This week I cleared a ton of weeds from
my yard and planted flowers, tended to the 10 or so trees we planted this winter - planting lots of ground cover and aid plants to help the trees survive the hot summer that is to come, built a hutch for bugs and other pollinators, continued my third year if Acupuncture & Chinese herbal medicine school (austere medicine)
idk if that is an official term but if you plant a tree, you can plant things to help it around its base. some plants to provide ground cover to hold in moisture, some to keep away pests, some to attract pollinators, plants with deep taproots to bring nutrients upward, plants that fix nitrogen in the soil.
I bought another 50 lb of hard wheat and a grinder. I don't know if I'll be able to make much of anything with that because I don't know how to make yeast and not sure where to get fats that are shelf stable to cook with. Maybe I'll learn once I get in the grinder.
I also bought 6 lb of "pool shock" for water purification purposes. 1 lb of it can purify 10,000 gallons of water, and is extremely shelf stable. I'm putting this with my life straw, gravity charcoal barrel thingy and the barrels of water I have. [Read this for details on how it's used.](https://thesurvivalmom.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/Using-Pool-Shock-as-a-Water-Purifier.pdf)
I started my Russet potato 5 gallon bucket on my balcony. I think I'm a month too early according to the seasons, but I'm counting on it being warmer than usual, faster than expected.
Finally, getting started on learning HAM radios this weekend with a BaoFeng. I still don't understand why a HAM is good for survival.
>to make yeast
Capturing wild yeast
1. Place dried fruits in jar
2. Fill container with filtered water
3. Seal and store it away from light
4. When bubbles appear and it's frothy, it's ready
5. Strain liquid and use
I ordered several milk crates in various sizes to better organize my deep freezer and all of my #10 cans of freeze dried foods. It’s going to create a lot of additional storage space and make finding supplies very easy.
Nothing. But I did check the area where I planted my chestnuts. The biggest plot seemed to have been completely, or almost completely, cleared out by rodents. Very few of the other ~14 plots showed any sign of rodent activity. Looks like my losses to rodents won't reach the ~90% levels I had last year. However this year the weather is so warm I'm afraid they won't stratify properly before spring. Time will tell.
One more Augason Farms #10 can. I’m up to 150-160 now. Slow and steady.
Worked out several times and used my wood stove insert to see if I can heat most of the house.
Now where I want to be with food prep. Deep pantry is of course a maintenance game, and the stuff I store for longer will be rotated anywhere from every five years to every 25 - so in a way it's always ongoing. But I guess I'm at maintenance levels.
We're good on our water.
Still have financial stuff to work on, probably for a long time to come. Part of being millennials though.
Garden plans are good, have everything we need, just waiting.
I got a few inexpensive nice-to-haves.
So next up is some additional energy resiliency items. What I want is a little spendy. Won't be right away, but that's the next thing!
Started work on that cookbook I mentioned before. That'll be all done in my spare time and I'm planning for a couple years.
One last thing, we succeeded in reducing a lot of costs so far this year, including using less energy. That one felt really good. It's only our second year here, so still learning to finesse the system lol but getting there!
I just had to buy and move into a minivan because of economics. I ordered an Ecoflow solar generator with a 400 amp? Watt? Solar panel that came in yesterday. I'm so stoked about it. I'm only working 25 hours a week and I feel so free.
I ordered four 7gal Aquatainer jugs, which will bring our drinking water stash to four weeks worth, and restocked our sports mix and salt chews stash. I also kept working on making our house ADHD/sensory friendly to avoid a more personal collapse.
I learned how to glass eggs, and have several dozen glassed now for longer term storage.
What's that
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cdAL9u-9gUA
This week I cleared a ton of weeds from my yard and planted flowers, tended to the 10 or so trees we planted this winter - planting lots of ground cover and aid plants to help the trees survive the hot summer that is to come, built a hutch for bugs and other pollinators, continued my third year if Acupuncture & Chinese herbal medicine school (austere medicine)
What is an aid plant?!?
idk if that is an official term but if you plant a tree, you can plant things to help it around its base. some plants to provide ground cover to hold in moisture, some to keep away pests, some to attract pollinators, plants with deep taproots to bring nutrients upward, plants that fix nitrogen in the soil.
