What are your prep projects this year?

strider3700

While it's nice to see my start your post peak gardens now thread was brought back to the top, it got me thinking. We're 8 days into a new year and for those of us in the north we're pretty much in the dead of winter so the vast majority of preps are planning or indoors related. I have been cleaning my back yard slowly in prep for another garden but I have lots of prep jobs that I want to do this year which aren't garden related.

So I figure we should have a thread stating what we intend to do this year that will allow you to post updates as the progress continues. Assessments and Plans is a great thread but it more high level in nature. I'm talking about medium sized projects that you are intending to do this year.

To get it started here is my list of things that I want to accomplish this year.

First off that back yard garden. Last year this time my back yard looked something like this. After bribing two buddies with beer and machete's we had it partially cleared by the end of the day. Lately I've started doing some logging and here is it's current state.

Yes it is the side of a hill. Worse it's the northern side of a hill so it currently gets exactly zero direct sunlight. The sun should be back in my yard mid February and I'm hoping that it will hit in this cleared area by early April. My intention is to cut all of the tree's within my property and then put gardens starting as far down the hill as possible. Yeah I've got a hell of a lot of work ahead of me. According to this handy dandy garden calendar page I won't need to be planting anything until march 3rd but because this area won't be receiving sun at that point I will be holding off on any back yard planting until at least april 1st. So that gives me roughly 4 months to go from forest to garden beds. I'll also need to set up a million slug traps if I intend to keep anything that I'll grow back there.

Next on the list is a chicken coop and possibly a chicken tractor setup. Since there is no sun for 4-5 months the chickens will not be kept in a tractor all year. Due to some possible serious predator issues (those woods go on for about 50 miles until they reach the ocean so lots of wildlife) I also can't just fence the yard and let the chickens run free with a coop. I don't know enough about chickens yet but I will pick a corner at the top of the yard where I can't cut the tree's because they aren't mine and put in a coop and fenced predator resistant yard. I'd love to get chickens working over the new bed areas since they are so rough as is so tractors may make an appearance. I have no idea how long this will take to build. I want to be ready for chicks sometime near June though.

Also to do this summer I need to build a woodshed. I'm thinking something roughly 12' long x4'deep x8' tall in the front. I have to make it "portable" since it will technically be partially on my neighbours property but will be 8 feet from the fence on my side (long story) They won't care but new owners one day may. So the plan is to use some of those concrete deck blocks and some of my left over pressure treated 4x4 posts. The roof will be fiberglass sheets that I was given. This should only be a couple of weekends worth of work and thats only because I need to dig out part of a hillside to get the back posts in and level the space.

Now the big project. My back yard below the hill has become the place my construction materials go to die. I'm not sure why the wife isn't happy with it Wink

Anyways this summer that must be cleaned. Where those doors and siding are stacked will get some form of patio. maybe a poured slab maybe blocks. Either way it will be better. The existing patio will have those stairs in front removed and the railing there and to the side where the cement will go will be turned into all stairs. Over the patio I want to do some form of trellis with a solid roof right next to the L. My solar panels can then go up there instead of on the ground like they currently are. I did a quick sketch of the house ages ago and it's still sort of accurate for what I want. I don't know when this will be done. Hopefully before September.

Also I have an old hotwater tank that I want to turn into a preheat tank and I want to build a solar collector to heat some hotwater this summer. I'd like to place it on top of the trellis as well. I have no idea when I'll be doing this.

So anyway that's the big outside projects for me this year. I'm sure other things will come up. What is everyone else planning to get done this year?
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PeakOiler · Last edited by PeakOiler on Tue Jan 08, 2008 7:20 pm; edited 2 times in total

You're welcome Strider. I thought it was time for a bump of the "You Need to Start Your Post Peak Gardens NOW" thread. It's a very good thread.

My prep plans this year is to finish the work on my expanded garden. I want to put in the rest of the chainlink fence and splice in more 2" PVC pipe from the rainwater cisterns plumbing for the extra irrigation needs. I want at least 3100 gallons more storage capacity too, (2 x 1550 gallon tanks).

I still want to get a good greenhouse and gutter that up for more rainwater catchment surface.

Anyone want to help? Wink

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rj5156 · Coal Joined: Jan 08, 2008 Posts: 16

Garden prep the lazy way: Buy some landscaping black plastic. Leaves, straw, etc. can be added to the area. Water it some. Cover your intended garden plot with the plastic, stake or hold down with heavy stuff (rocks, concrete blocks, firewood, etc.)

Check back in a couple of months. The worms do a FINE job of tilling our garden using this method.

