# July 2010 Prep Journal



## manygoatsnmore (Feb 12, 2005)

It looks like Alan has left us for a while, so if Angie doesn't mind, I'll go ahead and start a new thread for July. What have you done to increase your preparedness today?


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## Just Cliff (Nov 27, 2008)

I filled three 60 gallon barrels with canned goods and put them in cold storage. Never thought that much would fit into one barrel! Each one took 23 cases(12) of no. 2.5 cans with a bit of room left over for smaller cans,jars and plastic bottles. I only have 32 barrels left to fill...Not sure if I will get that done....(grin)
Got a couple of blue water barrels soaking to make sure they are clean enough for drinking water. Need to get a nitrogen refill today. Will probably be doing some packing on Sunday. 

Pulled out the new Excalibur 9 tray last night and got it ready to go. A local store has red peppers for $.50 each, so we go quite a few to dehydrate


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## secretcreek (Jan 24, 2010)

I'm keeping our vehicles gas tanks topped off...on the thinking that 1/2 empty is same as empty. I ordered extra propane for the house. I also added to my camping gear to create a much more efficient camp kitchen if I need to be away from my home. 

I'm working on: storing food ahead for the critters, and firewood.

-scrt crk


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## Ohio dreamer (Apr 6, 2006)

Been drying the greens and herbs from the garden before the tomatoes and such come in. Got out and "straightened" out the tomato plants. After all the rain followed by heat and humidity they have been left to their own design. They were a tangled mess!

Went to the range and shot a lever action .22. Now that we have tried all style I think I want a lever action for myself. I took my first shoots right handed, too! And I actually hit the spinner! Left is my stronger side, but I hope to be equally good with my right by the end of the year. I have spent the last month working on pretending to hold a gun with my right and teaching my left eye to close (or course only when no one was looking). Yesterday, was the first time I could get the right eye to stay open and the left to close while holding a gun on the right! I actually found "the pocket" on my right side for the first time, too. Usually it's a comical mess watching me try to shoot right - but that's my purpose in life....comic relief.


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## Ernie (Jul 22, 2007)

I purchased four 25 pound sacks of lentil beans for $165. I am storing these in 55 gallon steel drums (food safe) down in the basement. Airtight, watertight, and mouse-proof.

I took quarterly inventory of the food stash and need to place an order for the following:

8 cases of SPAM
4 cases of canned whole potatoes
2 cases of cooked black beans
2 pounds of salt

This weekend I am collecting and drying red clover and yarrow for medicinals.


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## bee (May 12, 2002)

Have added 20lb of medium grain white rice and will continue to add at a rate of 10lb every time I market until I reach at least 100lb. Added 6 (buy 2 get one free with coupon) Chi-chi's Savory Garlic Chicken; kinda like a MRE, my favorite so may not be on the shelf for the 2+ year expire date...added more canned pinapple in juice.
Planted some dent corn to refresh seed, hand watering to get it to germinate.


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## mpillow (Jan 24, 2003)

I'm a lefty shooter too....so I let my daughter do the shooting when she is home!

We are getting the combo coup/bunny palace going...OY! the goat ate the wire off our genny for the low oil sensor and the bolt broke as well so we borrowed my brother's Honda genny and the breaker won't reset....sent the Honda in to be fixed and part for the Coleman...if it wasn't for bad luck! (the coup is quite a distance from power at house and extension cords lose too much power over distance even with 10 gauge) 
MAJOR FRUSTRATION! (and added expense and waste of time)

My gardens are coming nicely....and woohoo the goats didn't actually kill the 30yo apple trees...so we may get some after all...lots of 1inch fruit right now and decent rainfall thus far. We have managed to keep the naughty goats out of the new orchard...it's looking good.

My dad had his secondary lung xray yesterday...so waiting to see what the spot might be...my mom is on edge.

It soon will be 2nd cutting so the barn needs to be stocked with hay...


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## TheMrs (Jun 11, 2008)

DH is cutting up some downed trees in our woods today. He's also going to be bringing in some of the composted leaves and awesome dirt from deep in the woods. I discovered today that the dirt in our raised beds is way too rock hard to grow decent garlic or onions *sigh* so we're going to be adding some of the good compost to the raised beds. I got an email yesterday from a friend that our Big Berkeys are due to be shipped in three weeks, so that was good news!


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## Shrarvrs88 (May 8, 2010)

I bought 20 lbs of rice, 20 lbs of beans, a big can of NIDO whole dried milk (actually I bought two, one to try out to see if my family could drink it-we can!) a big jar of peanut butter, 2 cans of coffee (don't want to be going through caffiene withdrawals when SHTF) three sponges, eight bars of soap, Laundry soap (who knows?) dried hot peppers, and am scooping up eight pretty bunnies in two weeks....


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## JuliaAnn (Dec 7, 2004)

Not a whole lot today---we're floating away from the rain! 

Got some seeds I had ordered from Horizon Herbs. The first time I've ever orderd from them and so far I'm very pleased. Perusing their catalog now for other seeds to order soon. I use spilanthes frequently for it's numbing qualities.

Going to set another batch of wine this weekend. 

Figs are starting to ripen--ate three off the tree earlier before the heavens opened. That will mean preserving some of them soon.


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## radiofish (Mar 30, 2007)

Well Ace Hardware is having a huge sale this weekend. 
I went and treated myself to a new Skil 18 Volt cordless drill, since my old Sears Craftsman 12 Volt cordless drill died awhile back.. While there got 5 quarts of motor oil on sale with rebate, a large container of Stab-il fuel stabilizer, and assorted sales items.. I looked at their selection of firearms and ammunition stocks, but decided that I have enough of those for the moment!

Then I made the mistake of going to the Safeway grocery store on the Friday afternoon before the 4th of July. 
I used some of my survival skills in order to keep from being run over by grocery carts, little old ladies pushing at the meat counter, and you would think that the produce section was a training ground for demolition derby racing. Let alone waiting in the long line at a checkstand, and then getting dirty looks from the folks behind me because I dared to use 'coupons' for some of my purchases.. I felt lucky to leave the parking lot in one piece this afternoon, without having a show down with intoxicated college kiddies there to buy more cases of beer/ alcohol..

Now I get to stay home all weekend, except for going up to open the gate when my sweetie comes up to go shootin' on Sunday. It makes me very glad that I stockpile items, so no having to make a last minute trip of 1/2 hour one way just to go and get a single thing for the holiday weekend.


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## manygoatsnmore (Feb 12, 2005)

I'm, working on updating the pantry inventory as I'm moving things around right now. With Abby moved out, I'm turning her room into the pantry, among other things. I'm also painting the shed floor to seal it - yesterday I did the first coat on the half that doesn't have hay bales in it, and have made it a priority to finish that building this month. Harvested my first bit of broccoli from the garden yesterday, so I'll be looking at preserving plenty of that over the coming month or so - debating whether to freeze of dehydrate it, or both. Still working on the garden as much as possible - that's an ongoing project, to work up a section at a time, make more raised beds, transplant extra raspberry and strawberry plants into the new beds, as well as doing the same with my herbs. 

The local Winco had gallon tomato plants for 1.49, so I picked up a few more - a couple Better Boys and a Big Beef. They are hybrids, I think (haven't looked them up yet), so I can't save seeds from them, but I have plenty of open-pollinated seeds saved and a few OP plants growing this year. I just want to get a good harvest of ripe tomatoes to can and dehydrate this year. Seems I get a killing frost just about the time I start getting a good supply of ripe tomatoes. Need to make it a priority to build better protection from them this summer, before the fall gets here. 

This is fair month here, so I'll be involved with that and preps may be farther down the list than usual. On the other hand, premium money is a good thing. I also usually end up with a few herb starts and misc vegies for the chickens and goats at the close of fair, and take home loads of the bedding from the animals, as well as leftover straw and hay in the barns.

