another trip around the sun

Looking at prepping from the perspective of age takes on an entirely different level of planning. My nectarine tree is finally giving me best fruit ever, and its almost 20 years old! Of course, it was a perfect set up for it – lots of water, and no freeze after the flowers – which I think is the first time that’s happened in 20 years! But the point is, as I start cherries and a mulberry, figs, peaches and plums – am now also starting my 75th journey around the sun. Will I get to harvest?

But I keep at it.

Am expanding my garden in different ways. am looking to create more bee friendly flowering plants around the garden – and BTW, my bees are doing AWESOME. Just added the second medium super. They filled the deep one quickly – to be expected as it was only an 8 frame and five came with the starter NUC, although they were not filled when I got it. Added the first medium super only a few weeks ago. when I last checked it, there was just a little bit of comb and as the pollen sources are done for their season and we’re entering our dearth of pre-monsoon dry, saw very little pollen coming in. Imagine my surprise when I went out this morning to clean the feeder and add some sugar water to see how much comb and nectar they had built into that medium super! It was hard to really check as they did a LOT of cross combing, but decided to add the second medium super anyway. So possibly another hive for next year.

Got myself an electric canner. Find myself doing more small batches now that I’m back at it.

Oh yeah, 3 years of health issues slowed that stuff right on down. Am just getting back to being strong enough to LIFT a full canner. So yeah, my focus right now is more on food and water. Even if nothing else, will have it to supplement our ever shrinking $$$ and increasing food prices. AND lets be honest, climate change is real. We were zone 7A when we moved here 20 years ago and we’re quickly inching up to zone 9! Its all about adaptation, but see few who are willing to do that. Agri-biz can’t really. They are locked into their massive mono-cultures. While climate change has happened before, there was not such a HUGE population calling on the resources, so there will be shortages, there will be deaths, there will be food and water riots. and lets not forget the stupidity of electric cars and windmills and solar farms instead of pushing conservation. Lets not forget the ongoing acquiring of GREEN STUFF while we throw out our NOT SO GREEN STUFF, without thought for what resources it takes to make all that GREEN STUFF and where does our NOT SO GREEN STUFF go? and lets talk about Vegans who don’t want to wear leather and wool. so where do they think synthetics some from? How much fertilizer and water does it take to grow that cotton and flax and hemp?

and lastly we have You can’t fix Stupid. If you want to see really stupid, check out the facebook page for yellowstone idiots. Don’t remember the actual title now, but its all full of the stupidity that people do around the wildlife of Yellowstone national park as well as other parks. Things like spraying their kids and selves with Bear Spray thinking its like bug repellant . . .not like its a variation of pepper spray! or always trying to pet the fluffy cows. Harassing bears while they are eating. Ignoring the signs about the dangers of the hot springs while they tiptoe right up to them and dip their fingers in. or feet. or complaining about the waste of energy heating up those springs or why are there no lights and music for the Old Faithful eruptions. The ignorant are going to be the tipping of the scales

Now really the last. Cannot believe that there are still so many who see absolutely NO REASON to not conserve, to not prepare, to not change. Lake Mead levels are their best in a year, and when you check on the levels, they quote how far below full pool the level is. Full pool is 1229 feet. Dead pool is 1035 feet. lake level is 1056 feet. so only 21 feet above dead pool. Still a lot of gallons, but also a lot closer to dead pool than full pool.

Yeah, you can’t fix stupid.

Global Warming

A lot of people I know don’t think I believe in global warming / climate change. Of course I do! How can you not? We are not living in an ice age – not the first, not the second, not the mini-ice age of the 1600-1800’s! and YES, humans have accelerated the process. As far as the intensity goes, we have no way of knowing if we would have eventually gone into this hot / cold wild swings that we are currently experiencing or has it gotten more extreme because of humans rather than just accelerating us to this extreme point.

and the changes, because of industry, began with the Industrial revolution. Am sure most of us do not want to go back to life before then!

A certain amount of the damage was done from ignorance. The world was so big; the idea that was being produced as smoke, as sludge, were poisonous was probably as inconceivable as the idea that cleanliness was important during surgery. But even as we knew better, and it continues to this very day, businesses still think nothing of polluting. Sometimes I think they spend more money trying to figure out how to get rid of waste illegally and/or on lobbying to protective legislation for their industry, than they would spend installing the equipment to not have the waste to deal with in the first place!