Smile

billp

Shannymara · Master Joined: Oct 04, 2004 Posts: 5440 Location: Oklahoma

Get rid of a whole lot of "stuff" I don't need, selling some and donating some to charity.

Install chimney and wood cookstove, and get proficient with using it.

Purchase chainsaw.

Install the PV system and Sundanzer that have been sitting in my closet for 2 years.

Build a graywater system, and use it to establish some water loving plants.

Practice to become a better shot.

Learn to hunt.

Build an outdoor kitchen, especially for canning but also for any other cooking we want to do when it's warm out.

Establish milk and egg sales, and hopefully barter some with neighbors for hay.

Set up a small greenhouse.

Finally plant all my potted trees in the ground.

Set up rainwater water catchment system.

Maybe make a pond, but that might wait until 2009.

We shall see how many of these goals get accomplished in 2008... Rolling Eyes

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"Every junkie's like a setting sun..." - Neil Young

patience · Expert Joined: Jan 04, 2008 Posts: 1524

Too many things started, and not enough finished! We spent the past year collecting parts and materials, and have all the stuff to:

Build the roof on the woodshed,12' x12'.

Build the log splitter.

Fill the woodshed.

Build the woodstove.

Put insulation, wiring and a ceiling in the sunporch, in time for starting this year's seedlings. Wish me luck.

Mount the solar panels on the shop roof, build the cement block battery shed, and lay cable for it The control Panel is done and mounted. Then, help my neighbor put up his identical system.

Fix the leaks in the cistern, (ideas anyone?) and install the newly rebuilt hand pump.

And, if we can get that retirement money pulled out before the market/banks take a dump, buy more solar stuff! (current system is 4 170 watt panels and 8 trojan batteries. want to build another like this, for more power.) A local guy "in the know" says our 10 cent/kwhr rate will double in 2-3 years.

The new metal roof and gutters on the house are done! Lotsa water collection there. Gonna be a busy year....

Shannymara · Master Joined: Oct 04, 2004 Posts: 5440 Location: Oklahoma

Oh yes, thanks for reminding me, patience. Also on our list is to build a wrap-around screened in porch, and drill a water well. Both of those may also be in 2009, though - it really depends on cash flow.
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"Every junkie's like a setting sun..." - Neil Young

SpringCreekFarm · Intermediate Crude Joined: Mar 03, 2006 Posts: 891

Wow Shanny! That sure is quite a list. I've been at this stuff for years and I don't think there is a year that everything gets done.

This year I'd like to:

Start and complete the barn renovation project which I posted a thread on.

Finish the barnyard fences and get my anchor posts in around a few fields.

Build 2 lean-to type woodsheds off the old garage.

Purchase my own haying equipment.

Convert part of my small barn to a cold cellar.

Put a small deck on the house.

I'd better quit for now. I'll check back a year from now and see what has happened.

Shannymara · Master Joined: Oct 04, 2004 Posts: 5440 Location: Oklahoma

Heineken

Good thread idea. Sort of a "New Year's resolutions for POer futurists and survivalists." It certainly doesn't hurt to get one's thoughts and plans organized in this annual fashion.

Unfortunately, not all my projects this year will be of the "prep" sort, and some will be just vaguely prep or will be necessary to resolve before I can get back to prep. But I'll list them anyway.

