# January 2013 Prep Journal and To-Do List



## manygoatsnmore (Feb 12, 2005)

Welcome to 2013! Since we survived the 12/21/12 date, I guess it's time to make our 2013 Goals and To-Do Lists. What's on your agenda for the coming year and how do you plan to accomplish it all? Share with us! Tell us what you are doing to prep each day...you'll inspire others to work on their preps, too!


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## manygoatsnmore (Feb 12, 2005)

Now that my ds has decided he wants my F-250 p/u, it looks like he'll be helping me do some hog butchering and shed building, as well as re-wiring my horse trailer and a few other minor projects. If the weather holds this weekend, I hope to have him up to work on things with me.

I woke up to SNOW yesterday evening. It had not been in the forecast in the morning when I was out feeding animals, but after I slept all day in prep for work, I was a bit surprised to step out into about 3" of fluffy white stuff. 

I went out to lunch with my bff Saturday and shopped Goodwill. I found a treasure there...a seamless stainless steel pail! It's a gallon size, perfect for goat milking. Those sell for about $40-45 new - this one still had the label on it, and a price sticker of $3.99!!!!! Happy dance! :dance:


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## hoggie (Feb 11, 2007)

My goals for this year are varied but comparatively modest. I need to expand the smallholding, whilst also making it more independent of me. 

I hope this year ot find the money to plant up the small piece of land I have set aside for orchard and, maybe, start with some bees. Both of those are projects that will continue largely on their own with just occasional attention from me.

I need to make the poultry, rabbits, goats and ponies more "automated" and amd starting on raised beds for part of the garden.

Those are my main S&EP related goals 

I started this morning working on the first of the raised beds and clearing up in the veg garden  It is the first dry day we have had in weeks and was so nice to be out in the sunshine. Tomorrow it will rain and blow again so we will be back to indoor activities I guess


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## mekasmom (Jan 19, 2010)

I canned 13qts of milk this morning, and divided and froze 35 one pound bags of hamburger that we purchased in bulk last night. My goal for the rest of this week is to finish using up all the Christmas goodies and clean out the fridge of anything left from the holidays. Those are just my short term goals.

I don't have a detailed long term list except maybe running a new clothes line and making sure I get in a good garden this year.

January is full of paperwork for business and taxes, so it seem to go fast. I do want to get some sewing done in Jan/Feb/March for the rest of the year.


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## wes917 (Sep 26, 2011)

We're going to continue to try and put more $ away to purchase land/homestead in our dream location and get out of this city. Around the house more of our yard will be garden this year again, we're building 4 strawberry towers to double our strawberry production while saving space. We're also planning on making some hanging gutter gardens to increase lettuce and baby carrot production. We've been contemplating quail or a few meat rabbits. Lots of little things to increase production on our small city lot.


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## Trixters_muse (Jan 29, 2008)

Every January we buy only post holiday marked down foods and rotate everything in the freezer to use up items that have been around for awhile and make room for the new purchases. I also start my seeds indoors and in the small greenhouse and I start raking and readying the ground for spring planting. 

My goal this year is to plant more berries as I have run out of room for fruit trees and I plan to plant more grapes too. I want to get more jars for canning and I want to get better at knitting, I am very new at it and my projects are kinda ugly, lol.


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## 7thswan (Nov 18, 2008)

Oh, I Never acomplish it all. But I put up a 10x30 lean too hoop house this fall and planted it to see what exactly would happen. So things have popped up,but are not growing due to lack of sunlight,which is the norm for Michigan here. The ground isn't frozen in there and the plants are still alive. So it's been a learning experiance.It's up against the chicken coop I built, I'm thinkeing I might make it into a winter run for the chickens next year and they can fertilize and till for me until I use it in the spring!I have alot of thinking to do,choices to make on if we are going to move,size down. Things are changeing,getting house insurance is becoming impossible, noone wants us to have a woodburning cookstove or Rotties,or things such as logs laying arround(tripping hazard) and I'm sick of rules.And I'm not giving up my way of life again.
I'd like to move 2 of our Cherry trees,they are not Dwarf -I had bought them as that,and planted them acordingly. They need more space or will have to be cut down,as they too close to the rest of the orchard. Need to put up metal roof on this house,part of it will have to be done by the Amish,it's way too steep for me.
Spring meens I'll be thining out everything, I have a huge ammount of permanate food, Berrys of every kind,same with grapes,strawberrys,blueberrys,herbs and much more includeing Perrenial Flowers, especially climbing Roses. Dh bought me about 30 4x8 sheets of 1/2 inch lattice, now I need to use it. I'm thinking Grape,Rose,Kiwi arbor.We need some shade, where I can relax(that's a joke). Oh that sounds nice if it was up against a cookhouse ,for my outside woodstove I use for canning. I could put a rocking chair in there and knit or spin while watching water boil, there I go ,dreaming again....


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## Elizabeth (Jun 4, 2002)

We have a huge, long list of projects to do, but one of the biggest and most important ones is to work on increasing our food production and then work on doing more canning and food preservation.

Put in food plots for wildlife- this will count as a prep if it helps keep some wildlife around- just in case.

Build a new chicken coop in the barn and figure out how to keep the eggs from freezing in the winter. Grow small grains to supplement commercial chicken feed.

Add another 50' to the chicken moat around the garden.

Build and stock lots more bee hives.

Put in a new garden on the West side of the driveway, to help get the flowers out of the main garden, freeing up space there for more food crops.

Build more pantry shelves.

Build two new deer stands.

Learn how to sew, make baby clothes for DD.

Starting today, track every penny spent. Tighten up the budget. Update our old price book and start using it again. No more store-bought junk food. Only healthy, homemade snacks.

Practice using crossbow, compound bow, and slingshot until proficient in their use. 

Build new mud porch with basement underneath. Basement will be for firewood storage. Finish cutting firewood from the several truckloads of logs we have accumulated.

That should be enough to keep us busy for awhile, lol. But, if we get all that done there is always plenty more to do around the farm!


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## Texasdirtdigger (Jan 17, 2010)

Same ole stuff here...plugging along, trying to improve on anything we can. DH has already Tweaked the secutity around here and he is looking a the biggest baddest gun safe ,,,,As usual, I am scouring up all the bargains I can get my hands on. Ineed to go to the rnge for my weekly practice.....but ya can't get near them.



I'll be working on the orchard - berries - garden soon.... we have got to have more rain...... or it is all for nothn!!


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## AmberLBowers (Nov 28, 2008)

We are cleaning out the extra bedroom (which became storage for all the junk we didn't know what to do with when we moved). Cleaned and organized walk in pantry so now it's painfully obvious how short we are on some items (pasta, meats, and basics) so will be headed to Sams with the tax return and praying for a good garden season. Hopefully adding a dairy cow, waffling between a Dexter and a Jersey. New handgun and closed carry license (wishing for a Taurus Public Defender in pink but will prob have to settle for something less pricey) starting up the garden with onions, cabbage, and broccoli inside. The experimental broccoli patch was awesome last year, so planting alot more this year. Cooking from scratch every time unless its an emergency. Tired of wasting $$ on restaurants and easy meals, even if its much less than the average family. Will be coaching our churches dance and flag praise team so gotta get in better shape and ORGANIZED so I can devote more time to things SPIRITUAL!


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## Tirzah (May 19, 2006)

Happy New Year everyone! 

~Last year my honey was able to finish building his shop (was initially intended to be a shed ). This freed up much more space for me in the shed to organize things. My mom moved in with us several months ago so we had to remove so much from the spare room which we had called the indoor shed  . He also added on to our wood shed and it has been a blessing that we haven't been going through as much firewood as last year.

~We are simplified and organized. I have been working hard on this this past year and it has been so nice purging and organizing. So much less stress and we can devote more time to what matters most for us: family and ministry.