But I still believe that it is up to US, how we spend our money, how we live our lives, that will make the changes in industry AND government – not the other way around. Saw the U.N. report about what it would take to put the brakes on and lessen the human impact, and it will require some extreme changes by human beings! and since we can’t even get humans to take their own bags to the grocery store or stop buying plastic bottles of water, how are we going to get them to make the big changes?!?!

Face it, we are SUPPOSED to be the intelligent species. We are supposed to be able to figure out how to adapt. Mostly we are sitting around with faces glued to our phones and social media whining while waiting for government to tell us what to do.

This year has been, for me, about turning my garden around and improving our self-sufficiency. Since we moved into this house 20 years ago, have seen our gardening zone go from 7a to 8a. we are drier and definitely hotter. the last two years my gardens were a bust, and this year pretty much stepped away. Over the winter had some serious health issues and while not resolved, they have been lessened and am back to being able the think and apply knowledge. Am focusing on learning more about gardening specific to our environment, improving my composting and water delivery, improving things like shade cloths and creating micro environments.

And, putting my money where my mouth is, it is also about spending less, while living better. It has meant an investment in things like better shade cloths, better supports for shade cloths, better fencing around gardens to protect from hungry, thirsty critters. and fortunately, have been able to afford that expense. But also, once done, it should be DONE.

am also extending my Olla use, another investment; for specific shapes more suitable for the containers I use, and bigger ones for the in ground beds. Just the little bit of monitoring and use this year, am seeing a BIG reduction in the water needed for my garden. Still don’t have enough stored rain water – hard to do when for 11 months we had NO rain!

Next year will also be working on more flowers as want to bring bees back into the mix. That will be lots of pots of flowers, more than in ground beds. There is also an area behind the house that is hot and dry and can easily be given a hit of water to establish some mesquite and bird of paradise which will eventually be drought tolerant, flowering shade to break the intense sun one area gets. Seeds for both will come from existing plants. Once established they will add shade, habitat, and be drought tolerant. Oh, the irony of having to use water to create a drought tolerant habitat!!

The area of the country I live in has been hit hard by this climate change. Not just recognized by our change in grow zone, for the first time, in 2022, there will be a decrease in the water allocations from the Colorado river. Lake Mead is at record lows and even the production of electricity for Las Vegas and southern CA is at risk. We do not rely on Lake Mead for water, but it will make a difference in how others see our aquifer – like the water companies in Phoenix. And while we do not rely on Hoover Dam for electricity, that shortfall will put other stresses on the grid. And as noted above, we went 11 months without ANY rainfall, along with record breaking temperatures from March 2020 to March 2021. A lot of the fruits and veggies that we all like are WATER based: zucchini, peppers, strawberries, berries of all kinds, peaches, tomatoes, etc. not only need water to grow, need water to form their fruits as water is so much a part of their fruit. If only we could recapture that water when dehydrating them!

Will never be Self-sufficient. Even switching over to electric bike and car still means solar panels and batteries. Getting water uphill to my garden from my tanks means a lot of manual hauling or using an electric pump to other tanks. TANKS themselves! hoses. And as I am learning, there is no 100% recycling. There will be losses that need to be made up. The volume of nutrients pulled from the soil, will not be returned when the old plants are composted as the fruits have gone into bellies and canning jars. so the net loss needs to be made up somehow. But its all a start and at least I will know I’ve tried to help, to teach, and to leave something positive behind.

e-Trike

Took awhile to get this sorted due to a bad controller and a bad throttle. but now it gets me where I need to go.  Did take it down to the creek, part of why I purchased this, and was pleasantly surprised that the road down was not as steep as I thought it would be, nor as long.  But in much worse shape!  Made it down and back with ease, although that was without carrying 100 lbs of water with me

It can be charged off one of my Goal Zero’s with no problem.

Right now, I’m using it to go to the farmer’s market and some recreational riding around the area.  Plus, that recreational riding is helping me build my own endurance and get used to the gearing and such necessary to ride up and down hills with a load.

how much is enough

first a little background

I was born at the end of the Truman era, before “I Like Ike”.   Grew up with duck and cover drills in school as the city where I lived was just on the other side of the NYC line.  Sometimes we filed into the hall and stood facing the wall, sometimes it was true duck under our desk.  Later, we were digging holes in our back yards to build bomb shelters – places to hide with our families with enough supplies for  maybe up to 3 months and then what?  And no air filters so we would be bringing in radioactivity anyway!

