I’ve spent most of this week getting my garden ready for planting. Last fall, after harvest, I worked in a mixture of wood ash, chicken, horse and cow manure (composted) and been adding more of the same, this week.
This year I’ll be planting a lot of the non-hybrid varieties from the Emergency Seed Bank and The Survival Seed Vault. So far, sprouting tests have been positive, with about a 95% success rate from both venders. Next year I plan to plant and grow only from my own seed stock, saved from this years harvest.
Currently, because of clay dirt and lack of top soil, the bulk of my growing space is made up of raised beds. That’s the trouble with buying junk land, it’s less than perfect and finding solutions to limitations becomes necessary.
Over the past two years I’ve been digging and working in top soil and compost in an area about 50X50 feet, it’s been a lot of work but it’s beginning to payoff. The red clay has turned into a workable garden area. This is going to be my corn field and next year my main vegetable garden.
Sharpened all my cultivation tools and applied another coating of oil to prevent rusting, most of my tools are old, picked up over the years at Flea markets and from roadside venders. These tools seem to be of a better quality than those currently in production.
What Have You Done To Prep This Week?
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Today I got the lawnmower and tiller running, mowed a trail to my grain plot so I can till it under next weekend. Cleaned out the shed and knocked a wall out to make it a lean to for my larger equipment.
Ordered some more material for my next square foot garden, going to add another 4×8 to it this year.
Two weeks ago I decided to test my bugout bag, I camped out in the woods behind my house for a week with only my bugout bag and my laptop (still had to work). Long story short I was cold, wet, and hungry. I really need to work on my hunting and trapping skills, just knowing how to make the traps isn’t sufficient. Also, you can never have enough large garbage bags. Luckily the laptop survived the ordeal.
THIS WEEK I WORKED IN THE GARDEN PREPARING MY RAISED BEDS FOR PLANTING,WE PLANTED 3 BLACKBERRY BUSHES,IM TRYING AN OLD WAY OF GROWING POTATOES IN PILES OF LEAVES-MY FATHER RAISED POTATOES THIS WHEN I WAS MUCH YOUNGER.I PLANTED AROUND 80 OF THEM I BELIEVE.I HAD MY BEST INTERVIEW FOR A JOB IN OVER 7 MONTHS,HOPEFULLY I WILL GET THE POSITION.FROM JAY IN NC
Got two large bottles of honey at Costco, and the local grocery had cans of Tuna 2 for a buck.
Went to home depot and got some stakes and rabbit fencing to put around the garden. Also bought some seeds for the garden, as well as seeds for a make shift indoor herb garden the we are going to build and plant on Sunday.
Best of all….. I just sent the last monthly payment to a consolidation loan I took five years ago. That puts an extra $500 a month in my pocket. What a load off!! Sounds like the Gun and Knife show next month for me.
Kudos on the new format M.D., me likes.
Bought additional AR this week and the wifey and I spent Saturday AM expanding the deep larder. Once the ground dries out we will begin preps at both garden locations (one at our home one at the happy hunting grounds).
First off MD, raised beds are great for many reasons – you can get or create great quality soil in a controlled area and, with great soil comes quality product. A second benefit is it’s easier to work when things are higher. Clay is tough to breakdown even if you use lots of gypsum. I have the benefit of living next to a huge nursery and am good friends with the owner who gives me loads of valuable information.
Dean in Michigan – a BIG congratulations on paying off the consolidation loan, that is huge and speaks well of your integrity. I’m loosely connected to the banking business especially the default side and many people do not honor their obligations (debt) when it is possible for them to do & make good. I’m in California where the entitlement society is in full force.
This weeks prep included buying shelving units for the garage, large rechargeable silica containers for my gun safe & 2 ammo boxes which I got at a good value.
Bought ammo for the Mosin and bought a .223 Mini-14 (ranch rifle). Bug out trailer is finished. Bought a new food dehydrator at a garage sale for $2 (unbelievable) and started planning those food items.
Planted veggie seeds in starter cups and will plant in large plastic pots – they are mobile and have done it for years. I also found a manufacturing source for 55 gal water storage tanks with an hours drive from my house. They cost $60 each and have a spigot in the base (the shipping costs made these too expensive).
