Joined: Sep 14, 2004 Posts: 6481 Location: Rural Virginia
Posted: Mon May 05, 2008 9:37 pm Post subject: Re: What are your prep projects this year?
Heineken wrote:
Here are the goals I set at the beginning of the thread:
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."
Here's my update, keyed point-for-point:
1. That cold is history.
2. Dad is in a nursing home for good now. He's broken a hip three times now. He'll never walk again. Now I'm dealing with my Mother, who's difficult enough as it is, and totally lost without him.
3. The tennis elbow is history, and I'm able to close a No. 1 Captains of Crush gripper. However, I seem to have developed some arthritic pain in my hips.
4. Planted the Rhodes heartnut trees, and they're leafing out beautifully.
5. Japanese beetle protection structures completed around two plum trees. Also built three (of a different design) around three grapevines I planted this spring and will be growing using the Kniffen system. Two of the grapevines are starting to grow and are lookin' good; one is either dilatory or dead.
6. Did some more excavation work on the pond.
7. 3,000 loblolly seedlings planted in field on tree farm. More trail completed.
8. Tomatoes planted. Not growing much yet due to unusually cool weather. Still too early for cukes. I might give melons a shot.
9. Ten yellow-poplar logs inoculated with oyster mushroom spawn.
10. Extensive renovation work nearly completed on main house. (We hired a company to do this.)
11. Have not bought any more ammunition or done any shooting.
12. Decided not to restart hen operation for now, due to high cost of feed and need to limit my workload.
13. Have failed to develop a steady state of calmness. Instead, I'm more worried and fearful than ever. Gotta keep working on it. _________________ "Actually, humans died out long ago."
---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
Posted: Tue May 06, 2008 2:38 pm Post subject: Re: What are your prep projects this year?
I need to catch up, so first I will start with what I have already accomplished this year:
-Double dug half my yard and built (4)14'x3' raised beds. Then found someone with decomposed horse manure to mix in with our soil for the beds.
-Installed a drip irrigation system to all the raised beds, ran a drip line to our apple tree, ran a drip line for our raspberries, ran a drip line for our blue berries.
-Purchased nearly 100 1 quart canning jars and everything to can food.
-Acquired (3)55 gallon plastic drums for our aquaponics system.
-Built a chicken coop.
-Built a three layer compost bin, just got my red wigglers worms yesterday : )
-Increased our food supply to about 2 months supply.... Not totally sure, I need to figure out just how long what we have will last....
-Stocked up on first aid supplies.
Ok now for what still needs to be accomplished:
-Build a solar cooker
-Install a high efficiency wood stove to heat the house in the winter
-Trim the crap out of the tree in my backyard so I have more solar potential.
-Build the Aquaponics system and stock with tilapia or catfish.
-Build a fence around the chicken coop
-Acquire 3 or 4 chickens for eggs
-Build our rain water collection system.
-Install a basic solar system to power a water pump for a portion of the year. (More power added later)
-Built underground food storage bins.
-Build a greenhouse.
-Get to know the people in our community better. _________________ Tired of high gas prices? Then stop driving to work, duh..... Learn to Work from home
Joined: Dec 25, 2005 Posts: 577 Location: Hillsboro, West Virginia
Posted: Wed May 07, 2008 1:36 pm Post subject: Re: What are your prep projects this year?
My main prep project this year is to learn how to forage and to identify as many edible wild plants near my house as possible.
SECLUDED HOUSE IN RURAL LOCATION... check.
GUNS AND AMMO... plenty.
WATER SYSTEM... up and running.
RENEWABLE FOOD SYSTEM (ORCHARD)... in progress.
PANTRY... full.
HYPERSPACE MODULE... charging. 35% capacity and rising. The mothership will be ready for the hyperdrive test in 10 minutes.
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Then stop driving to work, duh..... 