When I was still a young teen, first read Earth Abides and was awakened to the idea of Pandemic.  By that time the cold war was fading, nuclear limitation treaties were being talked about, and there was definitely a change in the cold war.  Soon after that we moved to Vietnam protests as I saw the older brothers of my school friends being sent off to die.  And then it became my peers who were dying.

and at this same time we began moving into the “environmental movement”;  awakening to the damage being done to the environment by industry.

the bottom line being, most of my “developmental” years were spent being made aware of the limitations of the human species – both naturally and through our own foolishness.

And I began learning basic skills. Sewing, canning, growing, making.

Lived in NYC at the time and wondered about surviving any one of all the possible things that could happen to mankind, as well as how I would survive simple things like unemployment.

Then I met the man with whom I’d be spending the next 33 years (as of this weekend) and moved to a more rural area where I began expanding on my skills with a real garden, preserving, learning, plus having more room to store some extra canned goods, water, etc.

And now we are living in a small city, with a bit of land, in the desert southwest. and have the room to do a bit more prepping.  Plus we are older, less able to do some things.

So, how do we prep?  As we get into serious prepping, we make lists – mental or written – based on reality.

Where we live, the terrain will not allow tornadoes to form.  We live far enough from the ocean that hurricanes are wind and rain; High winds and maybe a lot of rain, but just wind and rain.  We live on high ground.  The most snow I’ve seen here is about 18″ and the coldest we’ve experienced here is 17F.  The longest we’ve been without power was about 12 hours when the main electrical supply from the street box to the house shorted out.  We are on the edge of an earthquake zone, but so far they have been small and few.  There are extinct volcanos in the neighborhood, but its been MILLENIA since they’ve been active.

So what SHTF scenario am I prepping for?  Our one real threat is forest fire.  So yes, I have a bug out bag, some money, a little dehydrated food and camp equipment to grab and go.  And if we have a real fire, we will lose all other preps.

What are my next level possibilities?  Grid failure (of any type), civil unrest,  pandemic, economic collapse – not in an particular order.

and that’s where I stall.

Right now I have 3000 gallons of water storage, but if it doesn’t rain – as it hasn’t – those tanks stand empty.  We’ve had two rainstorms of any amount so far in 2018 and its nearing the end of May.

Have an electric Trike, small portable power pack, pump, and some empty containers so I can go to the creek and get water.

Composters

Garden beds, Ollas, drip irrigation systems.

Goal Zero Yeti’s – 1000 and 1250 – plus 2 x 100w solar panels.  So maybe one or more solar panels.

5 gallon water storage containers for about 30 gallons of water.

food.  Dried food, canned food, commercial dehydrated and home dehydrated.  Commercial canned and home canned.

First aid supplies – yes, they could be expanded.

books.

oil lamps, rocket stove, greenhouse, camping equipment.

So where do I go from here? What do I keep doing?  Pretty much, its still about food!

Any other suggestions???

question??

Does anyone know, or has anyone tried, using Yucca root for cleaning / laundry.

Just reading about “soap nuts” and have ordered some to try.  Then it occurred to me, that we have our own plant with natural saponofins (or however it is spelled) for cleaning.  native Americans use Yucca root for hair and body cleaning, so why not laundry and general household work?

Or do I have to be the one to try it out??

practice makes perfect

While the DH just bought an electric powered Traeger pellet smoker, I’m still working with my “alternatives”.  And just ordered a 400w Goal Zero so I have a portable unit for keeping my Trike charged on the road, and for other portable needs.

Earlier this year we had to change the bib on our 1100 gallon water tank as it was leaking badly.  The bib on the 1000 gallon tank is leaking as is the bib on the 350 gallon tank.  Now, we see one leg on the 650 gallon horizontal leg tank is buckling and cracking as the earth has shifted under it.  So this morning we are emptying it with deep garden watering and the rest will be pumped into one of the other tanks.

and that leads back to the Yeti 400.  Right now, we have no rain.  Have only had two rains this year so far; the first one filled the tanks, the second one added about 100 gallons to them, but they were already 1/2 empty by then.  So what would we do if we had to refill the tanks?  Ride down to the creek, fill up bottles and bring them home and transfer them.  the yeti 400 will allow me to use a pump leaving the bottles in the back of the Trike (or car if we have fuel) and transfer that water into the tanks rather than having to lift and haul.  Still a lot of trips to fill 3000 gallons of tank!!