Watched a couple of Bug Out vids on YouTube & Google about what to have in your bag. A couple of people in the vids were a bid on the extreme side, but you can learn something for everything, I guess.
Finally, I gave up on a business venture on Friday (I was a consultant being paid VERY little) and went back to my bread & butter job to make money fast. Quietly, but fast.
Nobody knows but I am guessing we have about 18 months before we are well past the tipping point – which means we will have to ride out the downward spiral for a few years, so make hay while the sunshines.
Interesting times, interesting times we are living in …
PS
MD’s I sent you an email with the source locations of the 55 gallon water barrels & Silica containers so you can publish if you want, don’t want to step on your toes.
Bought a case of .223 ammo, 75 grain JHP. Got a big 4 gallon stock pot. Getting familiarized with my dehydrator by dehydrating some pineapple. It is pretty good. Next time I will use canned stuff to cut down on the cost.
Stashed a bit of cash in our on hand portion of the emergency fund. Did a bunch of crock pot cooking which is cheap, good and replicates a slow, near the fire/ stove method.
Turned in some bottles to get the deposit back and made a few bucks.
It was a darn good week but unfortunately I can’t get a case of ammo weekly.
I agree MD, the older stuff you find at flea markets, etc. is so much better and more durable. It’s a shame how much more expensive but yet cheaper quality things are nowadays.
BTW, thanks for your website and for being such an inspiration. It helps me keep focus on my dream of living off grid and living a lifestyle much like the way you live. The info you provide is priceless and MUCH appreciated!
kentucky prepper rat
You ever been to the flea market in Somerset Ky? Most of the stuff is junk but you can find some good stuff in the mix.
No, MD, I have not. I will definately put it on my list. As I am up in Louisville, I don’t get to Somerset very often. The flea market in Shelbyville, KY is nice if the weather is good and there are folks set up outside. Inside is mostly new, VERY cheaply made junk that you’d find at dollar tree but outside you”ll find better, old, built to last stuff. Thanks for the heads up on Somerset!
Bought mini greenhouse at Lowe’s. Bought new square & loaf pans as backup to my 35 + year old ones. Bought asparagus & potato starts. Just found out that we are going to be great grandparents so started buying baby things.
Harbor Tools got a 6-8ft green house made of heavy gauge alumiminum with a sliding door and a pop vent for $199.00 on sale now. I’m waiting for mine to come in.
Turned over the raised beds and bought some seed packets and 1 gal tomatos. The tomatoes are hybrids, but are just the early season fruit. The heirlooms will come in a few weeks later.
Cleared about 1/4 ac. for added visibility at the front of the property.
Added to both the pantry and cash reserves, ammo tomorrow.
Taking the better half to the range again to try and nail down which sidearm suits her best. She likes her 12 ga. but needs a pistol!
I started seeds, seeds and more seeds this week.
Woke up to an earthquake in the middle of the night so reorganized
my earthquake supplies.
Ordered 3 tarps and some paracord. Bought 8 cases of cat food and
a couple of large bags. Also 2 more cases of water. And has anyone
in earthquake country figured out how to secure the big blue barrels of
water. Seeing the destruction makes me feel like it is almost hopeless
to prepare for one of the damn things.
M.D. we have been composting desert for 10 years now and the soil is
finally pretty good. Keep at it.
Bye the way, the bees didn’t come this year. Looking at my plum today,
I saw one fly and one mason bee. Had a few honey bees last week on
the almond and that was it. So sad.
Judith,
It’s a lot of work but as you know it’s worth the effort. Earthquake supplies are always a good idea good luck and hang on.
Hi Judith,
We’ve got a 1000 liter tank and we use earthquake strapping from Home Depot to hold it in place. Its attached to the studs, and I took a couple old leather belts cut them to size, and put it between the strapping and the tank to stop the steel from damaging the tank. I know if there is an 8.0 it’s going for a “walk” but that will be the least of my worries then.
Good Luck!
Bought more salt, ammo, and honey. Adding more canned food as it goes on sale. M.D. Please print the source for the 55 gal water barrels if you can and thanks WITWCT for the info.
Purchases;
- DeLorme PN-40 GPS (on sale, $219 at Amazon)
- MOLLE II Standard Pack ($50 from armygear.net – a good deal)
- 2x 50′ pieces of OD green 550 cord (armygear.net)
- 1,100 rds of .22 LR (from Wal-Mart, but made in USA!)