Goals for this year:

~Build chicken coop and raise chickens for eggs
~Build an outbuilding for raising pigs for meat
~Build Grape Arbor and plant vines (didn't get to finish this last year)
~Enlarge garden
~Get another freezer
~Plant and grow Raspberry and Blackberry bushes
~I want to learn to become a better gardener and save seeds
~Learn how to use my pressure canner and start canning stews, soups, beans and marinara sauce
~Practice shooting and get my hunter safety permit so I can hunt this year.

I hope everyone is well and that 2013 will be a blessed year for all!


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## Tirzah (May 19, 2006)

TDD,

I saw for sale on Craigslist a few months back a gun safe. This was made from a gutted Soda Machine, Dr. Pepper I think


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## fostermomma (Feb 26, 2007)

Goals for the New Year well I'm not sure but I have a few ideas to get us started : 

Get more chickens 

Get more rabbits

Plant more fruit and nut trees

Get a snow blade for the mower

Stick to the menu plan and expand it by another month

Get back to couponing more and make the drive to the "big City" to double the coupons


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## Prov31Wife (Dec 20, 2012)

I started canning and dehydrating in 2012 and started a decent pantry. I want to continue that and put up a LOT from the garden this year, and up our store of dry goods. This spring we are going to get some chickens and plant several fruit trees. I would like some goats but we will see how the chickens go.


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## Ohio dreamer (Apr 6, 2006)

No plans for 2013...I really don't think that far out, guess I should.

DH and I sat and worked on an inventory list. We really would like to open our own prep shop.....nothing really like it in the region. So we were thinking about what we would carry. Lots of bulk food places in the region as well as mom & pop gun shops (and national chains). So food and guns are out. We have some local sporting goods shops that cover the general basics of camping gear and such....so we won't need to have those types of things. Water barrel supplies, books, food storage item (the consumables....not dryer, caners, etc), webbing, and useful fabrics are the like are on the list. As far as fabric goes all we have is WM and Joanne's locally, it's an hour drive to the Amish fabrics shops. Things we have to order online, but have many uses....not just prepping. We also came up with some class ideas, skills we could teach. Thought having a class once a year on how to use the Tattler canning lids might be a good idea....since that's one of the things we'd like to carry. Most of the class ideas were once a year things. I'm guessing we are years from actually doing anything, but dreaming is free.

Called the local "bulk food supplier" looking for price and availability. I really wanted a 50# sack of dry milk.....they are out. Should get some in on Friday, so I may make the run then. I'm planning another run there next month for other things.....but I really want the milk and oats now.

Headed down to the pantry and tidied up a bit. Some of my buckets weren't labeled, fixed that. I had a bucket full of an assortment of bags of beans. It worked well, till you were looking for something and had to dig to the bottom. So I sorted them out now have 4 buckets of a few bags each of different types of beans. Obviously I put beans on the shopping list, now that I have room for them. Seemed like a ton of beans when they were all jammed together.....now it looks pitiful.


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## manygoatsnmore (Feb 12, 2005)

That's a wonderful dream, Jen! What are the steps you can take this year, this month, this week or TODAY to work toward making the dream a reality? Might I suggest getting in touch with Matt for advice? He's done well growing MyPatriotSupply, and if you are not direct competition, he'd probably have a lot of good experience to share...heck even if you WERE direct competitors, he'd probably still help you. 

It sounds like a lot of us have gardening and food storage on our 2013 goal lists. I do, too. I have a number of raised beds that need work, a greenhouse to build and a sunroom/greenhouse to build off the south end of my house. I think I'm gonna need help to do that sunroom safely...I am working with glass as big as 5'x6' patio doors, and those suckers are heavy! Boy would I hate to drop one and break it. 

I scored 6 5-gal pickle buckets at Burger King on the way to work last night...no lids, but I was pleased to get them! I also brought home another bag of misc dishes, drink bottles, etc from the break room at work. I'll go through them for anything I can actually use and then donate the rest to Goodwill. We've been clearing out all the "abandoned" stuff that has accumulated over the last few years. It was all placed in a box with a notice that everything not claimed by a certain date were going bye-bye. We also cleaned the fridge and my animals were happy to have all the outdated food. Every little bit helps!

I've never been so happy to go to the dentist as I was today.  It's so nice to be able to eat without snagging food (and my TONGUE) on that missing filling/broken tooth. He also fixed my flossing issues. Bad news is I have to go to a specialist for a root canal on another tooth in a couple weeks.  I set up my appointment for exam and cleaning while I was there. My goal is to floss daily and brush at least twice daily, along with mouthwash, water pik use and anything else I can do to get my mouth as healthy as physically possible. I'd hate to find out after TSHTF that my teeth were bad and couldn't be fixed! I also replaced the temporary filling kits this month after finding that mine were no longer good. I'm well stocked on toothpaste, brushes, floss, etc, but need to up my supply of Plax and mouthwash on hand.

A lot of my goals for 2013 are health and fitness related...taking my supplements and vitamins daily, eating less junk and more healthy foods, more exercise, paying attention to checkups and refilling my prescriptions regularly to build a bigger stockpile of the meds I need to function well. Wouldn't do to have to hike 28 miles home and drop dead of a heart attack halfway there, now would it!

I also want to finish wiring my generator so all I have to do is flip a switch and hit the start button to have electricity for the fridges, freezers, well pump, and maybe even the DISH and TV.  I have the box I need, but still need some wire and an expert! I also need to build a small generator shed, set up the trickle charger on the battery, and take a bunch of 5 gallon oil buckets to the store for farm diesel. I have the buckets, the Pri-D, and the gasketed lids with spouts, so filling a few of them this month is a do-able goal.

Last goal for this month is to get all my paperwork together so I can file my income tax return as soon as I get my W-2. Sooner it's done, sooner I pay off my house. :sing:


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## Jan in CO (May 10, 2002)

Glad you got that tooth fixed, MGM. I'm now finding one myself that is a bit sensitive, so probably have some work there. Hubby lost a filling too, so we're all slated for dental work this month.

We need to get the greenhouse frame finished, just need the end and door framed in, and then cover it with the plastic. I'd love to have permanent glass like you plan on!

Finish reorganizing and get the excess stuff GONE so we have more usable space in our house and garage. Clutter prevents a lot of things. Didn't make my deadline of end of the year, so will get more done this month for next year's donations.

I'd like to lose 30 pounds before summer and think I can do it if I forgo the bread/cookies/snacks. 

Hope to get hubby on board for a water pump to go on the well, probably not til spring, tho.


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## sdnapier (Aug 13, 2010)

Texasdirtdigger said:


> Same ole stuff here...plugging along, trying to improve on anything we can. DH has already Tweaked the secutity around here and he is looking a the biggest baddest gun safe ,,,,As usual, I am scouring up all the bargains I can get my hands on. Ineed to go to the rnge for my weekly practice.....but ya can't get near them.


What is going on with the firing range?


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## Candace (Jan 14, 2008)

What is a good source for an inventory and plan for prepping? We are just getting started by thinking past what I put up from the garden. For instance, how much do you need to support a family with stored food? My biggest challenge is space, although I think I could utilize an un-used tack room in the pole barn which is just across from the driveway. It would be better to have everything in the house but not possible. Anyway, I digress! I think I need to see how to set up a plan first!


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## Ohio dreamer (Apr 6, 2006)

Candace, there are some people on here with very good plans and goals.....I am not one of them, LOL. I just buy as much as I can when I find a bargin. Food is my "strong suit", DH's is security, together we muddle through the rest of is.

First thing I would suggest is try to figure out why you are prepping. That will guide you along the path. For us, my biggest worry is DH's job. He has a good job, all be it VERY stressful, but if he were to get caught up in a round of layoffs.....there isn't much of any other industry in the area for him to find a job in. So we could go a very long streatch without an income. Food storage is a high priorityfor us.....got to eat....so that is where we started our prepping. Once we started fellong a bit secure in that area (although the more we thought about it the bigger our pantry gets) we started think of other "holes". We have a bunch of rasied beds.....so we started working on seed storage. That led us to thinking about watering those dear plants. We are on city water....not well, pond, etc....so we made rain barrels. See...one thing leads to another and be for you know it you are walking down the path.

