2020 - APRIL - Prepping Updates

Started this month's thread.

Still toiling away at making masks. Finished 145 or so - most of those go to the nursing home, but we've been giving them out to neighbors, too. My kids friends in Houston are asking if we will make some for them, apparently, one town in Texas is instituting a $1000 fine if people even come out of their houses without a mask. The Houstonites are getting nervous, so we're making a batch of masks for them and their families.

Husband worked on the 3rd bed in the garden again, but the rain deluge has stopped work for the moment.

Been tending to the fields, all turned now, will be planting potatoes, sweet corn, field corn, wheat, soy beans, etc., mostly for the cows. Cows won't be getting the potatoes or the sweet corn, those are for us and the kids.

Trimmed the apple trees, I neglected some of them last year and I paid the price for it this year. I have 2 pear trees and they really haven't produced much over the years, maybe a bushel or two a year, I'll give them this year and then they'll be firewood.

Cleaned the solar panels and did some maintenance on the one set of batteries that aren't maintenance free. Started up the generators and let them run for about 15 minutes. I'll be starting my prepper and tomato plants next week. Got my onions in and the garlic is looking real nice, about 6 inches high now.

Was able to get a pulse oximeter from Amazon so I can now monitor O2 levels in case one of us starts showing symptoms. That will let us provide telemedicine workers with more info and hopefully keep us away from the hospitals unless it's critical...

The cat food we used to get for kitties was discontinued, so I had to get a few small bags to see what new options would work. Sure, I have about 7-8 months of dry food and a year's worth of treats for the cats, but I don't want that to run low. After taste testing I've ordered 2 bags of dry food that should give us another 3-4 months of supply and get us back up to a years worth of food for them without dipping into the human supplies.  

Also saw that my local market had restocked the boxed ultra-pasteurized milk so I grabbed a couple of boxes. Will grab a few anytime they are available on my weekly restocking trips. Boxed milk is so much tastier than reconstituted powdered milk for my morning cereal, so wanted to have options while stores are still getting stocked.

And yes, I'm still going to out to shop at the markets and wholesale club although I'm very careful about maintaining social distancing and have hand sanitizer in my car for use as soon as I've loaded up my purchases. I don't want to start digging into my LTS until things get worse since it won't take much for what's left of the supply chain to come crashing down. But when the markets have lines outside the store I just drive away since I don't want to risk the contact....

Now that the weather is improving I'm clearing out the planting beds so I can plant some basil and onions to help stretch our supplies if things last into the summer. A taste of fresh always makes meals more interesting.

Definitely living in interesting times. Hope everyone is staying as safe as they can.

Husband went to town this morning, with the thought that Tuesday senior day is becoming too crowded. Sure enough, he was right, he said there were very few people in the store today at 7 AM. All the workers were wearing masks. (He was too). He managed to find everything we wanted. Everything was sanitized before we put it away, his clothes went into the washer, and he took a shower.

Now he is working on the solar array, building the frame.

We made more masks this morning and prepped them to be mailed to the recipients. I signed up for a USPS account online and use PayPal to pay for postage and supplies. No contact between us and the mailman, now.

I've probably gone through some 20 yards of fabric, at least 10 spools of thread, all of my elastic and quilt binding and every fabric scrap big enough to make a mask. My sewing area is now skeletal...I probably won't be replenishing anytime soon.

Its good fri so I planted taters..

I also cleaned out the chicken house.. It never fails to amaze me how much a little chicken can poop....

We are still making masks for donations to nursing homes. Several generous people have helped out with money for postage and more supplies. My daughter and I have made over 400 masks so far.

Husband had to buy some hinges for the solar unit and while he was in town, he bought a half sheet of plywood so if we get bored, we can paint my barn quilt for our garage.

We are waiting for the Spring rains to stop so we can get back to garden work.

Started 6 dozen pepper and tomato plants, started an extra dozen or so this year. Bought extra lettuce and cabbage seed this year 'cause of the coronavirus. I'm going to try and plant some carrots this year, never tried them before. I'm sure more produce will be getting scarce pretty soon.

Went up on the hill and picked a mess of leeks for our Easter ham and leek dinner. Gave a lot of the leeks to family and 2 of the neighboring farms.

Rotated out 15 gallons of gas and 10 gallon of diesel. Cleaned the solar panels, heck, seems like I clean them every 3 days.

Having a beef butchered in a week of so, so the family will have enough beef for a while. Chickens are laying a little better now, since the weather is getting warmer.

Stay safe everybody and plant extra this year, you may need it.

Despite the freeze we had going the last few days, it appears the planted part of the garden hasn't suffered. The peach tree is still bursting with leaves, don't know yet if the tiny peaches will drop off or not.

We can replant everything but the peaches.

The blackberry bush is leafing out, but no blossoms yet, hope that means it will blossom and get fruit.

Still making masks to donate...the demand is going up.

Scored at the grocery yesterday.. They had pork butt roast for .99 per lb. I bought 25lbs going to make sausage in the next day or 2

Has anybody ever harvested Rhubarb seeds ???

I am a newbie at this one so any suggestions would help

Thanks

Still making masks to donate! (It's never ending!). People keep giving me more supplies by mailing or leaving packages on the porch. Just donated a boatload to a local nursing home. Also mailed out a bunch to family and friends today.

I'm about ready to find another project to work on, I certainly have enough other things to do!