Of course, SHasn’tHTF, and we can just turn on the house hose bib.

PLUS, the Trike has an electrical problem and I’m discovering that I can barely peddle myself up a hill, much less the Trike with a load!!

While out on the Trike yesterday (practicing going up hill on human power alone), stopped at a garage sale and picked up a new Coleman two burner stove, with 2 medium (about quart sized) gas cans for $20.  We already have a couple of older ones, this will go into my Westy – if we ever get it back on the road.  That is going to be set up as a bug out vehicle. With forest fires raging around us, am constantly reminded how necessary that may be one day and not every place will take the dog . . .nor does she want to be just any place; she is a barker!

but before I put it away, want to make sure I know how to use it. Its been years since I’ve done so.

cause practice makes perfect.

hard work

Did some work in the garden today – transplanting, feeding, watering, trimming, dealing with problems, etc.

Then set up the solar oven to cook chicken breasts for lunch.

with more than 2 hours spent all together, it occurred to me how much harder this would all be if I were going for full self-reliance; feeding us for a year from our land, rather than just supplementing what we are able to buy.  How hard it would be to bring in water if we couldn’t just turn on the taps and the water tanks were empty due to drought.

How the single boysenberry plant, the single blackberry plant, the two grape plants are not really enough for more than  a special treat once a year.  how many potatoes I’d have to plant to have enough for a year.  How already I’ve lost two plants to what I think is Verticillium wilt – was it from the manure/compost I added to the pot or were they contaminated seed potatoes?  At least, being an isolated grow bag, I can dump that. No isolating a section of my limited grow space for 7 years!  Meanwhile have planted a salvia in that bag, don’t know if it will succumb, but if it does, may help me better diagnose what has gone wrong!

Last year we put in a new raised (as in standing counter height) bed next to the kitchen, but I keep forgetting to water it.  Had set aside a small section of the main garden for beans, think I’ll put some pole beans in there and use the new bed for bush beans.  There is already a crop coming up in the greenhouse, along with some zucchini and tomatoes.  Matter of fact, we picked and ate a zucchini after a 34F cold night!

But our ancestors had to use other methods to extend their seasons and they had to work long and hard, day in and day out.  No putting the watering lines of a timer while they went on vacation.  and this doesn’t even begin to take into consideration the long time consuming process of house cleaning!

No wonder as the years went by they were ready to embrace the time freeing miracle appliances of refrigerators, washing machines, and vacuum cleaners!

and demonstrates to me, once again, while I need alternate power around here, because at my age, and I’m not getting younger!, I will want to be able to keep that vacuum, that refrigerator, those lightbulbs, going no matter what happens in the future!

water

How much water is enough?

Unless you are right on a creek, lake, or marsh, there isn’t enough.

Right now, I have 3000 gallons of water storage – not full.  Accidently left one 350gallon tank open and thoroughly watered a couple of trees, but left nothing else for later.

We’ve had no rain for a few weeks and none of any quantity is expected until July.  That’s right, its April and I’m talking July before we get rain.  It is the beginning of a drought cycle, and if we see major rains once or twice through out the year, we’ll be lucky.

Saturday I prepared one 3.5′ x 15′ planting bed.  This bed is completely lined with pavers to hold moisture and keep the digging creatures out.  dug into the soil a lot of organic matter including some manure (store bought, no horses nearby that we know) as well as some fine coconut fibre.  Buried 4 ollas in the bed, each intended to water an area of 2 feet around the olla.  Then I planted some chard seedlings, some eggplants and some tomatoes, leaving plenty of room for more plants.  The ollas were filled, the ground watered thoroughly, the plants drenched.  That was Saturday.  Today, Monday, the Ollas were empty.  As the ground is really dry, it will take awhile for that to balance out and today filled the Ollas and drenched the ground again.  Plus did another bed with ollas, and squash, plus a planter with small ollas and pea seeds.

I use Ollas, mulch, and shade cloths.  and my 3000 gallons will water my entire garden, for 30 days with care.  That’s it.  Just 30 days, the garden only.  My food source.

This year am cutting back on the garden some due to personal time restraints.  But SHTF, I will need every calorie that garden can produce!

and that requires water whether or not it rains!

unexpected consequences

Yesterday fell off my Trike.  and it hurt!