Long story short, don't worry too much about mapping out where you are or where you want to be eventually. Just start walking....pick one area that "bothers" you and deal with it. Inteh process of deal with it, you will discover other things to do. Keep reading here at HT....you will be blown away by some of the things people are doing that never crossed your mind and it will open your eyes to another path


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## Ann-NWIowa (Sep 28, 2002)

My primary goal this year is to live on Social Security income and stay out of savings. I retired 12/31/12. I'm guessing I will spend a great deal of time planning any necessary spending and looking for more ways not to spend.

We're still in severe drought here which experts forecast will continue this year. I've decided not to buy any new perennials that would require watering. I'm still undecided on whether or not I'll buy any new seeds. I have a lot of seeds on-hand and will plant a garden, but don't think we can afford to do much watering. 

I'm happy with my pantry supplies but need to organize and do a better job of rotating. Saw a great idea in the pantry pictures on homesteading forum i.e. using blackboard paint for labels and writing on them with white chalk. I'm thinking that would work on my various buckets, popcorn tins and totes so that is an upcoming project.

I plan to do more from scratch cooking. I've been doing this all my life but have slipped into buying pre-prepared junk over the last few years. I need to get back to healthier and less expensive food/cooking. I also want to try new recipies which is always difficult because dh basically likes meat, potatoes and only 3 veggies. He's onboard to try a couple new things each month -- I'm not too hopeful that will work!

Another 2013 project is to go thru all our clothing and donate or repurpose to reduce the clutter in our closets. I will no longer need my office wardrobe so most of it will be donated.


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## Woodboyz (Jan 4, 2013)

Hi ya'all from the Frozen Northwoods of Wisconsin. I'm new to the Forum and brainstorming on the Construction of a Watertower windmill w/ solar south face for reducing my wood consuption in my Ourdoor Boiler. I have 4 - 40' telephone pole cornerposts set last fall next is to build the 3 floors- top to support 1500 gallons and the Windmill 20' tower.


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## Texasdirtdigger (Jan 17, 2010)

sdnapier - Although they( firing ranges) are almost, always busy....there is a new crush of people visiting for purchase or training. Super busy places right now....I'll just wait awhile.

We went Antiquing, after we went to the feed store, this weekend... fun. Didn't really find anything, but was nice to get away a bit.

Still trying to figure out some extra room "haha". Not too man bargains... so no rush!

Classes - Jen - I'd love to come to one of your classes!!


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## Mutti (Sep 7, 2002)

Woodboyz....keep us updated on your windmill/solar project. We are thinking seriously about getting a windmill. Many Amish west of here and windmills are commonplace. We had one in MI and may still make a road trip and bring home. BIL has at his place right now. Although we probably need taller one than that

Have you heard of www.backtotheland.com ? Owner, Jim Smith is a knowledgable fellow and deals with Aermotor Windmills.... and many other back to the land products such as hand water pumps that will lift 150 feet. Grain mills,all kinds of farming equipment; even horse drawn,milking equipments,food preserving items.


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## Ohio dreamer (Apr 6, 2006)

Acquiring any more preps is on hold for a few weeks. DH's company is changing the way they are paying their employees....so there is a lag time between the two systems. DH is not very good about reading the company e-mails, so it wasn't till this weekend that he realized the first pay wouldn't be till the 18th. Um....bills are due before that!! So bills will get paid out of savings, not a big deal. We will get paid twice before the next set is due....so it will all work out in the end. But....I'm going to skip the run I was going to make for bulk purchases. I'll go in a few weeks after the first pay shows. There will be money left from that after I put back what came out of savings to cover the bills. In the companies defense...they have been telling the employees since Oct that this was going to happen....DH just doesn't listen. Had I known about the lag sooner, I would have wiggled things around a bit. :bash:


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## jessimeredith (Sep 12, 2004)

Happiness!

This month has been banner for us thus far (and I really hate to say anything to change that but had to share). Yesterday we made an impromptu trip to BassPro...I picked up a dehydrator (FINALLY) that I've been eyeballing for months and we got a big 3 room family tent for our summer entertainment. 

Today, DH got the trailer for the truck he's been wanting and I found some 24 mile range walkies hanging out in the Xmas clearance section at the farm store. 

Add to that $2500 worth of credit card debt paid off (that is the end of the cc debt...woot!), 2 new backup heaters and 4 more ranks of wood put up...this week has been VERY good to us. Oh and my chickens started laying...3 small eggs in the nest boxes this morning!!


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## WV Farm girl (Nov 26, 2011)

I think Ive done pretty good so far this month. Picked up 3 envelope packs of yeast for .75 each at the after Christmas sales. Today the local grocery store had ground chuck and round roast for 2.39lb. Also cans of Manwich for .77. Nice sale on con-ag products too. So a few more things tucked away. Still working on the swagbucks too and they are adding up. Hope to have enough to get my grain mill this month!


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## Texasdirtdigger (Jan 17, 2010)

YAY!! JM.....I also have my eye in ine if those really big dehydrators......envy alert!!

Soooooo, they are saying 1-4" of heavy rain for us.... fingers crossed ...couse that means flashfloods.... we are skin crackin dry.

Lots of changes at my contract job.... so, just hangin loose there......doing the wait and see low profile thing.

COME ON RAIN!!!!


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## Laura Zone 5 (Jan 13, 2010)

manygoatsnmore said:


> Welcome to 2013! Since we survived the 12/21/12 date, I guess it's time to make our 2013 Goals and To-Do Lists. What's on your agenda for the coming year and how do you plan to accomplish it all?


1. A room a month.
Each month I will take a room in the house from ceiling to floor and:
Clean it, repair it, paint it, purge it, organize it.
By Christmas 2013 (Lord willing) if I "had" to put the house on the market, I could have it ready in less than 2 days (4ksf).
I want this house to the minimum. I can't stand the clutter.

2. Rain Catchment System
I have the barrels and the wood to build the stand.
Now I need to get a plan of what I am going to do-how to do it and execute it.

3. Add (5) 12 x 3 raised beds this year.
Start watching CL for free cinder blocks.

4. Compost
This year I will have to buy it for my beds.....but I want to start a composting system, and MASTER it. 
I want to be able to make enough compost for my beds next summer!

5. GET OUT OF DEBT
Sell everything that is not nailed down to pay it off.
Don't use CC for anything. Close them down.
Say NO, and never borrow again.
I hate being a slave.

6. Get on the deans list
For the first time in 30 years, I will be in school. 
I am going to a local community college and for the spring semester, I will be doing pre-req's. I want to be on the deans list.
In order to accomplish this I need to schedule my time, then protect that schedule like a hawk.

7. Chickens
I really want to pull the trigger on chickens this year. I will turn the kids swingset into the "main" coop, and then build a chicken tractor coop for May-Oct. I am really wanting to do this. I hope this year is the year it will happen!!




> Share with us! Tell us what you are doing to prep each day...you'll inspire others to work on their preps, too!


Prepping
I'm kinda lame right now.
I look at the sales ads for 2 local big grocers and when something is on sale or I have a huge coupon for it, I buy extra and throw it into storage.
I bought a Presto 23 quart pressure canner this winter, so I will learn how to use it this summer!

I need to get my basement in order (it's my June/July room project) and get some shelves built etc. Right now it does not make much sense, but it has SO much potential!!

The biggest thing for me is that I need to schedule my time, pretty tight
Then guard that schedule like a hawk, and execute what I have written!!


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## manygoatsnmore (Feb 12, 2005)

It's so nice to see all the new "faces" on this thread! Welcome, all. 

Jan, I have been scrounging glass windows and doors for a couple of years now, and now I just need to figure out the layout for the most efficient way to use them all.  If you have any glass shops in your area, give them a call and ask if you can take any replaced windows off their hands. If they are throwing them in a dumpster, they'd probably love to lower their trash bill. I've also found glass sliding doors free at garage sales and propped against a tree along the road home. You never know! I also need to lose about 30# - I like food way too much.

