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Post by feather on Mar 1, 2021 7:59:36 GMT -6
Everyone is welcome.
Share your prepping list and ideas for March. Are you getting it done?
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Post by Ohio Dreamer on Mar 1, 2021 12:36:52 GMT -6
Transition month here. We slowly shift from winter to spring.
Today I started some seeds, cabbage, a few peppers (I'll do more in the weeks to come), and Zinnias.
Put a sign at the road to sell eggs. Hope we get a few takers, the girls are being VERY faithful in their laying.
We need to get an antenna up for our radios. So I'm crunching those numbers and sourcing supplies. We will need to rent a trencher to run the 200' from the house to the antenna site.
Need to start moving compost to the garden and new beds. The ground is still a bit too "squishy" to move loads but, if we stay dry-ish, maybe next week. If I can at least load it on, I can turn it in later when the areas are drier.
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Post by bearcreekbees on Mar 1, 2021 15:12:15 GMT -6
Plugging away with freeze drying and making stock. Not much else going on prep-wise.
An observation- hubby and I have been prepping for over 20 years, and in all that time I don't know that we have ever had an actual, full year's supply of food on hand, unless one counts beans and rice and things like that. So now that I am filling the pantry- very rapidly- with more fruits and veggies I have had to stop to reconsider our food storage in general. I know that we could live on beans and rice, and oatmeal and wheat and all of that, but if we want to eat healthy things like veggies and fruits we are going to need a lot more space in which to store it all.
Dehydrated food seems to not take as much space as the freeze dried food, which for now we are still storing in jars. We have always planned on being able to grow some fresh foods, especially in the summer, but now I am wondering if we should store enough to get by without assuming any production, just in case. Either way, I think we will do more freeze drying than dehydrating, since FD'd food retains more nutrients. So need to keep reorganizing the pantry to make more room.
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Post by adinwnc on Mar 1, 2021 19:19:26 GMT -6
Food storage is an interesting topic. I have begun to think of food storage as a three tier process: short, medium and long term.
Short term stuff is what I buy at the grocery store, or grow in my garden, and eat within the week. In a bad situation, I will still go to the grocery store like everyone else for this category of food.
Medium term stuff is the cases of canned goods that I will eat with in a year - the stuff that I can live on if we have a snow storm and I can't get out for a week. Things that I buy in bulk because I know that I will eat them within the year. Also good for economic downturns or job losses.
Long term storage is beans & rice plus dehydrated meat, fruit & veges that are processed to last 25+ years. This is the category that I want to have a one year supply of. This is what I want to live on if the electric grid blows a series of transformers that can't be replaced this year.
My concern is with the ongoing replacement of long-term food stuffs. If I have a large garden, it is visible to my probably starving neighbors, which is not a good thing. How do you grow a covert garden big enough to feed yourself for a year that is not visible to the neighbors?
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Post by feather on Mar 1, 2021 19:30:17 GMT -6
adinwnc, in all honesty with the best intentions and expecting the best from people, neighbors I've known for as long as over 30 years, we share with them. We've had years when things were harvested in the middle of the night out from under us. Not large amounts but it was noticed and it bothered us a lot, because we do share. I have a pretty good idea of dry goods storage for us, with beans, wheat, rye, oatmeal, but not when it comes to dehydrated vegetables or fruit.
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Post by bearcreekbees on Mar 1, 2021 19:36:25 GMT -6
I can't even begin to imagine someone stealing right out of the garden, but I have heard of it happening to others. Op-sec ws a concern for us when we moved to this farm and we intentionally planted our garden out beyond the edge of the yard, where it slopes down, so that the beds are out of sight from both the road and the driveway. But everyone who knows us knows that we garden- hopefully none of them would steal from us, but you never know.
I have always been about stocking up on food, but now that I have a child I am even more determined to ensure that she NEVER goes hungry. Not while I am alive, and if I can freeze dry enough food for long-term storage, probably not for many years after I am gone, lol. But we are also teaching her to hunt, fish, garden, forage, raise poultry and livestock, and preserve food in many different ways so hopefully she will have the ability to provide for herself no matter what the economy does.
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Post by feather on Mar 1, 2021 23:09:17 GMT -6
I can't even begin to imagine someone stealing right out of the garden, but I have heard of it happening to others. Op-sec ws a concern for us when we moved to this farm and we intentionally planted our garden out beyond the edge of the yard, where it slopes down, so that the beds are out of sight from both the road and the driveway. But everyone who knows us knows that we garden- hopefully none of them would steal from us, but you never know. I don't think we'd have noticed if we weren't counters. (remember I made the counting post?) We count things, like it's a past time. Mr feather notices 3 stalks of asparagus and they aren't big enough to pick so he tells me and decides that in 2 days he'll bring some in. The first day after he notices now there are 8 stalks, and the second day, no stalks. That was the year we put a note inside of a glass jar, put that in the asparagus garden, and let them know that it was $14/lb, and that stopped.
We also share a patch that is on the lot line with our neighbor, that is share and share alike.
