of your activities, lol!

Here in the cold frozen North we are still waiting for our first garden harvest. Well, we have been harvesting a few herbs, chives, and purslane for our salads, but so little it hardly counts. 

Our tomato plants are loaded but everything is still green. We MAY, with luck, get to pick our first cherry tomato today- guess we'll have to split it, lol. The romas and celebrity have not even started to turn color yet. Oh, I snuck one potato out of the potato patch last week, just to "check" it, lol.

Oh well, we should be ale to start butchering chickens this week. We have been eating stuff out of our freezers, trying to make room for the birds- we have a LOT of food in there. Looks as if we will have to keep eating what we have in order to make more room for venison and pheasant this season.


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## Up North (Nov 29, 2005)

Elizabeth said:


> I got tired just reading about all of your activities, lol!


Me too Elizabeth! Uffda! Some hard workers reporting back here that's for sure.
Stacked in a year's supply of wheat straw for livestock and gardening.
Picked up some more bags of Hudson Cream 100% whole wheat flour.
Harvested the first of staggered plantings of sweet corn. Cut a bunch from the cob and froze as whole kernal corn. A small amount but it's a start.
Went and bought a 24 cu. ft chest freezer to put the Turkeys & broiler chickens in. Found some big freezer bags so we can bag whole Turkeys rather than halving them.

Using Ernie's Rule of Three I have determined that we need to work on stockpiling 3 major things: Hay for Livestock, Firewood for home heating, and inventory for our Direct Market Sales( Homemade Soap, Pork, Ground Beef, Turkeys, Broiler Chickens).
No unemployment or boredom here, LOL.


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## simplegirl (Feb 19, 2006)

You guys put me to shame. And I have been busy today for me! 

Made some pepper jelly today and also picked blackberries and froze them. Picked the green beans and plan to can them up tomorrow afternoon.

Moved a few things from the upstairs pantry to the downstairs storage room. I had so much upstairs I was not sure what I had and had a hard time keeping it rotated out well.


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## Shinsan (Jul 11, 2006)

"...... I was not sure what I had and had a hard time keeping it rotated out well."
LOL. Night before last I decided to do an inventory of the stores - figured it'd take me about 2 hours. No chance. After 1 hour I realised that I will have to allow the best part of a day to get everything recorded properly.


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## unregistered29228 (Jan 9, 2008)

That's one thing I need to apply myself to - getting my inventory up to date. I've canned and dried and purchased in the last few months without adding it to the list. I find it annoying, updating the list as I rotate things in and out, but there's no other way to know what you have and what you still need. And it's even more annoying because I don't add "one ton of wheat" - I add "3 5-lb. bags rice" and one container of garlic powder.


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## Sabre3of4 (May 13, 2008)

Now _that_ is a problem you want to have......:dance:

I am trying to find a box that all my son's new(to us!lol) winter clothes will fit into so they can go into storage. My grandfather was a very tall thin man just like my oldest son is looking to be and very cold blooded to boot due to being 90+ so all his clothing is very high quality and warm. We got long johns, heavy insulated flannel shirts, slippers and lots of good heavy blankets. There are two rated 0 below sleeping bags ready to be dragged home next friday.

Sabrina





Shinsan said:


> "
> LOL. Night before last I decided to do an inventory of the stores - figured it'd take me about 2 hours. No chance. After 1 hour I realised that I will have to allow the best part of a day to get everything recorded properly.


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## mamajohnson (Nov 27, 2002)

Shinsan said:


> LOL. Night before last I decided to do an inventory of the stores - figured it'd take me about 2 hours. No chance. After 1 hour I realised that I will have to allow the best part of a day to get everything recorded properly.


Well, this is partly why I don't do inventory! I know I should... my brain is not as reliable as it used to be.


Maybe I should put that on my prep list.... 
maybe not.


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## mamajohnson (Nov 27, 2002)

oh and... I have stuff added! 
A dear friend (you know who you are!!) brought me several really large bags of dried bread,,, like what they put in the boxes of stuffing mix. It isn't seasoned, but is a great prep item! Heavy duty bags, well, except the one the goats ripped open. :shrug:
I had put a couple in the shed, sorta an 'interim' storage spot before going in the box... well, seems the goats found it and munched on some (proves they have thumbs, they just hide them well. :grit: I know that shed was latched!)

Anyway, making stuffing to go with the chicken tonight, and it is looking good. I also bagged up about 8 gallons to have handy in the house for meals.

Also about to put up about 10-12 pounds of cucumbers (pickles)
and will be making up some tomato sauce with several pounds of tomatoes I have. 
The pantry is looking good... but I gotta keep stocking.


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## Wildwood (Jul 2, 2007)

I bit the bullet and did an inventory Saturday. I hadn't done one in a while...had not been in the mood and I'm a believer in doing what you are motivated to do...still not in the mood but with gas prices being what they are and trips to the city very few and far between, I found myself being forced to do it. We had to make a run to the city to pick DH's motorcycle up so I decided to combine it with a shopping trip. Funny thing is I'm usually all about adding to the preps and things being what they are, you would think I would have been in the mood. I have had a bad few months though and lost one of my dearest friends a few weeks ago so maybe that explains my off feeling. She was a wonderful 92 years young and a sweet little soul.