Laura, I like your idea of going through each room, repairing, de-cluttering, and painting, etc. I may add that to MY list! Lord knows, I need to de-clutter every room in my house.  I hope you get your chickens...there is nothing like fresh eggs, really fresh eggs.

TDD, May you have days and days of gentle, soaking rains. :angel:

I have a long list of places I need to go after work this morning, and then home to wait for my modem to be delivered so I finally have hi-speed internet. It's supposed to be functional by 5pm tonight. :sing: Among stops: Oil change for my SUV, pick up 2 batteries for the lawn tractor and the genny, buy another few cans of Nido dry milk for the pantry, fill a prescription, and buy dog food. Somewhere in there, I want to squeeze in a quick visit with my dd and my youngest dgd. I need some "Guppy Time"!


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## jessimeredith (Sep 12, 2004)

Today, we bought...an incubator. :blush:


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## Mutti (Sep 7, 2002)

Being a poor month for us after paying taxes and insurances for the year in Dec we are spending time instead of money. Working on a list of small projects around here that we can do for little or nothing. Some will have to wait for warmer weather like porch painting but others are doable now.Murphy Oil soaped all my furniture yesterday. A job but sure looks better. Today will clean all the registers. Painting kitchen cabinets on the list,too. Alot of maintenace on old farm house.

We did spend on an irrigation system for the big garden. Can't have another poor gardening season like last year. No. l project will be setting up more rainwater catchment systems. We're predicted to get a good 2-3" off this storm coming thru now. That would fill alot of barrels off our 32x40' pole bldg.1000 sq. foot roof + 1" rain equals 600 gals water!

Seeds all sorted and orders have all come in. Don't wait to order if you can...some stuff already out of stock.Ordered more strawberries. Pa and I have been pruning in orchard and the grapevines plus hauling mulch. Only one minor snowfall this year so bundled up we can still get alot done outdoors. I've been busy getting the greenhouse ready and we finally got a floor in there. No more weeding IN the greenhouse....enough to do outside1 I'm hoping planting rye on the gardens this fall will help that situation.

Neighbors cows visiting our back field, arrrgh. Fence to fix. Told him he could graze his heifers there but not the whole herd.


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## Ann-NWIowa (Sep 28, 2002)

Worked in the food storage area again today and found a mouse had helped itself to some cornmeal. My bad as it should have been in a mouse proof container. I've gotten careless since I thought the mouse problem had been resolved. Hopefully we'll catch it in one of the five traps we put out. Tomorrow I'll buy mouse poison to put in the garage which is where it came in from plus some more spray foam to close up the hole. Dh stuffed the hole with steelwool for tonight.

I spent some time reorganizing shelves and putting crackers and other items into hard containers and labeling them. I have plenty of empty buckets so just carelessness on my part that stuff was on the shelves and not in buckets.

Once we get the mouse plus the hole foamed, I need to do a thorough cleaning. A lot of the shelves are rough wood so cleaning isn't easy.


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## Mutti (Sep 7, 2002)

Mouse problems are NEVER resolved! We've only had one visitor this year with our new and improved cat patrol. l Mama catand her daughter spend all their time hunting and rarely does a day go by we don't see them with their catch of the day.

When we built our storage room in the garage Pa was determined to make it vermin proof. After ten years I've never seen a trace of mice. Every possible entrance point foamed and the door has such a tight seal I can hardly push it open. Really annoying to find mice has contaminated your storage.


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## NBC3Mom (May 14, 2005)

Been going through files and purging 5-10 old receipts, instruction manuals, documents. Saving them in a big box to burn in the garden come springtime. Keeping the cars cleaned and maintained, oil changed, tires rotated. One car has 140+k miles and the other nearing 100k, up to us to keep them running for as long as possible. Stopped at CVS to return a CVS brand contact cleaner that smugged my lenses so badly I had to wear my glasses to see. Found out that saving money by not buying the Boston brand was definitely NOT worth it. Picked up some more toothpaste, mouthwash and deodrant and scored $6 in extra bucks. Want to be more on top of these this year and only spend them when I get more in return. Last but not least going shopping tonight for a new handgun.


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## Ann-NWIowa (Sep 28, 2002)

One dead mouse in a trap this a.m. and dh foamed the hole and surrounding area. While looking for something in the laundry room I discovered mouse tracks so dh cleaned those drawers for me. I still need to disinfect the tops of the boxes and buckets and the shelves where the mouse was. 

I spent the day going thru piles that have accumulated in my office/computer room/sewing room. I filled a large bag with trash, a box to be donated and shredded another garbage bag of papers. Fixed a notebook with instructions for my quilting rulers. Currently working on a notebook to hold new 12-column ledger pages that do not fit anywhere. I'm folding them to fit! I sorted and put away various sewing findings and discovered I only have a partial spool of black thread so put that on my shopping list. I go to Hobby Lobby with my 40% off coupon and buy one spool of thread each week. If I need anything else I print off additional 40% coupons, and go back several times.

I started watching BBC's 1940's Kitchen and forgot to watch the time so didn't have enough time to fix my planned meal for supper. I had some leftover stew but it wasn't enough for 2 people so I added some leftover baby limas and peas and had just enough for two. 

My buy of the week was 4 loaves of Sara Lee "Delightful" low carb bread for $1 a loaf. Also got a packet of buns for 50Â¢ and a packet of cookies $2.19. When I got to the checkout I realized I had a full punch card worth $5 so my total was $1.69.

I'm under budget in every category except medical. I budget $600 a month for medical and so far for the month we're at $1427.53 with $2,500 in dental just around the corner. I think I'm over on clothing by $15 but that will easily be adjusted next month by spending less. Medical is something else again ... that is not going to adjust even stretching it out for the entire year.


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## Ohio dreamer (Apr 6, 2006)

Put an order in for items to start casting our own bullets, since ammo is becoming scarce, and we already re-load, just one more step in the process. Our club was started in the 1930's and has never had the lead harvested.....should be easy to find  Since we are having a heat wave (60's and rain) we are going to go lead hunting tomorrow....in the rain. Less chance of people showing up to shoot.


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## Texasdirtdigger (Jan 17, 2010)

MGM - We gad 24 hrs of soft rain.....THANK GOODNESS!!. The trees are so confused here.....they are trying to bloom out. ugh. All of our upright containers are full and the lake looks someehat better. We are in the 20'. brrrrrrr. 25 tonight.

Hope to start tiling and plowing in the next few weeks. Trying to keepmy eys peeled for specials.......not seeing much.


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## Mutti (Sep 7, 2002)

Everytime I see rain predicted for those of us in drought areas I hope for pitter-patter. Lucky you TDD. We got pounding downpour for half the da--probably a couple of inches but then it froze in the rain guage overnight-- but seemed to have soaked in and we are on a high hill. Dangerous glaze of ice on walks and decks. Glad we got all our eavestroughs fixed when put the new metal roof on. No foot of water in root cellar under this old house. Draining that means an involved series of hoses and a siphon as this hill is rock and would require backhole to do permanent fix.


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## Ohio dreamer (Apr 6, 2006)

DH got up at 5 am to write a letter to our congressmen about gun control. He's been mulling around wording for the last week or so. He's decided to come at it from a different angle as all his 2nd amendment wording came out almost threatening (I understand, I'm having the same problem). So he's bring up the point of sales which generate tax money and JOBS. If things get banned then the sales, tax money and JOBS disappear. 

Ran to the range this morning. We picked up 2 buckets of dirt, lol. We are going to see if we can recover some lead. Also picked up a bunch of our brass. We weren't doing too good recovering our brass when we were shooting in 10" of snow. Now that it's melted we were a bit more successful. We weren't the only ones with that idea....another guy was there, too. We keep looking at all the .22 brass and wonder how much it would take to be worth turning into the scarp yard 

Day is young, lots more to do. Need to make my shopping list for bulk food for Thursday....how much it enough and how much is too much???