Stopped at the transfer staion yesterday on the way home to drop off recycling, left a small stereo sitting there for someone to use, and took what I found - 2 lengths of triple wall PVC pipe, a round tip shovel with a broken handle, and a nice big plate glass mirror. The shovel was a good, older, heavy one, and I should be able to replace the handle on it fairly easily. Not sure what I'll use the pipe for, maybe directing water from a gutter to a water storage barrel? I'm sure I'll think of something. 

Radiofish - I sure hear ya on the grocery store crowds - I hate fighting with the masses for the last loaf of bread.  I go early in the morning after I get off night shift, get what I need and get the heck out of there. Love having a stocked pantry and freezer, along with eggs and milk fresh from the critters at home.


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## GoldenCityMuse (Apr 15, 2009)

Shopping early in the morning and VERY late at nite [think 2300 on] is the best time to avoid crowds.

Also, buying food online is a good way to save time. It is good for most items except fresh milk, eggs & veggies.

What have I done.......
Ummmmmm.

Read this thread. Yeah, that's the ticket!

Actually, we are busy helping out a single mom who is having car problems.


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## soulsurvivor (Jul 4, 2004)

Garden is all in and looking good. We are beginning to need some rain though. Shucked 50+ ears of corn and cut off the cob and put into freezer. In the process of cleaning 30 yrs of stuff out of our attic and hope to finish that before DH has to return to work on Tuesday. He's also getting all the propane tanks filled, and only have 3 left to fill. Going to look at new cookstoves tomorrow as our old one has finally died. Also will be looking at wood heating stoves as we're going to need one before winter. We gave our old woodstove to our neighbor that's going to use it in his big garage. He knows about the cracked grate in it, which is why it's going in his garage and not his house.


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## DW (May 10, 2002)

The word must be out b/c we have 4 neighbors giving us wood so we are busy cutting & stacking. The grasshoppers killed the garden so I really need to make a list of what I need instead of canning until November.


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## Mutti (Sep 7, 2002)

Really need some rain after 4 weeks without--the plants know the difference between rain and buckets from the well, I swear.

Been in the 90's so long that we have to get up early to work in our pitiful garden. Sure glad I canned everything in sight last year as we haven't even gotten a tomato yet. Only thing we've had to harvest in green beans and potatoes.

Being forced inside we painted our kitchen; organized it and found lots of stuff we'd forgotten we had. It is so much pleasanter to go there now. Did some repairs on our Hoosier ...love that Gorilla glue! 

Neighbor came and cut our two fields--got 59 big bales and sold them to another neighbor for some much cash. Only have the jersey heifer so kept 4 bales for us. 
Chickens still laying so have been freezing eggs when we can't sell or give away to the kids. 

Here I am retired with all the time in the world and the garden is the worst we've everhad here. Raspberries are bearing and our one Japanese plum is which is plain odd as it's never had plums before! DEE


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## Chuck R. (Apr 24, 2008)

Mowed and plowed two 1-acre fall food plots in prep for deer season. Iâll disc them in Aug and hopefully plant Labor Day weekend. 

Finally completed my âremote tree watering and CRP burning fire tractorâ system using a new Hi-Flow 3.8 GPM pump and two 50 gallon drums strapped to the carry-all on the back of my tractor. It was really getting to be a PITA lugging 5-gallon cans to water new trees. Now Iâm into âDrive Byâ watering. 

Yesterday some of the materials came in for me to update/rotate the items in our 1st aid kits. 

Chuck


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## manygoatsnmore (Feb 12, 2005)

Leveled the ground along the drip line on the near side of the barn and set a nice long line of buckets, totes and garbage cans there to catch the rain - we've had cloudbursts the last couple days. I use the rain water for watering the goats and washing my whites, so any opportunity to increase the amount of water I can collect is great. We should be entering our 2-3 month drought time soon, so I need to collect as much water as I can now. Really want to get my pool set up and work out a way to drain the rain water off the barn roof into it. That would give me a huge amount of water storage. 

Worked on the shed again today - was able to move the hay over onto the painted floor and clean off the rest in preparation for painting it. There is still moisture on the floor so I want to let it air and dry for another few days. I was able to nail up the joist hanger, shoring up the joist that had slipped. Glad to have that done. If it would stop raining for a few days, I could take the tarp off and finish laying the loft floor, and get the rafters up. Only a small bit of progress on it so far this month.

Sorted and re-stacked more of the lumber today before the rain cut loose. When I'm done, I want to have all my lumber and other building supplies in one small area, hidden behind a pallet fence and covered to keep it out of the weather until I decide what to do with it next. Found more boards I can turn into raised beds, and all the parts I need to frame the greenhouse addition on the end of the house.

Continued working on inventorying and shelving food in the pantry. I do love counting food, lol.


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## JuliaAnn (Dec 7, 2004)

I've GOT to come up with room to store all our food stores, supplies, and preparation devices. We not only have food to store, but various canners, dehydrators, and home brew buckets, bottles and jugs. And I am just out of room. I refuse to part with any of these things, even if they are not in constant use. I do have backups for some items, like spare canners and a coupld of spare dehydrators, in case something happens to the ones I use. I foresee very dark times ecnomically for many of us, and I don't want to have to try to scrape up $$$ for things. But man, I've got to come up with some new storage arrangements...

I can understand why the kitchens in old houses were so big.


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## Browncoat (Jun 8, 2009)

I'm trying to learn more sewing/crocheting/quilting. Also trying to stock up on material and such in case I have to make or repair my own stuff. I must say, I totally stink at it so far, and mostly all I've managed to do is raise my blood pressure. I can get started, and I suppose during a SHTF situation I won't be too worried about how it looks, but it makes me a nervous wreck to be such a pitiful failure at something. 

The garden is toast this year. So far, I've gotten one tomato, and I'm not sure it's going to be edible. Beans got too hot, the corn won't grow, and the peppers didn't even try. 

Managed to get a little bit of free food using coupons, so something went right.


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## fetch33 (Jan 15, 2010)

Hubby and I just picked 25 lbs of blueberries at a nearby blueberry farm. Looking forward to putting up jars of jam and blueberry pie filling this week!


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## Cindy in NY (May 10, 2002)

We got some heavy duty shelving and have done some re-arranging in the basement pantry. Trying to get stuff off the floor! 

The garden is doing well but have had to do a lot of watering! Did 2 batches of raspberry jam last week. Need to plant some more lettuce as the argula is done and the romaine is almost there. Have some small tomatoes and the peppers are blooming. Even have a pumpkin on our volunteer pumpkin plant!

Using up our stored gas so we can refill with fresh. Had a new muffler put on our 14 year old Saturn. Would like to keep it running another 7 years when DH hopes to retire.


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## AR Transplant (Mar 20, 2004)

our house is on the market so we are not stocking up as usual. But we are cleaning out and getting rid of unnecessary things and doing a more thorough inventory.
Things change as you get older, we are passing the things put away for our (then) children to our dd to have for her children.


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## GoldenCityMuse (Apr 15, 2009)

OK, today found 8 2# bags of Lundberg Long Grain Brown Rice on the HEB clearance rack for $1.23 per bag. And it was organic, which my wife prefers. Only 62Â¢ per lb.

Then at TSC [tractor supply], they had tomato seeds & potting soil on clearance for 49Â¢ each. Bought a couple.

They also had their hi temp enging paint 99Â¢ a can. I bought about 20 cans of different flavors. [OK , colors] Spray paint in cans will last for a very long time, and is very useful for painting steel items and prevent rust. I think it is a very useful prep item. It is so handy to stock up on it when cheap, so that when you do need to a quick paint project, you don't have to run to the store and pay $3.99/can. [or more]


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## cnichols (Jan 5, 2010)

Made my first attempt at pressure canning meats. Canned 10 pints of ground beef, 3 pints of stew beef and 2 pints of roast beef. They all sealed well so I guess I did it right!