Sold a pistol, and decided to someday buy a Mini-14 (581 series), but not for awhile.
Will be planting some trees at my parents’ farm in Nebraska in a few weeks and have been doing a lot of reading about that, and pricing.
Along those lines, transplanted a small tree from the backyard to the front – if left alone the roots would have eventually destroyed the patio.
Reading up on solar ovens and am considering building a small prototype.
I picked up a Springfield 1911 and another 100 rounds of 45 ACP. I ordered 5 10 round 1911 magazines from Springfield for $15 each.
I began working compost into the garden but I put that on hold when it started snowing again. I was able to finish purchasing seeds for this years garden.
I transplanted 126 trees around my property to provide more cover and concealment. Most were Maple trees. In a few years I will try my hand with Maple sap.
Fired another 100 rounds through my still new S&W 9mm M&P. Dis-assembled, cleaned, re-assembled. (No extra pieces left after I re-assembled it!) This gun fits like a glove in my hand. Love it!
Bought 250 more rounds for target practice. Also bought 50 rounds hollow point for future bad guys.
Started heirloom seed for the square-foot garden. Cucumbers, tomatoes, peppers and broccoli, so far.
Bought more pasta, canned goods.
@ WITWCT
@ WITWCT, while I am sure you do not want to become a prophet of doom, I think we all could benefit from your expertise. I’ve questioned you before on this site, and I understand you have contracts that require compliance…I’m in business myself and get it. However, I think your insight would be helpful to all of us!
My biggest question is ALWAYS how much time do we have? Of course the answer is an estimate, but an educated guess is typically better than a wild guess. Could you submit a “generic” article to MD about what you know in general terms? I think we all would like to know how much we should ramp up our preps.
JesSter,
That is a difficult & very complicated question with which I cannot answer. There are so many negative signs that are all lining up that it would seem to me that we are on the downward slide of the tipping point.
Think about it – banks are lowering interest rates to under 2%, forgiving a portion of the loan balance owed to them in an attempt to keep the bottom from falling out. Now, openly & willingly accepting short sales… never before in history has this been done en mass. There are significant problems and I know for a fact, a couple of major lenders are in big trouble.
Commercial real estate is starting to tank & why? Consumers are not consuming, businesses are failing which means commercial real estate is turning into ghost towns – a very bad sign because this is a strong indicator that recovery has been extended years. Example, look at Detroit’s decimated auto industry, that town is still depressed after how many years??
Then add to it the ripple effect to all industries & the world … it is beyond spooky and is not “if” but when the SHTF.
Bottom line, my best guess and my personal projection is the earliest Nov – Dec 2010 & the latest the summer of 2011. When the bottom hits we will be there for several years. Personally, I am quietly but diligently taking prep steps daily, constantly tweaking exit strategies, working my ass off to get cash and staples and my ear to the ground. I’d suggest keep reading the news in all parts of the country and watch the trends which begins by reading between the lines.
MD provides some very valuable information pieces but I always do a comparative analysis in multiple sources and find his latest stuff (the past 2-3 months) is spot on because it is more mainstream & fact based.
Hope that helps ~
“my best guess and my personal projection is the earliest Nov – Dec 2010 & the latest the summer of 2011.”
I know that is not set in stone or perfect. As a prepping newbie I cannot tell you the relief I feel reading that. I was unable to tell if “y’all” (Prepping writers/bloggers) were always “rush, rush” before I came on the scene or if recent times have become more urgent. I kept thinking that I should buy a water filter or whatever, but I was wondering if things would crash before my next paycheck. Before the next UPS delivery. So I feel a hair less panicky to think I have at least a few months to add to my preps. Thanks.
Worked on the chicken coop some more, almost done with it. Took the rifles out shooting (my favorite kind of prepping “work”) I picked up a used Tikka T3 awhile back in .308 and I love it! Anybody looking for a .308 I would highly recommend this gun. Got some more powdered milk. I found a good deal on Morning Moo’s at the local Wal Mart and bought a number of them. Anybody have any experience with this stuff/feedback? I would like to buy more and was wondering what others thought.