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## manygoatsnmore (Feb 12, 2005)

I'm a happy camper this afternoon - I finally have internet! It's been a long involved process, from the engineering work around, to the internet being activated, but no modem arriving, then the modem arrived, but the phone box on the outside of the house wasn't working, and today when the tech fixed the box (it was corroded, so it was a free fix), then I still couldn't get internet access. He had to call tech support and it took them about an hour on the phone to finally get my modem and computer to work together, about 3 hours from the time he first arrived, to the point where he left me with a working wireless internet! :sing: It's so nice to be able to type with all 10 fingers again. I've been two-thumb-typing on my phone and have lost several nice long posts just before I finished them...that is so frustrating! Now y'all are gonna be putting up with my old, gabby posts again, lol. 

I'm missing my baby girl today...it is Abby's 21st birthday. She's mad at me right now, because I told her she couldn't live with me again, but I still posted to her facebook wall that I loved her, missed her and hoped she was having a wonderful birthday.

TDD, I'm so glad you got nice, soaking rain...I was watching the weather channel and they were talking about heavy rains not far from you. Does anyone else think of different areas of the country by what HT members you know that live there? I hear Northern coastal CA and think of RF, Northern AL and think of Angie, etc. Funny how folks we've never met in person become so much a part of our lives. 

When I ran all my errands the other day, I got the oil changed in my SUV, bought batteries for the lawn tractor and the generator, bought 4 more big cans of Nido powdered milk, 2 more big bags of dog food, and I ran into a great sale on boneless, skinless chicken breasts - 1.78/lb in the family packs. I bought 8 packs, total of about 34# of meat. I've cooked, diced and dehydrated 2 packs, with most of another 2 packs ready for the dehydrator (the rest I made into chicken salad sandwich filling, yum! I have the other 4 packs in the freezer for now, but intend to dehydrate or can most of it. The first 2 packs filled a half gallon canning jar, but with a lot of air space around the dices. I'll need to use O2 absorbers with them, I think. I set aside a half pint jar of the nicest pieces for a fair entry next summer.

I had to do a thorough cleaning on both dehydrators - they just had a greasy film on them just from sitting in the corner of the kitchen...yuck! While I was at it, I did some mending on them. My 5 tray Excalibur has broken hinges/latches, so I did a little drilling and made a new hinge from a picture hanging nail, while I used a heavy weight across the top to keep the door closed temporarily. I'll have to add a hasp for a permanent fix. Since it's probably a 1970's model judging from the colors of the plastic housing and dial face, and I only paid $6 for it at a garage sale, I don't mind putting in some time repairing minor issues. My 9 tray Excalibur needed more extensive work, all cosmetic, though. I sanded down the metal housing and applied multiple coats of appliance paint. Unfortunately, I had some overspray and now I have to figure out if paint thinner will remove it from my floor tiles without ruining the tiles (vinyl). I will have to replace my floor in the kitchen eventually anyway, so it's not the end of the world. I need to give it a final sanding and one last coat of paint, and then add another hasp to hold that door closed, too. Both units are workhorses, never any trouble other than keeping the doors on, lol. Definitely well worth that $18 investment. 

While I was working on chicken and dehydrators, I also went through my cast iron and re-seasoned it all. I had a couple pieces that really needed to be put in the wood stove to clean off the built up crud. Wow, what a difference it made in my little Wagner Ware frypan. It had so much buildup that you really couldn't cook in it - the food stuck to the bumpy buildup on the sides of the pan. Now, after time in the stove, cooling down, then a quick wash and re-seasoning, it has a surface like glass. I also burned a grill pan in the stove, knowing it had rust and buildup, both. Took the wire wheel to it and got most of the rust off, but need to give it a scrubbing with the wire brush to get into all the grooves that the wire wheel missed. With a little more work, I think it'll be a nice pan for steaks.

Jan, after I posted about finding glass doors for my future greenhouse, I found another one that day behind the glass shop. I'm so glad they set things like that out for the public instead of throwing them in the dumpster. That's another 3'x6.5' piece of glass. If I can get enough of them that match up in size, I'll frame out a gable roofed building and use those sliding door panels for the roof panels. It'll give me a building nearly 12' wide, allowing for the roof pitch. I think I have enough to make both the sun room off the south end of my house and a gable roofed greenhouse now, but won't know for sure until I take the time to measure each and every piece, writing it all down and maybe using graph paper to lay it all out to make the best use of the glass I have. Easier to move around pieces of graph paper than pieces of glass!

I am drooling over the Emergency Essentials catalog this month. They have vanilla powder, Provident Pantry dry milk and better powder, all at good prices, and a great group buy price on hand warmers, which can be used as O2 absorbers, and several more goodies I'd like to try. I'm torn between putting between $400 and $700 into preps, or applying every last penny to the mortgage. One part of me just wants my mortgage paid off as fast as possible, while the frugal part of my brain says that it will save me money in the long run to buy these items now. Which would y'all do?

Well, guess I'd better go stoke the stove again and get that chicken in the dehydrator. I need to leave for work soon, and want to let the chicken dry overnight. Hope everyone is doing well on their prep to-do list for the month!


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## Ohio dreamer (Apr 6, 2006)

Kids are out of the house for the evening, DH is downloading pod casts from his computer in the basement. I'm enjoying the quiet. I have MASH on TV for background noise and am sitting here going through my medical herb seeds. I'm researching what each are for, making a handwritten notebook of information and also creating an electronic page for each that I'm printing out for my Medicinal Binder. I've been wanting to do this for 3 years now. I better get to it before I need it!

Now to sweet talk DH into building me a few more raised beds for a medical herb and tea garden. Shouldn't be too hard, he's already asked me how many beds he'll have to build this year, lol.


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## triana1326 (Feb 13, 2006)

I've been sitting in bed all evening, letting my DH do the dirty work of putting two small kids to bed and baking the 6 loaves of bread I had rising from this afternoon. I've been catching up on all the back threads for the past few months on here...I've really missed you guys. I was a much more vocal poster back before I had kids - 4 years ago now!

Reading all those threads, and now reaching the end of this thread in particular, I've been making a monthly to-do list that my husband is going to groan and moan about. :croc:Nothing inspires to-do list making like being sick in bed for a day!! So here's my January (or at least the tail end of it) to-do list. It's not all prepping, but since I run 4 small businesses from home to help us to our path of self-reliance, I consider it prepping in some ways.



Go through homeschooling stuff - sort and start gathering materials
DENTIST APPOINTMENTS - reschedule
Laundry and dishes - (That one's never ending...:grit
Get wallpaper steamer from garage
Strip wallpaper in bathroom
Get battery from Harmony's lawn mower
Go through Sara's clothes for donations
Go through kids' books for donation
Finish curtains for kitchen
Find $45 to buy compost bin from Priscilla
Continue the decluttering around the house
Get paperwork in order for taxes
Price costs for C&C
Create a price book
Keep an eye out for rain barrel potentials
Keep an eye out for swingset materials
Revamp my couponing system and get started again
See if I can barter w/ Rick into turning the living room closet into a reading nook
Goodwill run
Put away Christmas
Box up garage sale items and store for next year
Start organizing the attic space while on call
Drop off pickles at Flaky Tart
Look up business tax id stuff
Use Swagbucks to get fruit leather trays for dehydrator
Set aside money to rescreen back porch


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## manygoatsnmore (Feb 12, 2005)

Triana! Nice to see you posting. 

The sale on chicken was still on, so I picked up another 6 family packs. Had a coupon for $10 off a $50 or more purchase, so it was even cheaper. I have a lot more dehydrating in my immediate future. 

Lowe's had a big selection of cull lumber today, lots of 1x boards and 2x4s included, so I asked for a better price if I took it all...$130 for over $520 retail was a pretty good price. Some of the boards have flaws, but it's amazing how much of the lumber in those bundles is totally usable. I think I will be building custom pantry shelves with most of what I bought today. My pantry has so many different kinds of shelving in it that it really doesn't function all that well. If I build my own, I'll be able to space the shelving at heights that don't waste so much space, I'll be able to brace it as solidly as I need for the weight that will be on it (home canned goods and water jugs are heavy), and I can add earthquake protection by adding a bar across the front of the shelves, as well as screwing and nailing into the wall studs. I also swallowed hard and invested in a mid-sized air compressor that can run my framing nailer all day long and has wheels! Working smarter, not harder, I hope.