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## thequeensblessing (Mar 30, 2003)

DH started work turning our unfinished basement into a preserving kitchen for a birthday present for me! I'm so excited! Now we'll have a separate kitchen to do our butchering, canning, dehydrating, honey extracting, etc. in. The stud walls are in, the drywall is on, and the mud is drying. We have a new refrigerator and stove going in once the electrical is finished. I'm putting in the vinyl flooring and painting the drywall later in the week.
Does this count as prep work??


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## texican (Oct 4, 2003)

thequeensblessing said:


> DH started work turning our unfinished basement into a preserving kitchen for a birthday present for me! I'm so excited! Now we'll have a separate kitchen to do our butchering, canning, dehydrating, honey extracting, etc. in. The stud walls are in, the drywall is on, and the mud is drying. We have a new refrigerator and stove going in once the electrical is finished. I'm putting in the vinyl flooring and painting the drywall later in the week.
> Does this count as prep work??


 Do you have a means of venting the basement? My house gets mighty humid, after a days worth of canning... I can almost sense little thunderclouds forming with all the moisture!

IF I ever get a chunk of change, I can make progress on the new home... there'll be an outside kitchen area, just for canning season... the heat is like a sauna, and I know the moisture can't be good for my books... so I'll have a semi enclosed area, with a sink and stove/oven setup to do all the dirty hot work 'outside' of the regular kitchen.

as far as prepping so far this month...
I've only done some emergency canning, a whole deer, and some more pork, enough canned meat for a month of eating.


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## thequeensblessing (Mar 30, 2003)

The basement is a walk-out with a fan, and it is A/C cooled too. Although it will be used for canning, it's primary function will be butchering and honey extracting. I hate doing those activities in my regular kitchen as they take up space and make a mess if people happen to drop in while we're involved in it. I'd love to have my regular kitchen stay neat and tidy all the time, and keep the honey extracting equipment and meat cutting tools/saw all neatly in the basement kitchen instead of in the rest of the house. But yes, we'll be canning down there too.


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## Ohio dreamer (Apr 6, 2006)

DH is going out at lunch time to buy a new toilet :grump:. Our water bills have been crazy high (twice that of our neighbors who water their lawn regularly and wash cars constantly). All we can guess is the toilet that we catch running is running more then we thought. After running ll night last night DH couldn't get it to stop this morning......and shutting off the water to it isn't possible. It's an old one so a new one will use less water and hopefully not run. OH...yes, we have tried 2 different "fix kits" in the last 4 months, neither helped a bit. If it works we could break even in 4 months!


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## mpillow (Jan 24, 2003)

We have to giggle the handle...LOL

We have hard water and so my plumber husband tells me the scale builds up and "things" dont fit and work as they should...my dishwasher leaks every couple of months and then I take the lime away to it and I'm good for a time...


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## Just Cliff (Nov 27, 2008)

Another 60 gallon barrel full of canned goods put up, dehydrator has not taken much of a break in the last week.I need to load the other and get it going too... Blueberries are coming in..will be canning those the next couple weeks. London broil on sale at Food Lion. Looks like Beef will be canned this weekend. I missed the boneless chicken breast for $1.79 a pound. (Night shift will mess up your thinking on what day it is) Will pick up 30 more 5 gal buckets in the morning. Time to Pack wheat away. 
I need a clone.....


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## Ohio dreamer (Apr 6, 2006)

DH put my summer kitchen together this afternoon (between rain drops) :nanner: FIL gave us his old tent a while back (so far back we forgot about it), the movie store in town went out of business so we got the white plastic top table cheap!. All we had to go was get a cook top, being the enabling wife I am we all happily went to Cabel's to get one (OK, could have gotten one closer to home, but it was Father's Day and FIL came along, too).

Dh uploaded pictures to Flickr:http://www.flickr.com/photos/jimisod/

I'll only post one small one (thinking of those on dial up)...but check out the ones of Flickr, if you can....we added a few extra parts related to my last Prep post (3 posts back).


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## SLD Farm (Dec 19, 2007)

Krogers had BOGO sale on meats. I haven't bought store bought meats for a long time, but the price was right so I stocked up. The garden is starting to produce so I have squash to dehydrate this weekend. I also am picking up 20# of cherries tomorow, so will be repacking those for freezing.
I also picked and froze some of my herbs and added comfrey to the herbs I have planted.


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## manygoatsnmore (Feb 12, 2005)

I finished moving the pantry and inventorying it! Now on to the freezers.


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## fostermomma (Feb 26, 2007)

The girls and I have been organizing and cleaning out closets and packing up things to take to the goodwill. Dh and the boys have two more sections of fence left to put up so hopefully that will be finished this weekend. We have also been working on cleaning out our two storage units trying to consolidate them and hope to be out of both of them by the end of October at the latest. The units are full of equipment from our old business and we finally have someone that is going to take it off our hands. The money from the equipment will be used to pay off our last debt excluding the mortgage. It will be nice to put the storage rent money towards our mortage every month instead of someone elses wallet.


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## Chuck R. (Apr 24, 2008)

Almost forgot the âbigâ prep!

Paid off our 80 acres on 1 JUL after owning since AUG05, so now weâve got it and the barn/shop free and clear. Now weâre saving for the house with the intent of breaking ground in 2012. 

Chuck


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## GoldenCityMuse (Apr 15, 2009)

Chuck, that is GREAT news. What a wonderful feeling to stop paying interest.


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## Ohio dreamer (Apr 6, 2006)

Got up and going early this morning. 7pt of pickles done and a new raised bed made and installed by 9 am! That was what we planned, to have to productive part of the day done very early (good thing, looks like it may be a wet day later). Now, out to breakfast with my honey (after he showers that crud off from crawling around on the ground while dripping in sweat!) and a day of spending time together to celebrate out 17th wedding anniversary. No real plan, just take life as it comes, today.


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## Just Cliff (Nov 27, 2008)

Chuck R. said:


> Almost forgot the âbigâ prep!
> 
> Paid off our 80 acres on 1 JUL after owning since AUG05, so now weâve got it and the barn/shop free and clear. Now weâre saving for the house with the intent of breaking ground in 2012.
> 
> Chuck


Congratulations Chuck! I'm happy for you and your family.


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## Just Cliff (Nov 27, 2008)

Another 60 gal barrel filled and dropped to storage. Got 30 5 gal buckets to fill. Went to Walgreens and got OTC pain relievers (excedrin and motrin store brand) on sale. Setting up 2 identical buckets with healthcare products. Triple antibiotic ointment has gone through the roof!


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## Chuck R. (Apr 24, 2008)

GoldenCityMuse said:


> Chuck, that is GREAT news. What a wonderful feeling to stop paying interest.





Just Cliff said:


> Congratulations Chuck! I'm happy for you and your family.


Thanks!

The mortgage company was a big help in a strange way. One of the only banks I&#8217;ve dealt with that posted a daily per-diem rate for the interest. 

Making a payment and watching the per-diem drop only a penny a day, if that, is one heck of an incentive. 

Chuck


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## jamala (May 4, 2007)

stocked up on OTC cold meds on June 30th because on July 1 in our wonderful state you now have to have a RX from a doc. to buy some of the cold meds we use. Have been stocking up on other medicine cabinet supplies since then as well as batteries and candles and such. The kids each won a led flashlight at a firemen's banquet we attended with DH, I was a happy mom with those door prizes, they went straight into the hurricane box. Added more food preps to the freezer from the garden, it is now so hot here that all but the okra is finished, waiting to get some fall plants in the garden now.