I made an Amazon grocery order...I needed milk bones for the dogs, so I added a few other things to the order, too. I've never tried powdered real cream, I'll post results when I do use it. I got cat food, too, despite the fact we're well stocked. Haven't seen the food they love on the shelves in a while, and there it was on Amazon, so I got it.

Other than that, we keep busy daily, despite the rain. Kid is working from home and it seems to be going well. I do a little of my side work, and Husband is progressing on the solar array build, a little each day between rainfalls.

I got lucky today a friend stopped by and gave me 55 gal plastic barrels and 2 of the 250 gal totes free.....

Strawberry beds and rain catchment system.....

I was excited and just wanted to share stay safe everyone

I have noticed that canning lids (flats) are getting hard to get. The local Amish bulk store has sleeves of the lids , but they have no name brand on them..

Has anybody on here tried them .. ??

Dave58 wrote:I got lucky today a friend stopped by and gave me 55 gal plastic barrels and 2 of the 250 gal totes free.....

Strawberry beds and rain catchment system.....

I was excited and just wanted to share stay safe everyone

Good score Dave. I know you already know this, but make sure you know what was originally in them before you use them for water and clean them real good with bleach and soap (several times).

rick1 wrote:

Dave58 wrote:I got lucky today a friend stopped by and gave me 55 gal plastic barrels and 2 of the 250 gal totes free.....

Strawberry beds and rain catchment system.....

I was excited and just wanted to share stay safe everyone

Good score Dave. I know you already know this, but make sure you know what was originally in them before you use them for water and clean them real good with bleach and soap (several times).

The large tote had round-up in it a couple of years ago and is currently soaking in Dawn and bleach and water... The barrels have been cut in half and i scrubbed then out with dawn . I am going to plant strawberries in them and use the tote for rain catchment for the garden....

I decided to roll the dice and plant the garden or most of it last night... Last year we couldn't plant until July because of the rain.. I am hoping its better this year I would like to get 2 gardens in before cold weather sets in...

Has anybody here ever hatched chicks using an Incubator ???

This will be our first time.. We have had chickens for 6 yrs and only had 2 go broody in 6 yrs

Dave58 wrote:I have noticed that canning lids (flats) are getting hard to get. The local Amish bulk store has sleeves of the lids , but they have no name brand on them..

Has anybody on here tried them .. ??

We did. They didn't seem to seal as well as the name brand stuff. They sealed up nice at first, but a couple months down the road, we found the seals had broken on at least half. Of course, it could've been user error...but I've been canning for a while now. Still, I make mistakes too. Interestingly...it was all tomatoes that unsealed. (But maybe that's all I canned with it...not sure).

Still. Making. Masks.

A snowbird neighbor (is here in warm weather, in Texas during winter) drove up 2 days ago, heard we had masks. I gave him 6. He gave me $3 for supplies.

Husband got the rest of the garden tilled, and now all the plants are in. The potatoes we planted a few weeks ago are growing - even through the freeze! He planted the tomato plants we had in pots, green beans, squash and cucumbers.  Not sure what else.

He's working on the inside control panel for the little solar system he is putting in place.

Started an exercise program 4 days ago with the kid quarantined with us. Also resumed walking, taking laps around our driveway for a mile, sometimes two.

Cinnamon wrote:

Dave58 wrote:I have noticed that canning lids (flats) are getting hard to get. The local Amish bulk store has sleeves of the lids , but they have no name brand on them..

Has anybody on here tried them .. ??

We did. They didn't seem to seal as well as the name brand stuff. They sealed up nice at first, but a couple months down the road, we found the seals had broken on at least half. Of course, it could've been user error...but I've been canning for a while now. Still, I make mistakes too. Interestingly...it was all tomatoes that unsealed. (But maybe that's all I canned with it...not sure).

I bought a flat of each lg and small.. I will let you know how they do I am thinking about canning some beans this week when the rains get here...

Been without power since around 2:00 a.m., it's coming your way ReadyMom, nasty storm with very high winds. Glad we got small solar set up and battery banks, everything is running OK, so far.

All the apple trees and the 2 pear trees are in full bloom, way too early, we get frosts all the way into June, guess no apples or pears, maybe.

Rotated out 20 gallon of gas and 15 gallon of diesel. Hauled in our coal for next year, good for another winter. Wood pile is getting bigger, two trees were down from the last storm, they're all cut, split and stacked. I have enough wood for at least 3 years now.

Finished planting the onions, my starter plants are doing real nice. Will have plenty of tomatoes and peppers this season. Probably will be giving a lot away, we plant waaaaaaay to much for us anymore.

I had a pleasant surprise. I found an envelope with pepper seeds in it from 2011 and today they have sprouted . It was a very nice surprise...

The potatoes and tomatoes planted in the ground survived the high winds and storm flooding. The green beans washed away. Husband replanted them.

The bell pepper plant that lived through winter in our bonus room has 3 flowers on it.

I put the herbs out - chocolate mint, spearmint, sage, oregano, and parsley. All survived the winter in the bonus room.

The blasted cat got to the lime trees again. She ate them down on the kitchen windowsill! 2 have survived, one barely. I have them outside now, but have cut clear plastic juice jugs to put over them so she can't get to them (and a rock holding them down).

I sewed several things this week due to birthdays. Mailed off 2 table toppers, 4 embellished towels and 4 bowl cozies to a friend. I also made a tote bag, a drawstring bag, a bookmark, a zippered pouch, and a face mask for others for for their birthdays.

Husband put up the solar powered motion detector lights. Lots of strange cars traveling on our roads, we decided we need to beef up security. Nothing has happened, but better to be prepared.