While I was running errands, I took my chain saw into the shop to ask what I was doing wrong...my saw chain would spin fine until I put a load on it, and then would fly off the bar! Turns out the chain was defective (nice to know that I wasn't defective this time, lol), and they gave me a brand new chain, put it on for me and gave me some lessons on improving my ability to change and tighten my saw chains. Sweet!!

I managed to work in some "Guppy Time" today, had a wonderful visit with my daughter in law and played with my favorite baby in the world. It's so nice to see a little face light up when she sees me. :angel: She's able to stand up by herself in the middle of the floor, but won't take a step quite yet. Hard to believe she's turning 1 on Feb 3rd...my grandbaby is growing up too fast.

I pulled the trigger on my EE order - 3 cases of Provident Pantry milk, 12 cans of butter powder (not better powder as I inadvertently posted last time, although I hope it is better butter powder, lol), and a lot more goodies for my pantry and BOBs. 

Only 4 mortgage payments to go!


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## jessimeredith (Sep 12, 2004)

Aaaahhhh! The bug found us!

Youngest kiddo, aka BooBoo, has had an upper respiratory tract infection all week...so no school for him. Was worried about the eldest, aka X-man, for a bit as he was complaining of a headache until I realized he hadn't been wearing his glasses that day. I just got over, or so I thought, the same thing BooBoo has.

BUT all the gooey germs haven't stopped us...well, not much anyway.

Found spiral cut on sale at Wally World for $1 a pound, grabbed two...thinking about running in today to see if they still have some. We luvz r hamz. Have to go and pick up more powdered and canned evap. milk, cat food and hearing aid batteries (as I am lame and had forgotten the menfolk need to hear and the cats need to eat).

Have 4 new chicks in the brooder and the incubator is full to the brim with barred rock eggs. Need to get the fencing finished so we can grab a couple of head of cattle at one of the many auctions loaded down with them. Oh and get that stupid coop moved out to the pasture...the chickens like hanging out on the porch entirely too much.


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## Ohio dreamer (Apr 6, 2006)

I bit the bullet and bought the 50# sacks of food we needed: oats, unbleached flour, corn meal and the ever so expensive dry milk. Now to clean off the deck and put them in buckets. Going to be very cold here next week (high in the teens), so all the buckets of grain will go outside for a cold weather bath . 

Stopped quickly at the grocery store and they had kids bracelets with insect repellent in them marked down to a quarter! We are have co-op at our house today and all the kids are in scouts....so I grabbed a selection so they can each take one home for summer camp (they work for 7 days, so one should get them through the entire week). 

I was taking my DD to the half way point between my parents and our house, so she can be with them for a few days. Talking on the way up we thought maybe we should get enough bracelets for the entire scout troop. So we stopped at the same chain store by the transfer spot. No bracelets....BUT...high end cereal on the mark down for $1.04 to $0.64 cents a box!! Tossed some of that in the truck, too. Stopped at the other store on the way home and bought a bunch more of the bracelets. So when the scout leader comes over this afternoon to teach the "big boys" Algebra....I can send them home with her. It will be a nice addition to the goody bags she gives each girl at the "wrap party" just before summer starts.


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## Texasdirtdigger (Jan 17, 2010)

MGM - Yeah...I have a few orders I am trying to decide on, too.

**** *Honeyville has the 15% off Coupon "RESOLVE" is the code for 6 days only.****

I have a fair sized Freeze Dried order....waiting for me to hit the button.:heh: I have several Orders elsewhere, that are currently"backordered".....cause they are out of Ordnance.....:grit:. Probably will be for months and months.

We are still crazy in pain, over the loss of our fav Border Collie. (Rest in Peace, Sheeba).... But, We are getting a new one this weekend. The Stock Show and Rodeo is here for 26 days.....We will be busy. 

I hired my brothers work crew, while they are waiting on their next contract.... so hopefully, I can get them to do some of the heavy lifting and digging for the Orchard and Garden Prep. I try to keep them working., when, my brothers business is off.... They are grateful, they don't lose income and DH & I get some PREMO help!!
DH & I were just discussing our plans for them. Heh heh heh!

We have gotten a decent rain ( about 4 inches) and a couple of days of snowpellets, so.... all the 375 tanks are full and the real catchment system, got a big drink.

Yes, I always think about HT members weather patterns!!

I am trying my best, to come up with.........space.....I need space....acccck! Something has got to go....but, what??

Ladies and Gents......believe me when I say.....Hyper Inflation is here.....I saw a can of Salmon, yesterday that was $4.79....about a month ago.....it was $2.79.... Flat out stopped me in my tracks! Whoa....that a hike in price!

I did find a couple of.....ahem..... "specials". 

We bought more Hay....Lord a mercy...... where does it stop?

Jen - The vision of ya'll "Shagging Brass" in 10" of snow....gave me the giggles......I can just see it. The ranges here don't really even like you to pick up your own brass.....they pick it up and sell it.
We still can't get near the ranges....they are overun with folks. I hope I can get some time, monday on a lane... Holiday and all....lots of folks will be out and about.....You guys know how like my weekly practice time:teehee:.


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## Ann-NWIowa (Sep 28, 2002)

Although I officially am retired I'm continuing to work two days a week at the office training my replacement plus working online (gotomypc) as needed. The money is going 100% to medical expenses which are at $2,000 for the month with another $2,500 coming up next week. No spending for preps here at present!

I am continuing to clean out, get rid of, reorganize. I'm happy to report all kitchen drawers have been cleaned, decluttered and organized, there are no longer piles of papers on the office floor, the pantry is mouse free (and mess cleaned up) and I've been spending reading time on Internet researching frugal recipies. Next project is to organize everything for starting plants for the garden. Then on with decluttering, cleaning and organizing. I want to get rid of office clothing -- just keeping 2 or 3 outfits for each season. I will live in jeans, sweats and shorts at home so don't need all the dressy stuff. 

I have semi-organized my tax information and will prepare returns as soon as I get the last 1099's. Need to stop into IRS office first Monday in February and pick up forms & instruction book. IRS office is in same building where I work so I'll make sure one of my days that week is Monday. Any tax refunds will go 100% towards medical. 

I found a pattern to make Swiffer type duster on Internet and have the fabric set out to do a couple dusters next week. Also, am making a denim apron from a repurposed Dollar General jumper I bought for $1. I have another jumper taken apart ready to cutout 2 aprons. Aprons in the kitchen are necessary for me as I'm incredibly messy. I just finished watching BBC's 1940 Kitchen and Wartime Farm programs and noticed aprons were always worn. Aprons really do reduce laundry and save clothing.


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## Mutti (Sep 7, 2002)

Have been faithfully continuing to make my meals from storage food whenever possible. Only purchasing some fresh vegetables and fruit...$16.32 this week! Gotta be a record for me. Last nite was chicken barley soup with fresh homemade bread. Crockpot easy and delicious. All from storage. 

So what am I spending my money on you ask? Seeds,strawberry plants, another try at growing lavander, more Pro-Mix for the greenhouse. Didn't even buy a book this month which is most unusual. Pa wishes I would as he hates me grumbling about nothing good to read at the library! Usually it's me giving them my new books I've finished reading....

DIL over yesterday...son taking her to the Engineers Ball(finally) like he promised he would when they were in seving in Iraq together and not yet married. Had a slinky gorgeous black dress with beading she wanted me to hem. This poor one-eyed gal doesn't see well to sew on black but she threaded all the needles for me...looked stunnng and promises pictues of them both as he'll be in dress blues and looking dashing. All he wanted to do was wear his dress sword but not in the regulations. One step higher rank and she'd have to wear uniform; last chance for glam? As she says not much chance to get all dolled up anymore. Guess that's why I love looking at old dresses on pintrest.