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## manygoatsnmore (Feb 12, 2005)

Happy Anniversary, Jen!

I haven't been doing much on preps the last few days - fair is this week and that is my priority. Just been doing the basics needed at home to keep the critters happy and well cared for, the garden weeded, etc. Cooked up a bunch of the older eggs in the fridge and fed them to the dogs to save on dog food, trimmed goat hooves, more general clean up inside and out. Set a batch of kefir. Mixed up a new sourdough starter - my other sat in the fridge too long and died. That's about it.


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## FrontPorch (Mar 27, 2008)

Starting to harvest cucumbers and peppers. Bought two more lambs, an older model F350 and camper. Might not sound like preps, but it's all part of the grand plan. lol


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## Spinner (Jul 19, 2003)

Finally found some guys who are willing to do manual labor so I'll be getting the north pasture fenced in the AM. The fence and posts have been laying out in the barn for over a year. 

A neighbor gave me several tomato plants with "mators" on them. They are in pots so were real easy to carry home without putting them into transplant shock.

Also have 37 baby chicks that are ready to come out of the brooder. They won't start laying until around Oct, but it will be great when they start! 

A broody banty is setting a nest in a flower pot on the front porch. I've talked with each of the grandkids and explained that if they scare her then we won't get baby chicks. Thankfully they all want the baby chicks real bad so are being careful not to run or jump anywhere near the porch.


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## beaglebiz (Aug 5, 2008)

Spinner said:


> A broody banty is setting a nest in a flower pot on the front porch. I've talked with each of the grandkids and explained that if they scare her then we won't get baby chicks. Thankfully they all want the baby chicks real bad so are being careful not to run or jump anywhere near the porch.


I love banties. We call the chicks "marshmallow peeps". they really are tough little buggers.


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## secretcreek (Jan 24, 2010)

Just Cliff said:


> Another 60 gal barrel filled and dropped to storage. Got 30 5 gal buckets to fill. Went to Walgreens and got OTC pain relievers (excedrin and motrin store brand) on sale. Setting up 2 identical buckets with healthcare products. Triple antibiotic ointment has gone through the roof!


Noticed that triple antibiotic rose in price. What about Tea tree oil, and antifungals. I'm thinking that if we end up having to work in more humid conditions we'll see more skin problems due to how humid and gummy it is here in the summertime...well, anytime a house holds moisture.

Acid reducers are important for me. I want some extra DMSO gel to take down swelling in tissue in case of an injury. 

I see mullein stalks are flowering and that's when they are most potent to make ear pain reliever oil. Yarrow leaves are good to stop blood. Plantain is good to boil in water to make a pain reliever for sunburn or as a natural bandaid around a crushed-mushed p. leaf placed on a sting.

-scrt crk


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## Rourke (Jul 15, 2010)

So far:


Built my first rain barrel from some scraps at work
Started another compost barrel
Tested my 750 watt inverter - working good
Continuing working in the garden - though a lot of stuff has gone by
Built my first rain barrel from some scraps at work

That's about it.

Love this thread - 

Rourke
ModernSurvivalOnline.com


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## mpillow (Jan 24, 2003)

Updated my tetanus!

The chix coup is done....bunny cages are next.

My garden is looking GREAT! (knock on wood) It's been a hot summer with plenty of thundershowers...haven't watered at all! I fear I'll be inundated as I have small cukes, small beans, small summer squash, small turnips...I'm not complaining, really!

The wild blueberries and raspberries are ripe so my kids will be staying at my parents to pick after going moose scouting on ATV's at camp with Dad this weekend...(a break for me!)

Had a banty come out of the woods with nine babies 3 days ago...this morning she is missing every last one of them....UGH...loading my gun.

The teenagers filled the woodshed this week so they could go to camp this weekend. About 5 cord of wood ready for winter!


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## manygoatsnmore (Feb 12, 2005)

Bought 2 50# bags of whole wheat at the feed store a couple days ago - I use wheat on meat trays to display produce entries in the garden dept at the fair - and was pleasantly surprised at how much the price had fallen. Got them for 12.75 a sack - same thing was about $19 for 50# last year. It was nice, clean wheat berries, too. After fair, it'll be added to my preps, and I think I'll pick up a few more bags this weekend.


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## Texasdirtdigger (Jan 17, 2010)

Been adding and re-arranging can goods. Albertson's has Libby's can goods 2/$1. Been there twice....going back in just a bit when they open. Hit the marked down meat counter spent most of the day trimming and re-packaging the meat. My Food Saver ..sucks. and I don't mean it in a good way. It is dying just when I need it most.

Cliff, are you triplets? How do you do all that you do?


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## TheMrs (Jun 11, 2008)

Our Big Berkey came in finally. Yay! We got the Big Berkey and four black filters for $203. Paying $203 for 12,000 gallons of clean drinking water was a pretty good deal I thought!

We added a distribution tree for our propane tanks, a heavy duty raincoat, 40 more rolls of toilet paper, and some more ammo. We've also purchased several more books for our reference library including one on how to build a smokehouse.

We're currently doing research on raising rabbits. It looks that that'll be our next animal addition to the homestead. Hopefully we're competent enough to keep both chickens AND rabbits alive.


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## cnichols (Jan 5, 2010)

Haven't been home much this month, this is only our second full day at the house. (The first since a day back at the beginnng of the month.)

But, that being said, at the beginning of the month I got 10 lbs of ground beef canned, a nice roast canned and a pound of stew beef canned. Took all day (since I only have one pressure canner) but I did get it done! This was my first attempt at canning and I'm rather proud of myself. 

Today I did a walk around of the property to check on our wild fruits. For some reason the blackberry canes aren't doing well. I don't know what's killing them but they have dried up shriveled berries on dead canes.  The passion fruit vine has come back too, so maybe we'll get a few off of that before the cold kills it off again.

I picked some basil from the garden. About the only thing that's doing well this year. With us not being home, something is totally munching down on the plants. I didn't even think (at the time I planted to garden) to put up some sort of animal blocking apparatus on the beds. Ah well, lesson learned. I do have a cherry tomato plant that's put out a few tomatoes which is a few more than I got last year! LOL Anyway, picked the basil then dried it in the micro and packed it into a canning jar. 

Once the sun starts setting and it cools off a bit (over 95 degrees out there right now) I'll scout a location for the clothesline. I'm also going to mark out for my new garden for next year. I don't want to wait until the last minute to get it done. I'll be using raised beds in that area too and am taking alot of ideas from posts I've seen in the gardening section on how to build these ones (i.e. cinder block). 

DH and I are at odds with regards to food storage. I want to stock up and store as much as possible *now*. That means storing it inside the house. He wants to build a large root cellar. That means having storage *who knows when*. I'm of the theory that economic collapse is more immenant then a tornado blowing our trailer away. He doesn't agree. *sigh*


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## TheMrs (Jun 11, 2008)

cnichols said:


> Today I did a walk around of the property to check on our wild fruits. For some reason the blackberry canes aren't doing well. I don't know what's killing them but they have dried up shriveled berries on dead canes.  The passion fruit vine has come back too, so maybe we'll get a few off of that before the cold kills it off again.


Our blackberrry canes have done the same thing..we're in southeastern Missouri. This is our first year here and I don't have a clue why they dried up. Everything looked healthy and then all of a sudden everything turned brown and shriveled.


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## cnichols (Jan 5, 2010)

TheMrs said:


> Our blackberrry canes have done the same thing..we're in southeastern Missouri. This is our first year here and I don't have a clue why they dried up. Everything looked healthy and then all of a sudden everything turned brown and shriveled.


Only thing I can think is that they're not getting enough water. It's been a fairly dry year this year (compared to last) because the berries are really small too. Not really sure, since I haven't been home to observe the weather, but it's a bit disheartening.