Check out the powdered milk review on Utahpreppers.com . It was posted on March 4th
That post was really good and informative. Plus it makes me feel better about my purchase. Thanks for the heads up.
I’m so excited b/c I feel like I’ve made some positive steps toward prepping. I’ve bought a book on canning, I want to can some chickens I have in the freezer in case the power goes out, having trouble finding a pressure canner though. :( I’ve been keeping stocked up on some foods, not eno. for a long term problem yet, but for a week or two at least. I’m also in the process of getting my chicken coop ready to house chickens again, I hope to have it ready by next Saturday! WOOT!
There is a Presto Pressure Canner at Walmart in the housewares dept. It goes for $65
Um, looked into switching to personal cloths instead of using toilet paper. I’m not sure I’m ready to do this yet, but I have to at least consider it before saying yes or no. It makes sense to do, but it is just one more thing I don’t have time for. Here’s some info I used to get started.
http://chilechews.blogspot.com/search/label/cloth%20wipes
Got a dehydrator for my birthday. I am trying out a bunch of food experiments. I think this will work well!
Stocked up on some more canned goods, gallon jars of white vinegar, bleach, spaghetti sauces and coffee. Checked out all supermarket circulars for sales items, especially dried items and long-term storage items. Picked up several “on-sale” clearance Recipe books at Borders, including a very good one on Baking.
Bought SEVERAL MORE ‘AA” size single battery LCD waterproof flashlights on E-Bay, which come from seller in Hong Kong, but they are HIGH QUALITY, and VERY BRIGHT,for $1.00 each. YES, $1.00 each (+.59 shipping) !!!Check for these, they are great deal! Also picked up (from same E-Bay Seller), a car cigarette lighter type DC multi-volt adjustable convertor that allows me to plug my laptop (and other DC powere items) into a car lighter outlet, or from a cigarette lighter outlet set up off of solar system. I bought two of these DC adaptors – each less than $7.50, incl. shipping. I have been to Hong Kong several times and have bought LOTS of electronic items like these, and found everything I bought there very reliable and DIRT CHEAP in price! E-Bay is a plethora of good stuff, if you take the time to look, compare prices and read buyers reviews of seller’s items.
Replaced an old Mini-Mag lite bulbs to get the item back up to speed again.
Here is the E-Bay link for the ‘AA’ 3 -watt LCD lights I mentioned previously. A BUCK each! They work great! Check out the seller’s other items also.
http://cgi.ebay.com/3-Watt-1AA-torch-Super-Bright-LED-Flashlight-Lamp-light_W0QQitemZ280442891750QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUS_Flashlights?hash=item414bb2ede6
Thes are metal construction, not cheap plastic.
MD, I have the same problems with clay here. My recommendations for you concerning your field is this. When you ever get to town, go to the starbucks (if you have one) and look around the store. Why? They usually have coffee grounds in LARGE bags from the pervious days that are free! Be nice an buy a cup of coffee but then grab a couple bags. If you have a few starbucks in the area, then there you go. One bag, tilled in your clay soil is an estimate of one cubic yard of dirt. So, if you go into town enough. Grab a few bags (if you are lucky enough to get them) at a time youshould be good for next year. Coffee grounds are a great way to break up clay that begins the good top soil process. Some lyme helps if you want to buy a few bags. But manure isn’t going to be the be all to chop up your ground…. the clay will probably be to acid for the corn.
Prepping, well that is my business. :)
Picked up free 5gal buckets from my favorite donut shop. Ordered more gamma seals, extra lid lifters, liner bags, and oxygen absorbers; extra trays for dehydrater; rotated canned and dry goods,and water that are near expire dates. We will use those up first by planning meals around them.
Thanks for the link to your e-books.
Ordered a wheat grinder, dehydrator, siphon hoses, backup molle pack, and sling for backup AR-15. Bought additional canned food. Reading “One Second After”. Making a trip to LDS facility this week. I need to focus on reloading.
Showed a friend how to re-load ammunition. Made more contacts with people wishing to learn how to build an AR ( I show them how to do it for free as well as the use of the tools)
Last weekend I picked up a circa 1930′s gas/wood stove for less than 200 dollars! It had been listed on craigs list for months but no one bought it and when the price got down to almost free I had to jump. I guess not many people are aware that there were gas/wood stoves back in the day. Use wood in the winter and it would heat up the entire kitchen and gas in the summer to keep the house cool. The gas system can be converted to propane so everything should work out nicely.