1. Recover from a nasty cold.
2. Recover emotionally from a big decision regarding my elderly parents (to keep them at home, at least for now, rather than sending them into assisted living).
3. Recover from tennis elbow (aka lateral epicondylitis) in my left arm, a very disabling injury for preppers, take it from me. I'm making steady progress thanks to a PT program I designed based on Internet research and a single session with a physical therapist. Tennis elbow (and its close cousin, golf elbow) is worthy of a thread of its own. Your hands and arms have to remain strong and healthy or your prep plans can get shot to hell very quickly.
4. Plant two more heartnut trees (a grafted variety called Rhodes, which was developed in Tennessee and should thus be able to handle our Virginia heat). That will about do it for my multiyear fruit and nut tree planting program.
5. Build Japanese beetle-exclusion barriers (wooden frameworks covered, after pollination, with insect barrier material) around my three plum trees, as an experiment.
6. Finish dam-and-pond project. Cover oak logs on spillway side of dam with same post--wire--cement system as on front of dam. Pump out pond during dry hot period in summer and finish excavation job.
7. Continue building trail system on my pine plantation south of here (I have almost a mile of nice, winding trail done already, a hell of a job). Plant 7-acre open field on plantation with third-generation loblolly seedlings with cost-share assistance from state of Virginia (they're going to pay $1,100 toward this, which should completely or almost completely cover my cost). Do some TSI work; maybe cut down or girdle some trees that were damaged in the thinning operation in 2006. Do some camping; buy tent.
8. Get another great, long-lasting crop of tomatoes and cucumbers and a few herbs, stuff like that. I'm not an avid gardener but I always grow mountains of tomatoes and dehydrate what I can't eat.
9. Expand mushroom-cultivation operation to include oyster mushrooms propagated in yellow-poplar logs; I'm very excited about this since learning that these are even easier to grow than shiitakes and taste just as good. Add more shiitake logs too. BTW, mushrooms are a great source of protein.
10. Do needed renovation work on parents' house and the apartment over the garage. Replace asphalt-shingle roof on the latter with tin roof.
11. Buy and stockpile more ammo for my two guns. Do a little target shooting. I'm not much of a gun nut, try as I might.
12. Possibly start another hen flock (my chicken coop has stood empty for the past two years now). I hesitate to do that, since I'm already biting off more than I can chew, but I do miss those home-grown eggs. I have zero interest in growing chickens for meat; I've already been there and don't like it and don't recommend it. Experiment with using pine needles as litter.
13. Work, always work, on developing a calmer approach to life's irritants and avoiding Dyer's "Erroneous Zones."
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---Abused, abandoned hunting dog

"Things have entered a stage where the only change that is possible is for things to get worse."
---Me and my brother

RedStateGreen

This is a good thread. Smile

This year I plan to:

Dig the pond in the back (the start of my aquaponics set up)

Plant a salt bush by the utility box in the front (yummy and landscape both)

Add an edible border to the front walkway (I'm thinking herbs and medicinals here)

Start seedlings from all the seeds I've bought so far

Learn to spin

Get two angora rabbits to learn to take care of them and harvest their fur

Take a sock-knitting class

Buy my piece of land (I'm hoping prices drop a bit, 'cause everything nearby is more than I can afford right now)

Learn to make bread at least as good as the store's (almost there now!)(I'm highly motivated as I love bread Very Happy

)

Networking with the local food co-op, food bank, homesteaders and fiber artists: made a decent start in late 2007, the goal is to get a group of people I can go to for advice/training/help where and if needed.

Put in my blueberry bush (and my pomegranate tree if it gets big enough, right now it's just a seedling).

Double the area for food-growing in the back
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Conservation is conservative

It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the ones most responsive to change. -- Charles Darwin

catbox

-More raised beds and berries go in to the back lot.

-The new chicken coop will see some
residents move in this spring.

-The driveway comes out, gets some fencing, and more raised beds and greenhouse go in.

-Updating the rain catchment system.

-And if all works out money-wise....Solar project will begin, and a wood stove will be installed.

That's it for us.

cb
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IslandCrow

For some reasons, that I won't go into here, I will not have a lot of spare cash this year to spend on preps, so many of my projects have slide way down the list to the "it would be nice to do but I probably will be able to do it" category.

However, high on the list for this year are:
1) Have the old well cleaned out and install a hand pump.
2) Work on drying/storage space for wood.
3) strip and repaint the outside window frames

And my son thinks I should take up carpentry this year so I am looking for projects that are a) simple, b) don't matter to much how they look Crying or Very sad

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We should teach our children the 4-Rs: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle and Rejoice.

uNkNowN ElEmEnt

For 2008:

1. start rabbit stock (2 does and 1 buck)
2. pull out all unedible trees (6) and re-plant in 2 blueberry bushes (I've been packing these around with me for two years and they are trying to produce in med-sized platers) and 2 hazelnuts 4 dwarf fruit trees.
3. Move strawberry bed to road for sun
4. add new pepper plant over place I can't use for anything else
5. put in new 4 x 6 garden bed
6. put in additional salad bed (makes 2 other than raised beds I use for other things)
7. make 4 or 5 hypertufa planters to use along side trailer for peas and beans. make 2 more for cukes in front
8. make gasifier for car
9. finish ripping walls apart and reinsulating and drywalling trailer.
10. fix bathroom ceiling fan
11. set up welded tower for water catchment
12. plant out garden to 4 or 5 main crops, put tomatoes in containers all along garden fence.

and that's just off the top of my head. I have a full spreadsheet of stuff to do. this is also along with working full time, raising 3 kids and my own business. gonna be a fun year... can't wait to get started on it all.

CarlinsDarlin · Moderator Joined: Jul 02, 2004 Posts: 1400

Edited to add another item.