To be prepared for a crisis, every Prepper must establish goals and make both long-term and short-term plans. In this column, the SurvivalBlog editors review their week’s prep activities and planned prep activities for the coming week. These range from healthcare and gear purchases to gardening, ranch improvements, bug-out bag fine-tuning, and food storage. This is something akin to our Retreat Owner Profiles, but written incrementally and in detail, throughout the year. We always welcome you to share your own successes and wisdom in your e-mailed letters. We post many of those — or excerpts thereof — in the Odds ‘n Sods Column or in the Snippets column. Let’s keep busy and be ready!
Jim Reports:
I was down with a cold for a full week, mostly recovering on Wednesday. So I wasn’t able to accomplish a lot around the ranch. By Thursday, I was able to get one of our chainsaws out for a short session of firewood crosscutting. By the time I finished one little chainsaw tank of gas (about 40 minutes) I was feeling wiped out. There is nothing quite like recovering from a cold to leave me enervated. I was able to do just an hour of wood splitting and stacking on Friday. Pitiful. I hate getting sick.
On Thursday afternoon, Lily and I dehorned another calf — an 8-day-old heifer. It was a bit of a rodeo. A good thing that we didn’t wait until it was any older!
Now, Lily’s report…
Avalanche Lily Reports:
Dear Readers,
The weather this week after starting out with a welcomed heavy rain and showers, turned beautifully sunny with highs in the seventies.
This week I cleaned the hen house and the barn.
I scythed tall grass in the Main garden for the livestock. All three of our three of our gas-powered grass-cutting machines — a wheeled weed whacker and two lawnmowers — need repair. We also have a push lawnmower. I am feeding the cut grass to the cows in the corrals.
I harvested dandelion greens and am dehydrating them in special hanging nets in the greenhouse.
I planted another row of carrots, zucchini, parsnips, cauliflower, and nasturtiums in the main garden. That finished that large bed. Now I am working on digging up all the weed roots in another large bed. After this, there are two more huge beds to clean up the weeds in.
I weeded a small garden behind our wood shed and four of the first rows that I planted three weeks ago.
For some reason three sections of my raspberry patches died over the winter. Why? Whereas last summer we had a bumper crop of raspberries, this summer looks like we are not going to get so many…I spent time pruning them back. However, even though many canes died, they are sending up a bumper crop of shoots for next summer. I did put hot manure near them over the winter. Could that have damaged the dormant plants? But not all areas that had hot manure died, and some areas with no manure at all also died. I didn’t spread /get manure to all areas of the raspberry patches. So it’s kind of a mystery.
We dehorned the little heifer. I put a rope halter on her to teach her to lead. I milked her mom out twice this week because she was so packed. The first time was a just-in-time milking, because she was developing some clotting. The second time I milked her there were just a couple of tiny nearly microscopic clots with some flakes. That was today, Friday. Tomorrow, Saturday, I will milk her again. She should be all clear by tomorrow and totally finished with producing colostrum. Then our family, not me, can share in her milk.
This cow, before this calf was born, was so docile and cooperative with milking has now turned into a fairly scary cow mama when it comes to milking and working with her calf. She is the most protective and attentive of the seven mama cows that I’ve owned. But maybe it’s because she no longer has her other two cows with her to help protect her baby? Just a reminder, we have sold most of our A1 herd to start another herd of A2 cows. Thank God she doesn’t have horns, because she gave my butt a push today when I turned my back on her in a tight spot as I was going out a gate. It was just a semi-gentle lift-off the ground about two inches and a set down type of push. She also semi-charged me, a bit later. I slapped her on the nose with the rope halter to put her in her place. Because that is unacceptable behavior towards me. It worked. Hopefully, in a couple of weeks her hormones will lessen more and she will return to her more docile self.
I still have the two bulls and the cow and calf in the corrals for several reasons. Our large meadows are flooded with the mountain snow-melt and heavy rain showers earlier this week. Additionally, one of our nearer neighbors has reported to us that with his trail cameras he has seen a huge mountain lion coming out of the forest every evening, walking on the edge of his yard that butts up against the National Forest. Our dog keeps running to our fences and barking toward their direction, during the day. So I am not about to yet let the cow and calf out, for all these reasons. The sheep are out, but they tend to stay where I can see them, most of the time and they go into their shed every night, at dusk. The horses don’t care about the flooded meadows and are out there, grazing. But the past two mornings I have seen them resting on the lawn just off our porch. first thing in the AM. I wonder if the puma harassed them, and they felt safer next to the house.
All but two of our wild female turkeys have returned home from their nesting endeavors without chicks, thus far. BOO HOO! I saw one hen with one chick last week in our south meadow, but it appears that she lost it, since they are flocking up together again. They all roost in Spruce trees near our cow corrals. We have two more that are still out there. Maybe they are having success in raising their offspring this year?
Our last batch of chicks are doing super well. I will be moving them out of the house on Sunday.
I read some of the book of Romans this week.
The War drums are beating louder and louder. NONE OF US CIVILIANS IN ANY COUNTRY WANT WAR!!!
Those evil elites are dragging us into it to kill us off/depopulate the world. Their day of reckoning is coming! They won’t get away with this!!!! GOD THE FATHER, THE CREATOR OF THE UNIVERSE, WILL JUDGE THEM! HE says, Vengeance Is MINE! He will destroy those who destroy the earth! Hallelujah!
Resist them as much as you can.
Don’t take their mark, when it comes out.
Keep stocking up food, medicine, tools, seeds, and how-to books. Keep gardening and raising animals if you can. Don’t fear their plagues. Memorize Psalm 91. Get sunshine, exercise, eat healthy food, and get your sleep. Learn what your wild edible plants are…Above all read God’s Word and Obey his commandments. Repent of all things that are in your life that are not of Him. He is faithful to forgive. Pray non-stop. The Father loves us and is watching out for us.
May You All Remain Safe, Blessed, and Hidden in Christ Jesus,
– Avalanche Lily, Rawles
o o o
As always, please share and send e-mails of your own successes and hard-earned wisdom and we will post them in the “Snippets” column this coming week. We want to hear from you.