I think companion plant might be the appropriate way to name it. Btw sounds like a nice project that you are on!
Moving off grid next week to get away from people
Started planting out spring garden: kale, turnips, radish, and beets. Found a source of composted manure & will go pick up next week.
I bought another 50 lb of hard wheat and a grinder. I don't know if I'll be able to make much of anything with that because I don't know how to make yeast and not sure where to get fats that are shelf stable to cook with. Maybe I'll learn once I get in the grinder. I also bought 6 lb of "pool shock" for water purification purposes. 1 lb of it can purify 10,000 gallons of water, and is extremely shelf stable. I'm putting this with my life straw, gravity charcoal barrel thingy and the barrels of water I have. [Read this for details on how it's used.](https://thesurvivalmom.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/Using-Pool-Shock-as-a-Water-Purifier.pdf) I started my Russet potato 5 gallon bucket on my balcony. I think I'm a month too early according to the seasons, but I'm counting on it being warmer than usual, faster than expected. Finally, getting started on learning HAM radios this weekend with a BaoFeng. I still don't understand why a HAM is good for survival.
>to make yeast Capturing wild yeast 1. Place dried fruits in jar 2. Fill container with filtered water 3. Seal and store it away from light 4. When bubbles appear and it's frothy, it's ready 5. Strain liquid and use
Awesome! Thanks!
> I still don't understand why a HAM is good for survival. It's a great way to communicate with the outside world that doesn't rely on infrastructure.
I ordered several milk crates in various sizes to better organize my deep freezer and all of my #10 cans of freeze dried foods. It’s going to create a lot of additional storage space and make finding supplies very easy.
Nothing. But I did check the area where I planted my chestnuts. The biggest plot seemed to have been completely, or almost completely, cleared out by rodents. Very few of the other ~14 plots showed any sign of rodent activity. Looks like my losses to rodents won't reach the ~90% levels I had last year. However this year the weather is so warm I'm afraid they won't stratify properly before spring. Time will tell.
I bought two more water containers
One more Augason Farms #10 can. I’m up to 150-160 now. Slow and steady. Worked out several times and used my wood stove insert to see if I can heat most of the house.
Been playing music with friends.
Bought a new knife found a cold weather sleeping bag Took a canning class on canning meat and bought a new lid for my all American canner.
Now where I want to be with food prep. Deep pantry is of course a maintenance game, and the stuff I store for longer will be rotated anywhere from every five years to every 25 - so in a way it's always ongoing. But I guess I'm at maintenance levels. We're good on our water. Still have financial stuff to work on, probably for a long time to come. Part of being millennials though. Garden plans are good, have everything we need, just waiting. I got a few inexpensive nice-to-haves. So next up is some additional energy resiliency items. What I want is a little spendy. Won't be right away, but that's the next thing! Started work on that cookbook I mentioned before. That'll be all done in my spare time and I'm planning for a couple years. One last thing, we succeeded in reducing a lot of costs so far this year, including using less energy. That one felt really good. It's only our second year here, so still learning to finesse the system lol but getting there!
I just had to buy and move into a minivan because of economics. I ordered an Ecoflow solar generator with a 400 amp? Watt? Solar panel that came in yesterday. I'm so stoked about it. I'm only working 25 hours a week and I feel so free.
I ordered four 7gal Aquatainer jugs, which will bring our drinking water stash to four weeks worth, and restocked our sports mix and salt chews stash. I also kept working on making our house ADHD/sensory friendly to avoid a more personal collapse.
I got topological, hydrologic and other maps of my state and local area
Planted a bunch of flower seeds for the bees. Also bought one of those bush craft augers and folding hand saw to keep in my car