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## Texasdirtdigger (Jan 17, 2010)

Got all my dehydrated vegs in food saver bags.... to my horror. I discovered out of Mylar Bags.... Placed an order right away! Went back to can good sale bought 8 more cases. They had Rubbing Alcohol 10 for $10, Large Peroxide 99cents, got 5. Adult liquid Tylenol on close out $4.00, got the only 2, other closeout pain meds. Trying to find more safe storage space.


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## Ohio dreamer (Apr 6, 2006)

Well for my birthday our 120+ yr old house "popped a pipe". So, we spent most of the weekend replacing that run of galvanized with CPVC. Only only took 3 tries to get all the leeks (and new holes) to stop showing up. We went ahead and bought the supplies to work on the next section in that run, which branches into 3. The next stage should remove about 50# or more of galvanized pipe (For about 5 or so minute I was the support for all that pipe...why didn't they use pipe hangers 100 yrs ago!!) and replace it with 4# of plastic, LOL! It will simplify the "rats nest" of used and unused pipe, too. Looks like sinks and hot water tanks have moved a few ties in the last 100 yrs. The good thing is the section we replaced seems to be the oldest section in the house, so hopefully we can do the next section on our own schedule...not the house's.

Got a new caner, so we now have 2 water bath and 2 pressure caners. The new ones bigger, will do 2 rows of pts so maybe between the 2 I can get a nice dent in the freezer, in hopes DH can tag a deer this fall. 

Along the same lines we got DH a compound bow for hunting from a local pawn shop. That way he can get in the woods about 6 weeks earlier, before all the gun toting crazies get there (we don't know anyone's farm we can use, so he's stuck on public land). So far, we are very happy with it.

Almost forgot, since we had to take down the water in all of the house to fix the pipe, we started by getting the water barrels we bought last year in the basement and filled. DH knows I would have done bodily harm if we had those barrels outside empty and for some reason we couldn't get the water back on this weekend. So, we covered that basis before working on the pipes. In DH's defense, we have had "store water" slap both of us up side the head for about a week now in magazine articles we've read, TV shows we've seen and a few other places. So, on Wednesday night we had already decided that on Saturday we were going to get the water set up. Guess God wanted to make sure we didn't find another excuse to put it off, again - LOL.


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## cnichols (Jan 5, 2010)

Well, after seeing Ohio Dreamers propane setup I searched all the local home improvement/camping stores on the internet (that are relatively local) and found it at Gander Mountain for 89.99. Our AC unit doesn't cool well during high heat/humidity days and I don't want to can in the house. So now I can can outside! Wooohoooo!! 

I then went to TSC and picked up four rolls of 1/2" hardware cloth (36" x 10') for my next garden. Figure I can make some covers to put over the beds to kep the critters out. Oh, and I picked up another copy of Square Foot Gardening (gave my last copy to my DIL) and "Tomatos Love Carrots" .. a companion planting guide.

Then went to WalMart and picked up more canning jars & lids, two large bottles of 91% rubbing alchohol and two bottles of peroxide.

Then I hit the local grocery store to stock up on loss leaders and fresh fruits they had on sale. They had quite a few 10 for 10 food items and canned corn and green beans 3/$1. Peaches for 3.99 for 5# boxes (got 4), got 4 packs of blueberries (2/$5) & strawberries (2/$4) and another bag of apples. Gonna try and make up some batches of jellies and fruit cocktails. 

Also got 10# of vine ripe tomatoes for $0.79# (since my tomatoes did nothing this year  ) and plan on making up a bit of salsa and maybe some Pico De Gallo to freeze (LUV that stuff). With such a wide variety of ingredients I'm going to spend a bit of time searching the net for recipes. 

MMmmm I'm SOO looking forward to having the time to can up all these wonderful fresh foods.


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## HappiDaz (Jul 18, 2010)

TheMrs said:


> Our Big Berkey came in finally. Yay! We got the Big Berkey and four black filters for $203. Paying $203 for 12,000 gallons of clean drinking water was a pretty good deal I thought!


Would you mind sharing how you found such a good price for the Big Berkey with 4 black filters? I've looked online and would have to pay around $350 for the 5 items. Would love to have a Berkey but not for that price!


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## Cindy in NY (May 10, 2002)

Had a jar of our home canned hash for dinner the other day. Was tasty with the powdered gravy mix we buy in bulk at the Mennonite grocery! I'll be buying more corned beef next St. Patty's Day and probably put up twice as much hash as I did this year.


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## TheMrs (Jun 11, 2008)

HappiDaz said:


> Would you mind sharing how you found such a good price for the Big Berkey with 4 black filters? I've looked online and would have to pay around $350 for the 5 items. Would love to have a Berkey but not for that price!


A friend of mine put together an order from this site:
http://www.morethanalive.com/Big-Berkeys-In-Bulk 

She was able to find 8 people to purchase Big Berkeys so we got a great deal on the price. Hopefully you could find some others that are interested and that'll save you some money.


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## HappiDaz (Jul 18, 2010)

TheMrs - thank you for the information. I don't know 8 people willing to do that so guess I'll have to pay regular price. Sure do hope it's worth the money!


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## FrontPorch (Mar 27, 2008)

Put up 27 quarts of sweet corn today. Now I'm beat. Also picked up an old sugaring kettle that just needs a little TLC, a cast iron skillet and some vintage kitchen utensils for the camper. Placed an online order from EE for a few items they had on sale.


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## Gottabenutz (May 11, 2010)

I have finally found all components to an outdoor/summer kitchen (total cost $20). Just need to build a covering for it. It has a large laundry sink, a smaller galvanized double sink, double burner propane stove, 5 burner BBQ grill, ugly refrigerator, and shelves to hold all the jars,canners, etc. Any ideas for the shelter? Was thinking of some type three sided shelter with big doors on the fourth side.


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## Ohio dreamer (Apr 6, 2006)

cnichols said:


> Well, after seeing Ohio Dreamers propane setup I searched all the local home improvement/camping stores on the internet (that are relatively local) and found it at Gander Mountain for 89.99. Our AC unit doesn't cool well during high heat/humidity days and I don't want to can in the house. So now I can can outside! Wooohoooo!!


So, how'd it work out for you? I still haven't be able to give mine a try. Every time I have time to can its raining out, including today. I'd rather be inside a hot house then outside wet....I'm crabby when I'm hot- but down right mean when wet (maybe I'm part cat...Oggie, any input on that?)!

Ran out and got bed "lifts" today. Now all the beds are about 6" higher off the ground, giving us more storage space. Kids can now keep their "to grow into" boxes under their beds and DH and I can keep out of season clothes under ours.....or maybe cases of food.....or maybe wheat and rice....I haven't decided yet!

Canned up 6 qts of peaches (I forgot how labor intensive that is!), 6 pts and 2 half pints of rhubarb sauce (using the left over honey syrup from the peaches - as we packed them tighter then I expected and had a bunch left over)


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## cnichols (Jan 5, 2010)

Ohio Dreamer - Didn't get to use it today. Wouldn't you know it was dead still all day yesterday and then today the wind had to kick up. 

However, I went ahead and did the canning in the house. Ugh, talk about miserable! LOL I made 5 pints of each of the following - Blueberry Jam, Strawberry Jam and a mix of Blueberry/Strawberry/Cherry Jam. Just waiting to see if they jell right! 

Maybe tomorrow will be less windy and I can try outside again, beause I still want to can some potatoes and I found a recipe for Tomato Basil soup that sounds divine. And with all the fresh basil that I have this recipe works well. Oh, and I still have the apples and the peaches to do as well.