Anyway, DH got to experience one of my shopping trips and the questions at the checkout counter LOL. I had developed some holes in my preps that had to be filled so we spent quite a bit and were worn slap out when we got home. I spent the day putting it all up, rearranging my pantry and tending goats. They are still the best preps I've invested in lately. I'm still trying to get the motivation to add the chickens...those goats have gotten all my attention lately . DH and I have gotten way too attached.

I'm probably going to top off my wheat and corn this week and call it a day for a while. BTW I'm stretching my existing wheat by mixing half store bought flour and I must say it is a wonderful loaf of bread. After several months with the home ground wheat bread, my spastic esophogus went in to a major tizzy. I started mixing half and half then and finally dropped the added gluten and have good results and the best bread I believe I've ever made. Of course I have enough gluten to last for years ...I'm suspecting it's the culprit.


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## insocal (May 15, 2005)

MountAiry said:


> I cleaned out most of the small room in basement and filled it with more shelves and now have lots of great shelves to work with. I started out with 6 and now have 12. We stacked them 2 high so they almost go across the room and to the ceiling.
> 
> I am trying to go through things and organize and come up with a better system for keeping tabs on supplies. Imagine my dismay when I ran out of brown sugar last week! I was very upset with myself and thought I had a better handle on things. So its back to the backboard for me in the inventory keeping department.


I got sick of running out of brown sugar years ago, or finding it all hard and dry.........then I got a copy of the More-With-Less Cookbook, and it has a recipe for brown sugar: add 2 Tbsp molasses to each cup of white sugar and mix well with a fork.

I haven't bought brown sugar in the store for over a decade. IMHO it's a silly waste of money.


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## Elizabeth (Jun 4, 2002)

Around here, brown sugar is the same price as white sugar, so I just buy it at the store. 

Visited with my 16yo nephew a few weeks ago. He is very interested in cooking, thinks he may want to be a chef. He told me about a cake he had made recently- seems that one of the ingredients was confectioner's sugar. He didn't have any, so he looked it up on the internet and found instructions for making it. I had no idea you could make it at home.

We are STILL waiting for our first ripe tomato. We picked one cherry tomato a couple of days ago, but so far that has been it. I hope we get to harvest our crop before the first frost, lol.


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## magnolia2017 (Dec 5, 2005)

Cash is short, so not much prepping in the way of buying. Have made progress though.

Old well is keeping us supplied with fresh water and have collected several 2-liter bottles to beef up our water storage needs. Picked up 10 one gallon glass for free last week and haven't yet decided what to use them for.

We've been using our fire pit for two years now, even though it's just a primitive hole in the ground. This week I've worked on making it bigger and also dug a smaller hole nearby for our cooker, so that can use it and the pit at the same time. The excavated dirt has been raked and used to level up the yard. The next step is lining the pit with stone.  I'd eventually like to built an outdoor oven, but that will have to wait another year or so.

Concreted a set of clothesline poles and have the line loosely strung for now. Hope to be able to use them over the weekend.

Maggie


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## vickie (Aug 8, 2002)

We moved all the food preps from the basement to our sons room this weekend.( he moved out) We are adding a bedroom in the basement for one of our renters. Anyway i had no idea we only had about 6 months of meat canned. So everyday for the next 2 weeks we will be pulling the meats out of the freezer and canning it up. This was always the plan but i wasn't in a hurry before. That is to much to risk if electrice goes out. And no where close to what we should be for canned meats. Busy Busy. Vicki


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## MoGrrrl (Jan 19, 2007)

I bought 36 boxes of canning lids. GULP! I am hoping to be able to barter them for more jars. I posted on craigslist, and so far got an offer for 3 boxes of jars. The lady is not planning to can any more - ever, so I don't even have to give up the lids. I may sell some lids on ebay - It would be a small profit, but help me recoup costs if I don't find people to trade with.

DH is picking cucumbers today for pickling, and I think there will be tomatoes to can this weekend.


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## unregistered29228 (Jan 9, 2008)

Just picked up a bushel of peaches and half a bushel of plums, so I'll be busy canning the next few days.....


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## Guest (Jul 29, 2008)

Looks like our Los Angeles members are getting a for-real chance to test their preps. Good luck to you all!

.....Alan.


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## insocal (May 15, 2005)

A.T. Hagan said:


> Looks like our Los Angeles members are getting a for-real chance to test their preps. Good luck to you all!
> 
> .....Alan.


It wasn't THAT bad, lol. Northridge was 50 times worse........

Lots of stuff fallen down to be put back out there in Chino Hills, I hear. And lots of broken glass. We rocked and rolled really good here for quite a while, but I could tell almost right away that we were far from the epicenter.


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## FalconDance (Feb 4, 2007)

Prepping (the non-garden type, anyhow) is pretty slow right now. But I did manage to pick up another 6# of loose tea for $5 .


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## MoGrrrl (Jan 19, 2007)

I inventoried our canned goods last night. Golly, there are a lot of green beans, pickles and a lot of salsa. Granted, I think the salsa is actually pretty nutritious. But there needs to be more 'real food.' I'm going to see about making some soups this weekend. 

Our storage cabinet is filled, so I need to find more storage.


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