Supposed to be in 50's today so gonna finish clearing out greenhouse so we can install a floor. Yipee, no more weeding INSIDE. All the stuff arrived for an improved irrigation system,too so another project for the list.

Now on my 6th pr. of socks this winter...think I've got it! Was one of my goals for this year. I'm quite impressed with them actually; never thought I could "turn a heel" but easy peasy. 61 days until spring...assuming we have spring as last year it went from oh, spring is here to screaming hot summer in a blink.Our wood pile is geting down and don't relish hitting the woods to replenish but may have to. Pa likes the house much warmer than I do and he stokes the boiler so there goes the supply.

Don't forget to check on the gardening board as Martin is generously sharing seeds again this year. I love being able to try a small pkt. of something new. Found the Wis 55 tomatoes thru him that are so reliable here. Not wasting time on anything I can't store up for winter...Pa claims I'm doing that so I'll have more room for flowers...well, I admit I do plant flowers everywhere there's a patch of bare dirt.....


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## cnichols (Jan 5, 2010)

Well, yesterday we went to the local flea market to find a Roo to replace the one the dogs killed several months ago. Not only did we get a nice looking "mutt" roo for $6 but we also got ....

6 Doe Mixed NZ/Cali cross rabbits
10 Buck Mixed NZ/Cali cross rabbits

Total - 16 rabbits (between 6 & 8 weeks old) for $110 (which also included 2 cages to bring them all home in). Figure we'll select our beginning "stock" out of those 16 rabbits and the rest will visit freezer camp.

Plus 20 "Mutt" chicks of various breeds (for $1 ea) to "enhance" our current brood of 13 hens. I'm sure several of them are baby roos which means in about 4 months we'll have us some friers to send to freezer camp. 

All of that, except the roo, was totally unplanned so we've been super busy trying to "get things done" around here to get everyone into their new homes. i.e. the rabbit hutch was "almost" done but had no doors. Brooder needed pulled out, cleaned & prepped, etc. Thank goodness these chicks are about 2 weeks old already and getting nice feathers in because that many chicks are going to outgrow that brooder coop really fast!

Anyway, that's our January stuffs. Can't afford to "do" anything more unless it's using stuff we already have at home! LOL


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## manygoatsnmore (Feb 12, 2005)

Congrats on the new livestock, cn! I'm tempted to get rid of one of my 2 roos. He's a beautiful Cuckoo Marans, but he's also a "flogger". You have to keep an eye on him if he's in the vicinity, and I hate that. My Speckled Sussex roo is much nicer, definitely not an alpha roo! However, I'd like to separate my trios out so I can incubate purebred chicks this year, so he'll stay for now.

I'm finally starting to see an improvement in my physical conditioning - I have been hauling firewood rounds and doing a very little bit of splitting (wood is frozen, so it splits well, IF I can get the wedge pounded in far enough to hold when I hit it with the maul). I'm seeing an increase in my stamina. Haven't lost any weight, but am getting more fit.

TDD, congrats on getting a new puppy. It won't replace your dear Sheeba, but I've found there's nothing like a new pup to train to take your mind off your loss.

It's back to work for me tonight...I wish I could just stay home and keep working around the place here, but gotta pay the bills.


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## jessimeredith (Sep 12, 2004)

Shame you're so far from me, cnichols...I had 9 roos that I just got rid of. Pretty barnyard mixes that I just gave on away. Haven't gotten the butchering stuff in yet (DH thinks he has to have special stuff, lol) and they were driving my girls to the rafters!

Of course, when I took 2 of the roos to my "chicken guy" I ended up coming home with another 1 1/2 dozen hatching eggs and 10 more chicks to add to the brooder. I guess when DH gets home from KY, he'll be moving that coop on out to the pasture for me, lol.

Fruit trees and berries all ordered and waiting on shipment...now to get everything in order for them to go in the ground when the time comes!


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## Ohio dreamer (Apr 6, 2006)

After driving in and out of whiteouts to pick-up my daughter (35 miles each way) I was ready to think about something other then winter, lol. I have 5 cabbage, 3 baby choi, 5 tomatoes and 4 peppers started and in the seed tent. Will keep starting 2-3 more tomatoes and peppers every 3-4 days, then get heavy into seed starting the middle of Feb. Hoping to need to start a second seed tent, without lights, in early March for all my over sized tomatoes and peppers, lol.....okay, back to reality, maybe in April.

I didn't read the seed packet until after I planted the baby choi.......they only take 50 days!! Oops...guess we'll see if they can grown inside. Need to get a few shallow clear tubs found (I'm sure I have some) to plant lettuce and spinach in next month. They I can take them outside on the sunny days.


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## Mutti (Sep 7, 2002)

Ohio Dreamer...you could easily rescue the baby choi in a cold frame...some strawbales and an old window makes a quick and easy one. We have a greenhouse and we don't start anything until around March lst here. Even peppers and tomatoes would be vastly overgrown by a target date of April 15 for planting out weather permitting....not to mention I don't want to have to keep transplanting to bigger pots. March date being a compromise between need to plant and how much it will cost to heat the greenhouse!! If you jury rig a cold frame you could sow spinach,radishes,lettuce in there,too.Amazing what will grow much earlier than you think outdoors. Walmart satisfied my urge to plant with a big new display of cactus plants yesterday...bought a few as they do well in our hot dry house.

Question...how do I know the eggs I want to hatch will? My Ameracana roo rarely shows interest in any of the hens but two old white gals who got reprived as they were such good layers when I culled the rest. Gave away all the RI Reds..ate lots and laid little in my opinion.


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## NBC3Mom (May 14, 2005)

Mutti, would you please share your recipe for chicken barley soup? Nothing better than a crockpot for scratch cooking and a nice hot soup would be most welcome this week.
My seeds from Martin have arrived! Going to get the greenhouse ready but will hold off planting until the end of February. I need to go through my saved seeds before I place an order this year, DH is planning to retire in June and we are trying to be frugal and live on my salary as much as possible and save what we can from his.


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## Ohio dreamer (Apr 6, 2006)

Mutti, my mom and dad gave me some old windows that should fit over my raised beds. I'll be setting those up in March to get some "cold crops" started. How much warmer will a cold frame make things?? I only planted 3, so even if I loose these I can do more starts in late March....but I'd love to have these be a go....and harvest in April/May!! DH is already thinking Chinese food for his birthday in early May, with baby choi from our garden, lol.

Today I'm washing laundry and hang in it in front of the wood stove to dry. I even figured out how to hang a line over the stove to hang socks! Will come in handy when the weather warms an bit and kids can go outside....I can hang gloves and such.


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## Texasdirtdigger (Jan 17, 2010)

Hectic weekend, but, a good bit accomplished. Costco run.....180 rolls of TP!!...Consumer Reports rates them #1.....who knew! DH brought a 55 gal barrel up for me to start filling up with TP.:shocked:......So, I will!

6 cases of various vegetables and several jars of Peanut butter.8 cans of chicken.

Pulled the trigger on the Honeyville Order while the discount was good. I am going to try to order something from ther every month, for the x-tra long storage stuff. They are out of so much, it is hard to order right now.

Also, ordered 96 more cans of Tuna from Amazon.....and 8 cases of various canned goods.
Vac Packed 25 lbs of ground beef this evening while dinner was cooking.

Found coffee on sale again 10 more bags added.

I have an order at Ready Reserve to complete.

New doggie.....so far so good. 275 mi roundtrip to get her. (LIZ).

Shooting ranges are still wacko and can't find any 9mil or 380 anywhere....:indif:
Beautiful weather for the Stock Show. Should see record sales:dance: Head'um up...move 'em out!


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## Mutti (Sep 7, 2002)

Ohio Dreamer ...you will need to check your cold frames if the sun is shinning and prop open. They can get in the 80's or more in there easily and things will cook. Plus assure for adequate water. Once plants have wilted they will be poor planting specimens. But it is fun to have green growing things in the winter, for sure! Got my seeds from Martin,too. He is so generous to do this yearly and I love trying new varieities.