One year our peppers were going crazy and the 3 plants and 6 peppers in the garden towards the outer lot line were turning red. 30 feet from the neighbor's lot line. We were so excited. Every day mr feather would check them and we were ready to pick them, and poof, all 6 were gone. One night.
I'm sure we lost things over the years. We don't count EVERYTHING, we know when there are 1000 tomatoes on the vine, probably wouldn't notice if 20 disappeared one night.
Chances are, your neighbors are further away than ours. Envy happens in proximity to the garden.
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Post by adinwnc on Mar 1, 2021 23:15:56 GMT -6
bearcreekbees I love that you are teaching your daughter everything that she needs/can use to live off of the land! I learned to cook, sew, crochet, can and garden as a child. I have never been fishing or hunting, although I can shoot. I discovered a few years ago that I like running a chainsaw and driving trackhoes, much to the horror of my adult son.😉 feather I have had a lot of time to think about what I have stored this past year and have been deliberately increasing my long-term dehydrated items.
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Post by feather on Mar 1, 2021 23:40:52 GMT -6
feather I have had a lot of time to think about what I have stored this past year and have been deliberately increasing my long-term dehydrated items. Whether what we've done, has been deliberate, is debatable. In the canning thread, I was doing a bean marathon, canning dried beans so they are ready to eat. We had a terrible number of failures that week. Out of cases of beans, a lot of failure. So I put them in the freezer, and started dehydrating the cooked beans. Started another thing, dehydrated ready to add water and eat thread....in dehydrating. Lots of vegetables. Then thawed beans and dehydrated, and made soup and stew mixes of dehydrated goods. It started simple and got complicated and time consuming quickly.
While I will keep canning beans, I'll start making beans for big batches of things, like baked beans. I don't mind cooking on the stove for long periods of time. There's always the option of slow cookers, roasters large and small.
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Post by manygoatsnomore on Mar 4, 2021 22:56:54 GMT -6
I was going to post my March To-Do List, which had all of February's leftovers on it. That was before my doctor's appointment yesterday. Now it looks like my list will all be medical stuff. I posted in the Daily Journal about what is happening. This may knock my prepping plans for a loop, or it might not....I just don't know enough yet. So, I will post a very basic list for now, with stuff I am pretty sure I really can do, no matter what, and then, when I get test results and consults completed, I will see if I am able to add more.
1. Follow through on the tests and consults ordered, as we try to figure out what is wrong and fix it. 2. Keep trying to find a vaccination appointment. 3. File my taxes. 4. Continue to track spending and expenses throughout the month. 5. Start tomato seeds in house and finally do the winter sowing I didn't do yet. Hang the new LED lights for seed starting. 6. Keep cleaning and organizing the bucket supply - store where they won't just get dirty again or put to use for cat food storage, etc. Make sure there are spacers between stacked buckets so they don't get stuck. 7. Use table saw to cut more cross pieces for tomato supports and to cut up small branches and sticks for firewood so I can clear them out of the barn. 8. Continue organizing and pruning my library, listing the missing books in my favorite series so I can watch for them. 9. Keep on top of the housework. 10. Keep working on increasing egg sales. 11. TBD
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Post by Ohio Dreamer on Mar 5, 2021 11:48:00 GMT -6
manygoatsnomore, HUGS! I went and read the Daily Thread....you have your hands full. May they get it all sorted out and get you back to normal.
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Post by nbc3mom on Mar 5, 2021 12:16:32 GMT -6
I actually completed everything on my February to-do list so I'm motivated to create one for March. 1. Plant tomatoes and herbs indoors 2. Plant lettuce outdoors on St. Patrick's Day - because that's when my dad planted it 3. File amended tax returns 3 weeks after receiving refunds - we got an updated 1099 two days after filing 4. Finish cold frame - we started building it last weekend 5. Move composter into the garden 6. Clean flower beds and yard 7. Plant peas, radishes, spinach and kale 8. Clean porch, deck and outdoor furniture 9. Hang laundry outside whenever possible 10. Replace old window shades 11. Decide which roofer to hire to replace roof and skylight 12. Get second Covid jab 13. Get mammogram 14. Eat a more healthy, plant based diet to lower cholesterol and A1c without losing more weight
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Post by midtnmama on Mar 6, 2021 8:46:06 GMT -6
I have a grassy spot next to a fence post that I want to grow sunflowers to hide the fencepost. I put down some paper that would have gone to the dump and put a pot on top of it that I will grow sunflowers in this year. Next year, the spot will have no grass and I'll plant in the ground. In the pot, I put some used rags and put a clump of grass I dug out of my garden upside down. Filled the rest of the pot with soil. Ready for when it's warm enough to plant sunflowers. ------------------ I planted the strawberries that got mold on them. I did this last summer and they germinated and were making great plants until my cat knocked them over. When picking berries, if you find some that are not suitable for eating (shriveled, bird pecked, etc..) throw them down in your garden for future plants. ------------------ Every pot with soil in it will have old seed thrown in and covered with an opaque *mart" bag with holes in it for air movement. This is to make them small greenhouses. If they don't germinate, no harm, no fowl. They were just sitting around anyway.