I've also gridded out on paper my plan for part of my garden for next year. Looking at the grid it's amazing what I will be able to plant in such a small area. (Going to do an honest to goodness SFG this time.) It's not final yet (may want to change the layout a bit) but at least it's a start. I'm definately wanting to put more effort/thought/planning into my garden for next year in hopes that I will actually be able to harvest SOMETHING from it!


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## fetch33 (Jan 15, 2010)

Canned 7 pints of bread and butter pickles this am. Yesterday I froze a few pounds each of homegrown onions and green beans. I have several pounds of beets ready to be pickled and canned. Today I need to reorganize my preps as my husband literally tore though them trying to find pancake syrup. Oh I was not happy. I was at work when the fiasco went down. I TOLD him I didn't know exactly where it was but it was 'up front'. He drug half of the canned goods out of the pantry and deposited them on the garage floor. Then he got up into my long-term preps in the hyloft storage near the ceiling of the garage and removed several tubs holding hundreds of pounds of grains/pasta/beans and other preps to the floor of the garage. Guess he was on a mission... never mind he could have actually run to the store in the time it took to tear the place apart. Now my cover is blown, as I am a closet prepper, LOL. He never found the syrup. Boy was he mad when I walked out into the garage and pulled it off of a shelf, literally at eye-level. Oddly enough, he never mentioned a word about the preps!


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## FrontPorch (Mar 27, 2008)

fetch33 said:


> Guess he was on a mission... never mind he could have actually run to the store in the time it took to tear the place apart.


:shrug: It must be the same thing that causes them to search for the remote control for an hour when they could have just walked over to the TV. LOL


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## Just Cliff (Nov 27, 2008)

Another 60 gal barrel full of cans and put down. Dehydrated 10 whole celery stalks, 15 green and 15 red peppers. Going to cut up 20 lbs of apples tonight and put in the dehydrator. I need to pick blueberries..... I need to get my big meat chicken run repaired today. I guess I will pull my small dehydrator off the shelf and put it to work tonight. Still need a clone to help out


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## jlrbhjmnc (May 2, 2010)

This is my first post in the prep journal. I hadn't felt qualified before, but today... I canned tomatoes we grew ourselves!


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## NBC3Mom (May 14, 2005)

Had 6 month dental checkup, eye exam, and mammogram. Physical tomorrow and one for DH next week with our new internist. Preventive health maintance is one of the best preps you can do. 
Made 15 pints of strawberry jam. Drying basil and parsley.


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## beaglebiz (Aug 5, 2008)

jlrbhjmnc said:


> This is my first post in the prep journal. I hadn't felt qualified before, but today... I canned tomatoes we grew ourselves!


Good Job!!


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## manygoatsnmore (Feb 12, 2005)

I'll add a ditto to beaglebiz's good job! Isn't it a great feeling to can something you grew yourself? 

I went back to the feed store and bought 5 more bags of whole wheat - with the 2 I bought before fair, and about 100# of feed store and homegrown wheat already on hand, that gives me about 450# on hand. I didn't plant wheat this year, beyond some volunteers in last year's wheat patch, so I need to make sure I get a couple of those raised beds planted to wheat in a couple months. As I'm adding more and more raised beds to my garden patch, I'm setting some aside to grow various grain crops. I have hulless oats, regular oats, corn, barley, and wheat, so I should be able to grow enough feed for at least the chickens and myself.

After fair I got to bring home a few plants - a bush slicing cucumber, zucchini, and crookneck squash. As my cucumbers didn't grow this year, I was happy to get the cuke, especially. Also got a rosemary cutting to try and grow. I love rosemary, but have trouble keeping it alive here for some reason. Also earned nearly $40 in premiums for flowers and herbs I cut out of my gardens, along with a few vegies and grains. County fair is in a couple weeks, and I plan to enter an educational exhibit and a bunch of herbs, etc, there, too. It's fun, AND it adds a little extra money to the prep budget.


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## cnichols (Jan 5, 2010)

Well, got to use my new set-up today! Yay! Only got 7 quarts of potatoes put up with it so far. I made a batch of homemade Tomato-Basil Soup also that I plan on canning up as soon as the potatoes are done processing. It works pretty nice. I can see where wind can/will be a problem though. I put up a temporary "wind break" to keep it down to a minimum. Depending on how tired I am later, I might attempt to can up the peaches and apples too. Canning is hard work! LOL


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## FrontPorch (Mar 27, 2008)

jlrbhjmnc said:


> This is my first post in the prep journal. I hadn't felt qualified before, but today... I canned tomatoes we grew ourselves!


 
Good for you! It's official, you're a prepper. 


Today I'm drying herbs, freezing green peppers and trying to figure out how to clean up that old sugaring kettle I found. It has a lot more rust inside it than I thought.


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## mpillow (Jan 24, 2003)

Bought a second king kooker ....$40 at amazon (inspired by Ohio Dreamer)

More bad news on DH job today....dug some new potatoes and planted some more.

Rebred our big bunny and took her 5 (6week old) babes away...she was a wild catch new zealand that neighbors(7miles away) gave us last Fall(dwarf size then)...she's HUGE now! Bred to our English spot buck..its time for a new buck but I think another neighbor(across the road) has a pet...that he wants to get rid of that my son says is also a big breed (hope its a boy)


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## Texasdirtdigger (Jan 17, 2010)

Had squirrled back $1300 for preps .. need a new vaccum sealer really bad...Guess how much it cost to get my car repaired? $1375!! Aaawwwccck!!!
But, I did order a few sale items in.....Just to show Murphy, he was not in charge! lol!


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## Gottabenutz (May 11, 2010)

Was reading about police scanners in another thread and thought that would be a good item to have for prep; along with a list of frequencies for surrounding areas. I have a portable one so I can take it on the road if I have to leave the property.


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## texican (Oct 4, 2003)

The freezer that was cleaned out (accidental defrosting :grump is now 90% full again. It's triage time when it comes to canning. I'm canning a few cases of figs every three days (4 gallons of raw figs today). It's either can more meat or figs... since the free pork will freeze well, and not suffer from it when it's eaten or canned, it's been going in the freezer, and the figs are getting processed.

My goal of using my main cache of canning jars is progressing fine... I'm over halfway done. Unfortunately, there's no room left in 'storage', and the cases of canned goods is taking over half of the upstairs library's floorspace. Guess I shouldn't say unfortunately, I'm so glad to have that huge cushion to the regular prep goods.

Added two more el cheapo hurricane lamps to the cache.

I've used up a couple dozen boxes of canning lids, and every time I use some, I replace em, and double up. Over 1k in the house.


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## Txsteader (Aug 22, 2005)

Processed 5 pints of pomegranate jelly, dehydrated more potatoes yesterday. Will be dehydrating bananas & canning chicken today, dehydrating carrots & potatoes tomorrow. At least, that's the plan. 

DH picked up another hurricane lamp that was on sale at the local grocery.


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## Ohio dreamer (Apr 6, 2006)

Used my new pressure caner (love it) and canned up 13 pts of chick peas. I did it inside again as I wanted to be able to watch the caner closer as this is the first time I used it. The weights I bought trumped the gauge perfectly....so, if the weather cooperates we'll be outside next time!

Did some looking on craigslist and found a local farm with produce (That DH drives past daily!?) and a church with peach trees you can pick from for $15 a bushel - $ going to their church fund. Why haven't I thought to look there before :shrug:


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## GrannyCarol (Mar 23, 2005)

We are looking into a wood burning stove to heat the majority of our house. My MIL is living with us and thinks it would be a great idea and offered to help us get one, so that's very exciting. I've wanted one for ages! 

Otherwise, trying to keep the garden weeded and watered, its been a strange year for weather, freezing late, cold and wet and finally its hot and the tomatoes and peppers quit sulking and giving me dirty looks! 