Bought my Trike for several reasons, but one of them was because we live a little more than a mile UPHILL from a year round creek, which would be our only water source when the storage tanks run out, SHTF.  and our 3000 gallons of water storage would only last about a month of garden watering alone if there’s no rain.  Humping gallons of water from the tank would not be fun, but hauling a few gallons at a time with a vehicle would make it all so much easier.

Hence, the Trike.

So yesterday went over that way to see how steep that hill really is and can I get up it with a loaded Trike!

and the short answer is NO

As mentioned in another post gained 25 lbs last year and that puts me close to the max weight allowance for the Trike.  and I don’t have the leg power to assist the motor.  Ended up running backwards, one wheel went off the pavement, swung the bike across the slope and there was no place to go but tip over!

And when I hit the ground, my gun, which is in a belly band off to the side for cross draw, slammed into my arm with all my body weight.  It took me awhile to realize why my arm hurt so much as I don’t think about the gun in that way.

Being 68, am really lucky that I was able to pick the trike up, put the chain back on it, and pedal home, instead of ending up in the hospital with broken bones.  Seem to have just sprained my forearm.  Although last night was wondering if I didn’t need the ER!

So besides having to lose weight, have to get stronger leg muscles, and keep doing those exercises that keep my bones strong!

Which is why prepping is about our health and strength as much as it is about canned goods, dried rice, and water!!

age and the prepping dream

Almost everyone has a dream for when they no longer have to work, or for when they have enough money, or , or, or.  They’re dreams right? for the future.

A lot of people step forward and begin living their dreams when they retire.  For those who have managed well, they get to retire in their 50’s.  Most don’t retire until their 60’s, mid to late.

For preppers, the dreams are things like bunkers full of food, a source of water, good soil for gardening, lots of ammo, etc.

Know someone who has just purchased his dream acreage in the high desert.  The only development to the land has been putting in a well, and electric to run the well.  The lots around him are so far undeveloped.  and he is 62.

Know he has plans for solar, greenhouse, chicken, some other livestock, barn, house of some sort, etc.

and I admit to some envy  -mostly because of his isolation.  People are really rubbing me wrong lately.

But began thinking of his plans.  How long will it take to get all this set up for full homesteading?  he’s 62.  If we works fast and throws a lot of money at it, less than 5 years to get a garden in, barns, chickens, livestock, manure piles, compost, root cellar, cisterns,  solar panels, batteries, wiring, some sort of grey water and composting toilet set up.  Then he’ll be 67.  He’s single right now, and while know he is looking for a partner on the land, he’s unlikely to find a hard working 40 year old  – unless its someone thinking the old man will croak and they’ll have this fine homestead . . . . . the preppers version of a sugar daddy . . . .

anyway, at 67, presuming he threw out a lot of money to get it done, how hard can he work this acreage? managing that livestock, turning those manure piles, moving the compost into his garden beds, harvesting, preserving, managing, etc.  And if he’s doing this mostly by his own sweat, rather than with beacoup $$$, really how hard can he keep going?

Five more years, how strong is he now?  how hard can he work?

and notice I’m not considering any health issues, presuming that fresh air, good food, and hard work will keep him healthy!

So my envy of his fulfilling his dream is countered by my being 68.  I’ve got arthritis and am losing strength in my hands.  Eye sight is going, cataracts are common for those living in the desert.  Husband is a year younger but he has stenosis of the spine, and his eyesight is also going.  hopefully, he’ll get his cataracts operated on this year.   both of us have noticed a loss of hearing (too much rock n roll!!)   We do not have beacoup $$ to spend on land and its development, even if we sold off what we do have now.  Even if we decided to go that way, I’d be at least 70 before we closed and moved on (it took mr. 62 about 2 years to sell his old property and then time to find the perfect new place).  70 years old to be starting to learn how to homestead, deal with livestock, plant and harvest and preserve.  Kill and skin and preserve.

What kind of strength will have? what kind of skills would be able to develop to counter our lack of strength and knowledge?  How long and far could we push our soft citified bodies?

So the dream is changed, reality sets limitations, and we move on in a different direction.   And lets be honest, with what’s going on in the world now, prepping does seem like it was a really good idea!

Think its time to check the inventory and see what holes I have in my stores . . .