NBC3Mom...a garden is frugal. I don't consider any part of it work. Been gardening since 1966...first garden as newlyweds in suburbia. Then move to 20 acres and now in the rocky acid soil challenge here in the Ozarks.After of years fighting working in the garden all my children now garden by choice. So feel I planted the good seed.

Chicken Barley soup is so easy in the crockpot. People don't seem to eat much barley anymore and the only box we saw at our grocery store was plenty dusty.We buy by 5 gal. pails. Do note...seems to harbor more bugs than other grains so store in frig if you buy a box at the store. Our big buckets are in out bldg. storage room and gets plenty cold to kill bugs. Anyhow, the recipe.....crockpot or big pot if you don't use one.

8 cups Hot chicken broth(I always start with hot liquid or it can take an hour to come to boil 
l med. onion, chopped 
3 carrots, sliced thin
4 cloves garlic,minced
4 stalks celery,thinly sliced
1/2 cup rinsed barley(tends to be dusty)..I usually use more like a cup as we like the soup thickish
1-2 cups cooked chicken
Salt and pepper to taste--dependent on what type of broth you used
l tsp. thyme 
1 cup chopped mushrooms, optional. My DIL doesn't like!

Cook on HI until comes to boil,then turn to med and simmer until barley/veggies soft. To speed it up you can pre-cook the veggies in microwave 5 minutes or so. I like to smell it simmering all day but it will be done if you start as late as lunch. Soup is a personal thing anyhow...some like it spicy or thin or more like stew. 

I make homemaded soup often as perfect for lunches. We never eat leftover chicken...it gets diced and in the freezer for soup or casseroles so I always have on hand. Walmart sells really nice canned chicken in 12 oz. cans for $1.68. One canned dumped in the soup pot including the broth makes great soup,too. We just bought another case as chicken has been really high here lately. Also,if we don't have homemade broth we use a soup base...sold by the canned soups but not salty like boullion.

TDD...wish we could find those fab coffee deals. Have to order ours from Amazon. What kind of dog did you get? We hope to find an Australian Shepard puppy or rescue dog this spring to take over from our Maggie...18 years she was on the job and we are getting about ready to welcome new dog to the farm.


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## Country Wench (Mar 21, 2012)

Well.... we've only managed to do a bit so far...

But (very excited) I have started homeschooling my little guy now !!

Have finally fenced in an area for the chickens - they were completely free range until 2 weeks ago - and have started netting over the top to keep them in (most of them since my little golden "******* falcon" still escapes).

Finally bought some dressed rabbits to try out and they were AWESOME ! So sometime in the future rabbits will be added to the homestead.

We did adopt a new dog after having to have our old belgian shepherd put to sleep (I miss him so much) - she is very sweet and has been adapting well - but doesn't bark :hrm:

Now trying to plan on gardening (not good at it) for this year ad getting rid of my one troublesome goat (keeping the other 3).


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## manygoatsnmore (Feb 12, 2005)

Welcome, Country Wench! I homeschooled some of my kids at one time or another, my youngest most of the way through, and it isn't easy, but is very rewarding.  We raised rabbits for many years, too, and my daughters both showed them in 4-H. Tasty meat and easier to skin than chickens are to pluck, by far!

TDD, we're gonna need some "baby" pictures of Liz!

I survived my oral surgery and a stomach bug, all at the same time...I'm glad that's behind me, ahem, so to speak, lol! I had to be better by today - it was my aunt's 90th birthday party, and I wasn't gonna miss that. She's the only aunt I have left, and I love her dearly. Had a great time, got a lot of family info from all the cousins while I was there, and had fun visiting. I was very careful with hand washing, just in case I had any remaining "bugs". The last thing you want to give a 90 year old lady for her birthday is a stomach bug!

My EE order arrived yesterday, or at least the parts not on back-order. Didn't get the milk, some can openers and a few other things. Did get a variety of survival ration bars to sample...I'm looking for BOB foods that taste good, but not TOO good, or I'll eat them before an emergency comes up!


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## Texasdirtdigger (Jan 17, 2010)

Big Honeyville order made it in and I just got it out yhe way, My rice and Oats from Shelf Reliance also showed up. Also founfd 4/ 72 oz boxes Minute Rice for cheap on amazon.... it came in and is out away. 96 more cans of tuna staged.....several cases of vegs from super markets, laying around, Found deal on DW pods and also...TA DA.... more TP!! 11000 Qtips.10 Bottles of dh fav shampoo On sale... Been good week!

My Ready Reserve canned ammo is off of backorder and is coming by ground. WHOOT!!

MGM- Lizzie is a bit shy right now. She is a beautiful doggie.
Mutti - She is an ABCA Border Collie. bread to work!

If I find anotherone of those coffee deals/......i;ll give you the high sign.....Do you have a walmart around?


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## Mutti (Sep 7, 2002)

TDD--Yup. we have a Walmart. Small but I'd make a road trip toa super center 30 miles away for a coffee deal!

Would love to see pictures of your new girl,too. Had a friend who had two and they had to become house pets after chasing a car and one getting broken hip. .She had expensive horses but no herding job for them in horses. We have to be strict about our Corgi as he feels herding is his life and has no clue about cars. The Pyrenees knows cars...funny, she will only chase strange ones on our dead end road! Early obedience training is the key. We used to go to the local herding trails at a sheep farm and learned quite alot. Everyone so eager to have new folks get interested in herding dogs.

Surprize in the mail...$100 dollarl credit on cell phone bill from a contest I entered last Nov! Nice .I always scan all the inserts in my bills and it paid off.

Guess we are inline for some major storms today. Hope all we get is the predicted 2" of rain.


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## Country Wench (Mar 21, 2012)

MGM - Thanks ! I lurk alot (ad for quite awhile Now) but am trying to chime in a bit more  
I am finding homeschooling very rewarding - he is not so frustrated now... I want learning to be fun! Glad you were feeling well enough again to make it to the party - 90 years old should definitely be celebrated !!

TDD - she sounds like an awesome dog - the border collies I've met are so amazingly smart. 
And I would love it if you would post the coffee deal if you see it again - pretty please. I MUST have my coffee... I even have a mug with the chemical composition of caffeine on it !! So if you would......:bow:

Mutti -- Congrats on the phone bill credit!!! That is a fantastic surprise -- anything that can save us some moey is a good thing YEA !!:happy:


I'm happy we had some rain here in OK yesterday.... and on monday DH had setup one of the rain barrels I bought !! Woohoo - one completely full barrel just from yesterday!


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## Ohio dreamer (Apr 6, 2006)

Had a minor "prep failure",lol. We've been taking elderberry pills since the beginning of the month. With all the viruses around, we though an immune booster would be a good idea. Worked great till last week when things got a bit hectic and we forgot. A week later kids and I are starting head colds . It's nothing too bad, yet...but we home school, everyone's head hurts, the kids are sitting within "kicking distance" of each other and it seems they are both being very annoying to one another (for example, breathing too loud)...well...:catfight:. Add to that lack of motivation and a damp gloomy day.... not much is getting done. We have a nice long list of to do's that have to happen since we have co-op at our house tomorrow, and meetings all night tonight. We are blessed that all families involved totally get the "lived in " look for house decor...cause that;s what it's going to be.


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## Texasdirtdigger (Jan 17, 2010)

I need to get a new keyboard( keys are sticking)......my supposed typing is awful!! e-gad!

My Ready Reserve order made it! All my Amazon and Honeyville orders have arrived.

I'll be happy to post any Coffee "deals", That I take notice of.... I only have to have 1 cup of coffee.....BUT..... I WANT MY COFFEE!!!

Lizzie is still getting used to us....she has big paws to fill. 

I have a Gurney's Seed Catalog... with a 50% off coupon on the cover.:rock:

It ws 80F yesterday...40F today.....sigh.....I have to keep reminding myself, It is still January.......I have the gardening bug......bad!


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## Mutti (Sep 7, 2002)

I'm hoping for the catalog issue from Gurneys that gives me $25 FREE that I've received the past two years. Otherwise never order from them as they are so high dollar compared to other companies.


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