I'm raising a few extra ducks for the freezer, thanks to Peaches going broody for me and hatching 5 little ones. I may be able to sell some of them though, as they are lovely purebred Saxonys. 

We got a 1/4 of a beef from a rancher friend for the freezer, that will keep us and our kids in beef for a while to come. 

Somehow though, these things don't seem to be "prepping" to me, that's just how we live - plan ahead a bit, keep the pantry and freezer full, etc. We live in the middle of nowhere, you get in the habit of having at least a month's worth of food on hand when its an hour's drive to the grocery store!


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## cnichols (Jan 5, 2010)

Probably our last day at home for the month so I had to get the peaches canned up before we left. Made 5 pints of peach jam, 4 pints of peach butter and 2 quarts of plain peaches. I'll just throw the apples into the fridge and can them up next time we get home.


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## jlrbhjmnc (May 2, 2010)

beaglebiz said:


> Good Job!!





manygoatsnmore said:


> I'll add a ditto to beaglebiz's good job! Isn't it a great feeling to can something you grew yourself?





FrontPorch said:


> Good for you! It's official, you're a prepper.


Thanks, ya'll!


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## Texasdirtdigger (Jan 17, 2010)

Re-organized,rotated,and inventoried another area of canned goods. I counted 45 tubes of toothpaste! Went shopping rounding up loss - leaders. Hit a canned goods sale. bought more. Picked up 36 more rolls of TP. Went to feed store, put scratch in Pickle Barrels. (thanks for the idea Just Cliff). I have seriously got to find more area for my stores. DH came home grinning... had a new Saiga 12 in his hand.
Today plan to run by Liquor Strore for barter hooch!..... I mean antiseptic.


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## FrontPorch (Mar 27, 2008)

Taking inventory and rearranging some shelving to make room for the harvest. Amazing what you forget you already have.


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## Ohio dreamer (Apr 6, 2006)

Bought 15 cans of fruit as the store has then 10 for $10 this week. I only buy the ones I can't get cheaper at one of the discount stores - so peaches are now in the counter to be put away. I'll get up there 2-3 more times this week and be set for a year or more. Found 4 boxes of instant potatoes for $.25 each. We'll be able to have nice thick soups when the weather turns cold. I'm debating going back and getting the Au Gratin potatoes they had for $.25 a box. I don't make the box kind because it's too salty....but even if I tossed out the flavor packets the potatoes would be useful (or use 1 packet to 2 boxes of potatoes)....wonder how that would compare to a #10 can??


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## manygoatsnmore (Feb 12, 2005)

Stopped at a garage sale today and found a National (Presto) Pressure Cooker Frypan for $2. I had one already without the weight for the top, paid about $7-8 for it, this one came with 2 different weights for the top, the little rack thingie for the bottom of the pan, AND, best of all, the original owner's manual with directions and recipes. Now *that* was a good deal! 

Other than that, put soaker hoses on 5 of the raised beds, built another raised bed 44" x 8', and brought home a bunch of leftover straw and hay from the fairgrounds - fed the hay, and am using the straw over the soaker hoses on the raised beds.


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## cnichols (Jan 5, 2010)

Went to the flea market today and found a hand crank mixer for $5. Might have been a bit high but I wanted it! 

Also picked up some bottles of asprin for DH, antibiotic ointments and garlic tabs. Also got a used 20# propane tank for $10 bux that we exchanged at the corner store for a full one.


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## sgl42 (Jan 20, 2004)

manygoatsnmore said:


> AND, best of all, the original owner's manual with directions and recipes.


these days, many mfgs of all types of equipment post owners manual's online. so, whenever you find something at a garage sale with no manual, google can probably help you find one. 

http://www.gopresto.com/products/manuals.php

a useful trick, especially with more complex equipment like bread makers. can turn a paperweight into a useful tool.

--sgl


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## manygoatsnmore (Feb 12, 2005)

Finding current manuals on line is easy, but finding one for a no longer in production, 60 yr old pressure cooker frypan, not so much.  Presto doesn't offer one for this model, nor are parts available. I went through all that when I bought the first cooker. So when I saw this one, with both the weights and the manual, I was tickled pink. 

Today's preps included painting the rest of the OSB floor in my shed and getting more of the loft floor cut and nailed into place. I also dried more apple mint in the microwave - made the house smell wonderful. Mended some soaker hoses and checked the rest of them, got a lot more of them placed in the garden and turned on. Then I took some time off and took my dgd to the river for a swim.


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## Texasdirtdigger (Jan 17, 2010)

Mylar bags came...... packaging dehydrated stores today.
8 more pints jelly put up.
Still working on re-organizing and rotating.
Freezers are next.


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## Shrarvrs88 (May 8, 2010)

Went and got some more food, another can of whole dried milk (Nido) 20 lbs of rice, 20 lbs of beans, Big bag of sugar, flour, can of lard, and a big thing of oil. 

Realized I am LOW on shampoo, razors, other heigine products...

receied seven of eight rabbits I bought, so starting in march, I should have a reliable source of home raised meat.

Met a guy who is all about gardening, so next year if I am still in the area, I will have a free place to grow as much food as I can! New goal, learn to can before next year...


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## manygoatsnmore (Feb 12, 2005)

Went to the beach with my bff yesterday after my ds picked up my dgd. While we were there, we stopped at Costco. Added a case of oil, 2 big bags of cat food, case of mac and cheese, case of granola bars, big box of dehydrated hash browns, and 3 3# bags of dried fruit to my preps, as well as big bottles of multivitamins w/minerals, fish oil and B-Complex. At WinCo, I added 4 more boxes of cereal - Raisin Bran Crunch - and a couple pounds of TVP to the stash, along with my normal shopping. Added them into my pantry inventory list today and updated the list for what I'd taken out in the last few days.


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## FrontPorch (Mar 27, 2008)

Bought another LP tank for the gas grill and a couple small ones for the camp stove. Canned a small batch of green beens. Restocked the pet food supplies and did a major shopping trip for sale/coupon items. Made a believer out of the checkout girl, she freaked when she looked at the bottom of the receipt and said "Wow, you saved over $100!"


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## Ohio dreamer (Apr 6, 2006)

DS is off at camp, so I thought I'd clean up his room a bit since all his socks are missing. 3 hours later (WOW, it didn't look that bad!!) he has a VERY clean room to come home to with a drawer full of socks and underwear. I sorted through all his clothes and pulled out the ones that didn't fit or I was tired of seeing him wear and took inventory of what was left. He has enough to get him through the winter without any more purchases. :banana02: We are thrifty people so we pick up things when we find stuff in good shape at a good price form Goodwill and such. Anyone know how to break a kid of "keeping trash"? I pulled out half a bag of bits of paper and plastic....or is he just like his father and doesn't see the details?

DD heads off to grandparents today....think I'll go through her winter clothes tomorrow (today I'm heading to Lehman's - ALONE!) Let's see if my luck holds out and she has all she needs, too. I know I got her new long johns at end of season clearance last year. Her sock drawer is full...but I'm not sure anything matches and they are all those "tiny cutie" socks....not too warm for winter. I think she out grew her wool ones.


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## Ohio dreamer (Apr 6, 2006)

Well, I spent an hour last night crying and another hour crying this afternoon. Yep, to those of you that guessed my onions are out of the ground and some have made it to the dryer. MAN, those are strong onions!! I put a couple of trays of zucchini in, too. I don't care if they pick up the onion flavor...they will be in the same soups and stews this winter.

Picked up a few Merit Badge books from the Boy Scout store. My son's not in Boy Scouts, but some of their books are great for teaching kids some skills. Especially when some things are so natural to you you forget to teach portions! They are also written in mind that a older child/young teen are going to read them and teach themselves....so they don't assume much previous knowledge. I picked up the plumbing one, since we've have so plumbing repairs we've had to make the past few weeks. When water it leaking on your head you don't want to stop and explain too much....of course he only thinks of questions when he's watching, and forgets to come back to you once your done, showered and feed.