The stove will serve me well at my cabin. Getting this 800lb monster up there will be the tricky part. (took 4 grown men to move it).
Wish I could post a picture of it so you all could see it, but it looks like whats in your kitchen right now.
Got 5 Superpails from Emergency Essentials in this week. Ordered a Kelly Kettle, JetScream whistles, a Strike Force Fire Starter, and a book titled Where There is No Doctor by Jane Maxwell which was recommended to my by a doctor friend. Also, picked up 24 pounds of elbow macaroni from Sam’s for my long-term storage.
Transplanted most of the plants that we’ve purchased recently or grown indoors into outdoor pots and our raised bed garden.
This week I plan to order additional Superpails and a grain mill.
Regular Patriot,
The superpails from Emergency Essentials are a good deal compared to other such products on the market – I ordered a one year grain supply of superpails and they shipped the whole lot for only $12 shipping and handling.
Don’t forget to tell them you saw their ad on The Survivalist Blog, so we can keep them as an advertiser and resource for readers of the blog.
Packed 20 lbs rice in mylar/bucket.
Signed up for a ‘survival skills’ class at local city college. Purchased fencing for urban veggie garden to keep out the new puppies and give the poor bush beans a chance to recover. :)
Started building the duck coop next to our pond. We have 10 ducks and they are living with the chickens. What a mess!!! I used the lawn tractor as a generator for the power drill and saw because we have no power on the far side of the pond. I used some jumper cables from the battery of the lawn tractor to a Xantrex Prowatt SW2000 inverter. Started up the tractor and instant 110V power!!! A generator on wheels is awesome….
Bought ten Canadian one ounce silver maple leafs. Got back on my diet and lost 7 pounds. Ran on three miles on the beach this year – finally not too cold or rainy. Much better than running on pavement or treadmill.
Organize, organize, organize. Turned old freezer into ammo storage in the basement. Built new shelving for tools and fasteners in workshop. Bought and installed additional lighting in workshop to facilitate reloading. Organized non-GMO seeds for the gardens.
@ WITWCT
Thanks for your candid comments. I was really hoping we might have until 2012. Maybe we will. Maybe we’ll have longer, but your insight is helpful and I will certainly ramp up my efforts to have minimal survivability by Nov-Dec. WTF!?! It’s a damn shame!
2012 could be realistic as these trends do not happen overnight.
I plan for the worst & expect the best and usually give myself short timeframes to accelerate production. It’s like going on vacation, you get the work done the few days prior to leaving.
Finalized the packs, read another good down-to-earth survival book, starting another such book with seven times the number of pages than the last, will be planning on lightweight pack foods for long-term survival, planning to stock up with plenty of canned and dried foods for the pets. Things such as storing and stocking up take some thought and planning ahead. Deer are coming around at this time of the year for grass and garden foods so I need to hang some Irish Spring bars of soap with holes drilled in them, string strung through the holes and hung in the areas where the hungry vegetation eaters go. Always works like a charm. To protect a water source, covered the outdoor fish tank with chicken wire with a wood frame which was built so it keeps the wire up and and away from the water to keep deer, raccoon and other critter tongues from accessing it. Went to a neighboring city’s free clothing bank and stocked up on lots of free shirts and a pair of jeans. I use the clothing for wearing out in the garden, when chopping wood, sewing some together for shade when needed, scarecrows and other things and especially when doing tasks which would ruin what small amount of good clothes I do have on hand. The rest of the clothing which would work well for survival, I put them inside thick black contractor bags, tied and taped well to keep out all moisture and store them in boxes. Saved an empty white vinegar jug and will fill it with water soon. Will be ordering 50 feet of thick canvas to protect my travel trailer from the summer heat next week. And, to M.D., I just love your site and I really do appreciate being able to look at the comments that others leave which are interesting. I would also like to say that I like the way your site is set up (in every way!) :)
Started some seeds for this year’s garden, prepped one of the raised beds. This is our first garden, I need to start learning about it now rather than later. Finished out our emergency car kits, finally got one going in the husband’s car (once he helped me “move” into our new family van, and saw the emergency kit I had in my other one, decided he wanted one too).
