Today I made / bought / learnt .... (for a post oil world) 2

bromius · Heavy Crude Joined: May 26, 2008 Posts: 142

Today I made a batch of apple sauce. By itself this isn't much, but I plan on canning a much larger amount once I'm satisfied that the product of my efforts will actually be edible. Right now apples are relatively cheap and abundant here so it makes sense to take advantage of the seasonal goodness.

mos6507

I finally did something that I consider to be a "prep", as lame as it may be. I'm living in my parents' inefficient house for the next year until I am ready to by a ~~doomstead~~ house. But I'm terrified that I'm going to get sucked into paying for oil heating costs that my dad is simply not used to paying because he is almost never home (he works long hours as a car salesman--ironically). So right now I'm watching the temperature start to dip and we're going to have to start using oil for more than the water heater. So I made a run at home depot. I got:

1) water heater insulation (just finished installing)
2) weatherstripping tape for drafty windows
3) shrinkwrap plastic for windows and sliding glass doors
4) lots of CFLs (indirectly related to heating because my mom and dad love to use electric space heaters)

Also, coming from Los Angeles, my wardrobe was not suitable for the cold weather so I got some corduroys and some heavier shirts, thermal underwear.

What I'd really like to do is build a passive solar wall on the side which is facing south. That's a pretty involved project, however, and I'm not sure how much it will help with all the cloudy days in new england.
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As long as I am around, there are no worries we have reached "Peak Words"

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SpringCreekFarm · Intermediate Crude Joined: Mar 03, 2006 Posts: 931

Spent the last few days on a wood cutting rampage. The weather is spectacular and I almost get spring fever when I'm back there it's so nice.

I've decided that fan or slide, I'm going to be as positive as I can be.

Here's a picture I took today.

I need 10 more of these to quell my fears of running out of firewood. I'm trying to get all the dead wood off the ground and the tops of the trees from my previous logging ventures.

Someday my horses are going to be hauling a sled like that.

I'm hoping to cut more wood this winter to widen out my trails in the woodlot and to stockpile for years when I may be unable to get my wood as easily. Actually I'm thinking of getting into selling some firewood on the side to raise some dough. I'm thinking the market for firewood is about to explode and I could make a fortune just cleaning up the crap.

PeakOiler

Not today, but a week ago, I tried a very ripe prickly pear fruit for the very first time. (Wild, not store-bought.) Excellent and very sweet. The taste was unique, but reminded me of raspberries.
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bromius · Heavy Crude Joined: May 26, 2008 Posts: 142

SpringCreekFarm> I would love to have a woodlot of my own to work on. How much acreage do you have? What's the species composition? Looks like you're doing some kind of thinning to get your wood supply. How many cords do you estimate you're getting per acre? Any particular silvicultural system you're using?

SpringCreekFarm · Intermediate Crude Joined: Mar 03, 2006 Posts: 931

JJ · Heavy Crude Joined: Aug 07, 2007 Posts: 400

from the garden; peppers, eggplant, white fleshed sweet potato (lunch today) opo squash

Bing cooking it up....

*pinakbit* with pork and bagoon

Ludi

Planted more bulbs.
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"...powerdown so soft and fluffy you'll think you're living in a pillow." - jboogy

wisconsin_cur

Been busy this summer finishing the barn, harvesting from the garden. Wife has "got religion" on the PO thing so she has been doing more learning how to cook from the garden and do some preservation work.

Thanks to a neighbor went to the field and picked up ~1000 pounds of free potatoes. They should keep in the root cellar just fine. Not a preparation in a sustainable way but boy it helps the budget and if there were to be any short-term interuptions in service this year.
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edit: purchased the homeschooling supplies we would need to get each kid through grade 3 (oldest is pre-k currently).
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“It does not do to leave a live dragon out of your calculations, if you live near him.”

J.R.R. Tolkien

RedStateGreen

Dug up some sweet potatoes. Got eight nice ones off part of one plant ... and I have twelve plants at least! This should be fun. Smile

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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

mystiek

We are still getting tomatoes from the garden. I canned 12.5 quarts of spaghetti sauce today. I also have a 1/2 bushel of sweet potatoes to deal with this week. Our wood cutting is primarily focused on wood laying around the farm right now. There are oodles of black walnut trees but its a very tedious process getting the walnut meat out the of hull-so I haven't pursued them. I would LOVE to get 1000 lbs of potatoes-especially FREE!
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Rev 21:4 and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be death, there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away.

SpringCreekFarm · Intermediate Crude Joined: Mar 03, 2006 Posts: 931

mystiek

Hmmm, that's a thought wrt the black walnuts. The ones along the road where I jog in the morning are completely smashed-maybe we shouldn't use our F350. I guess we're going to get our TN hunting and fishing license. We finally got our 12 ga pump shotgun and there's a bunch of turkeys out at the farm-so my cousin who loves to hunt turkey has laid claim to my 12 ga. Oh well, I just needed it for the zombies and I haven't seen any yet.
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Rev 21:4 and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be death, there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away.

DomusAlbion

We, with the assist of a pro, slaughtered two hogs today. Shot them, skinned and gutted them. Hanging weight of just over 500lbs. One quarter goes to a neighbor on barter. The rest goes into our freezer. We'll have plenty of pork, ham, bacon and sausage for the coming year.

We kept the gilt. She was bred to one of the males that was slaughtered. We should have a batch of piglets come January.
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"Modern Agriculture is the use of land to convert petroleum into food."
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"It will be a dark time. But for those who survive, I suspect it will be rather exciting."
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CarlinsDarlin · Moderator Joined: Jul 02, 2004 Posts: 1420

DA,
I'd like to pick your brain about your hogs. We're getting our first feeder pigs at the end of the month and I really don't have a clue about raising them. I'm doing a crash course with some locals, and doing some reading on the web, but any insight you have that would help me out would be appreciated.

There are four families participating in our area, all of us splitting the cost. We've bought fencing and poles, will split the cost of five feeder pigs, and the cost of all the feed. Then we'll each get a finished piggie, and have one extra to sell as a grown hog (hopefully to recoup some of the cost of raising the others to reinvest next year).

The pigs will be housed here (because I'm home all the time) but otherwise it's a community collaboration project. Any tips and suggestions for a complete pig newbie?
Kathy