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## rhome (Aug 10, 2006)

Ohio dreamer, I put my onions in the freezer for about 20-30 minutes before I cut them up for cooking/canning...whatever the use.
Saves on tears, and if you start to weep after chopping for awhile put em back in the freezer.
Also use the sharpest knife.

Preps..hmmm
Canning beets, pickles, green beans, tomatoes.
Stored 25 gals of Gas and 2 more 20lbs tanks of propane.
Starting plants for the winter greenhouse.
Good luck


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## Ohio dreamer (Apr 6, 2006)

rhome said:


> Ohio dreamer, I put my onions in the freezer for about 20-30 minutes before I cut them up for cooking/canning...whatever the use.
> Saves on tears, and if you start to weep after chopping for awhile put em back in the freezer.
> Also use the sharpest knife.


Thanks! Never heard of that....will give it a try later.


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## Spinner (Jul 19, 2003)

dehydrated a dozen large onions overnight. Put them in the back room and the smell didn't wake me  I now have another dozen onions safely tucked away in a mason jar.

DIL's mothers neighbor has been giving her sacks full of tomatoes. She's been bringing them to me so I can dehydrate them. I keep 1/2 and send 1/2 back to DIL's mom. So far I have 6 quarts dehydrated for my storage. I forget how many tomatoes a quart jar holds, but it's a lot.


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## Ann-NWIowa (Sep 28, 2002)

We used a prep this week. Our basement does not have drains so everything has to be pumped out. We've had issues off and on over the past 30 years and have learned a few things. When we install a new sump pump, we immediately buy a new one. Dh then adds the pipe with a new check valve and a clamp. We've been having rain, rain and more rain this summer which followed a heavy snow fall winter so soil is saturated. A week ago we had 7Â½" in 2 days. Anyway dh went to the basement Tues. evening and discovered water everywhere due to a non-working pump. He unclamped the old pump and we then installed the new one in about 6 minutes. If we'd had to wait for a plumber or driven 50 miles to get a new one, we'd had water into the furnace. When we buy the replacement pump we're going to buy an alarm so next time we will know the sump pump has died before the water spreads. I'm also going to suggest he buy a new driver (thingy to tighten the clamp) and tape it to the pipe so we don't have to waste time trying to find one. I'm so thankful this did not happen immediately after the 7" rains because 6 minutes without the pump running would have been a disaster. It was cycling on 6 seconds after it shut off for a couple days ... which is probably why it died!


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## cnichols (Jan 5, 2010)

DH, bless his heart, found a GREAT bargain today when he went to the corner store. A 20# propane tank (empty), a smoker, a white fuel coleman stove, a duel fuel coleman stove, two turkey fryer pots (one lid) and an outdoor shower for $30!! For all of it! The white fuel coleman even still has fuel in it and it definately works!  Now I can scratch those off my list of things to get!


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## radiofish (Mar 30, 2007)

Well I guess it was the day that the Government checks came in today!! Everywhere I went were long lines of people, and shopping carts were filled to the brim. 

I just happened to be down in town to get my medications, at the pharmacy and grabbed the sale papers for the week. There were some good loss leader items, and I got a case of 24 "pop top/ pull open cans" of several types of Hormel chili - at $0.89 per can. Those are going into the prep containers. Found some canned veggies at 2 cans for a dollar and got a mixed case worth with the store coupon, while the everyday prices of them were marked at $1.25 or more each.

Obviously some people were heading to the river, beach, off to the woods, etc.. I would say by looking at the cases of beer, piles of steaks, and prepared quick foods, bags of munchies, and hearing several conversations about folks getting out of town! While others were doing their 1st of the month shopping, and pushing full carts of dry goods. 

I saw folks paying top dollar for some camping items at the supermarket just out of convience - just one of the small propane cylinders was priced at $5.00 each- OUCH! Charcoal was priced at almost twice what I paid for it (same size and brand at the same store) while it was on sale earlier this month for the 4th of July!

At the dollar store I found many hygene items on sale, so I am good for at least another 6 months - besides what was already on hand stashed away. Those el-cheapo dollar store safety razors work for me using bar soap instead of shaving cream, and I do like to be clean shaven. Plus got some more 1st aid items such as band-aids and such for putting into my vehicles and work kits. It seems that I am always loosing some hide and blood when I work on the older trucks ..

Gotta have that soft and comfy TP, compared to the waxy single ply industrial strenght TP that is used in instutions, schools, and Govt. buildings.. That was one of the loss leader items actually priced really low with an instore coupon, and now where am I gonna put 3 huge packages of soft and fluffy TP?? Currently my cat is proclaiming herself the queen of the TP pyramid, constructed of 3 large packages that are in the middle of the kitchen floor.


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## jamala (May 4, 2007)

It was tax free day in our town today so I avoided the walmart and target!! I did have to make a stop in a jcpenny to stock up on some sale items for the house, we are now good on towells and such for the next few years, I had not had to purchse any since my wedding 16 years ago --got alot of years out of them. Tomorrow is tax free day also and all the stores are opening early, I am going to stay home and organize the pantry!


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## manygoatsnmore (Feb 12, 2005)

Ahhh, a soft and fluffy guy - j/k. I can see the kitty playing queen o' the mountain. My 4 would be fighting each other for "top cat" rights. My extra TP gets tossed on the top of the storage shelves - at least if it falls off on my head, no harm done.

Another tip for chopping onions without tears is to do it next to a lit candle. It does seem to help. Swim goggles are effective, too, but it does look a little funny!

I had a great day gathering preps today. I stopped at several garage sales after work this morning. The bargains? An All-American 915 pressure canner for $30 (lists for about $200), at least 80 skeins of yarn for $6 for all, a brand new 6(?) man tent for $10, A "Big Bertha" inner tube style float for $5 (I plan to use it this winter on the 4' deep, 12' diameter above ground pool bought last year for $20) to hold up the cover (lots of water storage there), a cone shaped strainer with stand (needed the stand) for 50 cents, a new in the box bathroom faucet and drain plug setup for $5 - never hurts to have a spare, and 5 interior doors for $21 total - might use them for shelves, haven't decided yet. Open to ideas for uses on them..

I think my best buy of the day, and most needed to me, was a Remington 700 bolt action 30.06 rifle with scope and quick release shoulder strap for $360. After pricing used rifles similar to what I bought, I *think?* I got a pretty good deal, and the seller is someone I have known for many years, so I trust that I got a legally owned gun, not hot. No paper trail, paid cash. You folks that are knowledgable about guns, did I get a decent deal or buy a pig in a poke? 

Let's see, I also picked up a load of cardboard, nice big pieces, to use for weed suppression in the garden, 15 bags of various grain at the feed store - trying to increase the amount I keep on hand at home - and more hay. On the 2nd trip, I had my son load me up with a pickup load of wood chips with the bucket loader, so I have plenty of chips to cover the cardboard between the raised beds. One of the 2 places in our little town that the chip trucks dump their extra chips is conveniently located right next to the potting soil plant.  

Sure saved me a lot of scoop shoveling today, which is great, since my hands are totally numb at the moment. I'm going to have to find time to have the carpal tunnel release done, at least on my right hand. Better to get it taken care of now, than to be caught with non-functioning, painful hands in a SHTF event. The problem is finding a time when I won't need to use my hand for 2 weeks - when is THAT likely to happen???

Spent some time in the garden this afternoon, laying cardboard, a little weeding, cutting broccoli for my dinner, etc. Found a few more boards suitable to making into raised beds, too. Finally ran out of energy this evening before I got to rafter building - I absolutely MUST hit that tomorrow!


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