@dogear6
We started out with cloth wipes (and diapers) with our kids as babies, then it was easy to continue using them as they potty trained and switch over for us as well. That made it an easy switch, even for the husband. I’m more concerned about it in an extended power/sewer outage situation, however, because of disposal of the water used to wash them. I need to give that some more thought.
From what I’ve read on composting toilets you can put that waste water directly on a compost heap. But you do have to handle the compost heap in an entirely different manner to keep it sanitary.
http://humanurehandbook.com/downloads/Humanure_Handbook_all.pdf
Ahhh that makes sense, thank you! I have plans to establish separate compost heap(s) for waste if needed (along with some 5 gallon bucket “toilets”), so that would fall right in with those plans.
Bought a pressure cooker and ran our first tests, canning cabbage, because it’s cheap, and makes great soup. I’m trying to convince my wife to go the next step and can the Borscht, but i think we eat it too fast to can it! ;-) Our wood stove has arrived, and went out this weekend and got all the stovepipes and chimney I’ll need to hook it up. Planning on how to build the hearth to set it on.
Also working out how to plumb together seven 55 gallon water barrels. I want to feed into them with a garden house, have the water go in and out of each of the barrels, exiting from the last into a garden house with which I’ll water our garden. I hope to keep the water continuously fresh this way. I plan on connecting each barrel with about 30″ of garden hose, however, on the discharge end, I am thinking of inserting some tubing into the hose that will run to the bottom of the tank, so that the water is fully circulated. Has anybody done something like this?
Now that the health care bill has passed, we’ll be doubling our speed towards the fan.
“These tools seem to be of a better quality than those currently in production.”
Amen to that. My father loved flea markets & bought all kinds of old tools. He always avoided the “new stuff”. Now I’ve inherited those same tools and I’m glad he took care of them. Most hand tools made today are crap unless you pay top dollar for heavy duty ones and those are even few and far between. Seems like most are made for a limited number of uses and have failure built right into them. The only thing I can say that modern technology has done to improve tools is the fiberglass or plastic handle. They’re virtually indestructible. Properly cared for wooden handles will last long and are cheap enough to buy a few back ups, but the fiberglass & plastic ones ones just don’t seem to die.
Since part of our preparation is redundancy, I realized I had additional radios and electronic equipment in the trunk of my car, at work and at “stash points” at locations other than my home. I pulled these kits apart this week and added EMP protection to all of the electronics there. Although I have been aware of the threat of EMP for a long, long time, I hadn’t protected my secondary stuff sufficiently. I think I’ve got them all done now. (Don’t forget your radiological instruments.)
The blog posting of March 2nd and the linked information about EMP in M.D.’s review of “One Second After” is a MUST READ. (W)
Tornado season is coming. (I’m in N-Colorado but still had tornado hit my town 2 years ago.) so…
restocked bottled water stock.
checked battery stock. (need refills)
boosted mac&cheese stock. (lasts almost 2 years and with tuna/salmon tastes great)
added $50 cash to emergency supply.
Wife is totally on board prepping-wise but also is 6 months prego so lost a bit on the cravings for local food this wkend.
I somewhat comfort myself in that we are supporting local businesses…
bought a Midland two-way radio. turns out the 36mile range they advertise is somewhat bogus. In order to get the range one must register with the FCC! The low power radio comes thru clear for about a 1/2 mile. I went ahead and applied for a license just to see what the final range is here. btw it was $85 for the application. (robbery!) I will have to post on it once I get a final read on the range. My work is 16 miles away so hoping to have two radio between home and work. Anyway, if any two way requires “hi-power” one must register with the FCC to broadcast. I have been scanning the “hi-power” band for the last week and have received no other broadcasts but my own.
Will update later.
Just started the purchase of 25 acres. This will allow me to have a place to support my family WTSHTF. We will have both pasture land and woods with 6000 acres next door to utilize if needed. It is secluded enough to not be on the radar but will allow for access to other needed niceties of life. The neighbors are not too close… but they are family and of like mind set.
Right now it is void of a house so that is my next priority. Building something that will be off grid capable. Then the garden and farm animals for a variety of purposes.
I see a lot of work ahead but keeping my family safe is my goal at all costs.
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