I found two ways to keep the bag from weighing down with rainwater: I took a few of the mum stems I cut back, stuck them in the middle of the pot. The first way, I put a used seed packet over that to hold in place. Folded over the corners of the seed packet so they weren't too sharp to tear the *mart bag. Second way: found an old mum branch that was a T-shape. Kind of made a structure to hold the bag off the soil. Tucked the bag under the pot, pots put Next to retaining wall for extra heat and to kill weeds where I want to plant peppers next May. Two-fer. ------------------ I have a lot of daylily starts to move to other parts of the yard this weekend.
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Post by nbc3mom on Mar 8, 2021 9:42:10 GMT -6
I actually completed everything on my February to-do list so I'm motivated to create one for March. 1. Plant tomatoes and herbs indoors2. Plant lettuce outdoors on St. Patrick's Day - because that's when my dad planted it 3. File amended tax returns 3 weeks after receiving refunds - we got an updated 1099 two days after filing 4. Finish cold frame - we started building it last weekend 5. Move composter into the garden6. Clean flower beds and yard 7. Plant peas, radishes, spinach and kale 8. Clean porch, deck and outdoor furniture 9. Hang laundry outside whenever possible10. Replace old window shades11. Decide which roofer to hire to replace roof and skylight 12. Get second Covid jab13. Get mammogram 14. Eat a more healthy, plant based diet to lower cholesterol and A1c without losing more weight Sunshine and warm temperatures - It seems like Spring may be on the horizon. I hung laundry out for the first time today! I planted 3 types of tomatoes and 4 different herbs, still need to plant parsley and cilantro. We finished the cold frame and emptied the compost into the cold frame then moved the composter. When it gets warmer I have to paint the cold frame. It's made from so many types of scrap wood, it looks like a patchwork quilt. We took down all of the plastic mini-blinds and replaced them with Faux wood blinds. They look so much better inside and out. We got our second Covid shots, DH on Thursday with no side effects, me on Saturday. About 3 hours after the jab, I got chills which lasted on and off until this morning. I didn't sleep well Saturday night; one in 1,000 people get insomnia. I was one of them. We finished burning the brush pile yesterday which added to my exhaustion. DH made dinner and I went to bed before 9. After sleeping for 10 hours, I feel fine today.
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lilith
Full Member
Posts: 79
Talent: herbs
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Post by lilith on Mar 10, 2021 8:39:15 GMT -6
Ahhh, food storage. While in past years this has been my pride and joy, this year isn't looking so great. I mean, I've got my normal 90 days of rotational food, a good 7day supply of water, and the necessities to weather a storm. I've got all the jars and lids I'd need to be able to put up a winter's worth of garden produce, but I'm really not feeling it. I'm starting to notice that adulting is a lot of dealing with all the things that break. In my world, it is almost like a 5-7 year cycle. Every cycle, my things wear out, burn down, quit working, or break ... And all at the same time. Last year was a reset year. This has been happening since I was 18. And the year after these resets, I nearly kill myself to get everything up and going again. NOT this time! My goal back in January was to learn how to have a life again, to do the things I love before I'm too old and broken to pull them off! I'm going to sing to my tomatoes and not worry if I have enough to make x number of jars. I'm going to grow a sunflower fort and read an actual book in it durring the evenings ... If the birds they attract don't distract me. I'm going to light fires in the fire pit and burn the wood I've gathered from fallen limbs instead of saving it in case I need heat. I'm going to rebuild and drive my racecar just because it puts a smile on my face when I see my pals on the weekend. I don't know what 2021 will bring, or if I'm ready for it. I do know that my kids are never going to be young again and it's only a matter of time before they are walking in my shoes. Of all the skills I can teach them, it's time for them to learn how to be in love with being alive. Because without that, what's the point?
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Post by feather on Mar 10, 2021 13:24:53 GMT -6
My goal back in January was to learn how to have a life again, to do the things I love before I'm too old and broken to pull them off! I'm going to sing to my tomatoes and not worry if I have enough to make x number of jars. I'm going to grow a sunflower fort and read an actual book in it durring the evenings ... If the birds they attract don't distract me. I'm going to light fires in the fire pit and burn the wood I've gathered from fallen limbs instead of saving it in case I need heat. I'm going to rebuild and drive my racecar just because it puts a smile on my face when I see my pals on the weekend. I don't know what 2021 will bring, or if I'm ready for it. I do know that my kids are never going to be young again and it's only a matter of time before they are walking in my shoes. Of all the skills I can teach them, it's time for them to learn how to be in love with being alive. Because without that, what's the point? To life! Hear hear!
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Post by manygoatsnomore on Mar 11, 2021 0:10:56 GMT -6
@ohiodreamer, thanks for the hugs...I needed them! 🤗 nbc3mom, wow, I'm so impressed. Not only have you FINISHED a list for February, you're going great guns on the list for March, too. I'm in awe of anyone who finishes their list, lol. I've come close a few times, but I don't think I've ever accomplished that. You rock! 😎 midtnmama, I get so many good ideas from your posts! I look forward to seeing what you write every time. 🤩 lilith, life is for living and enjoying it. Yes! I loved what you wrote about growing a sunflower fort and reading in it. I have a hard time just sitting and enjoying the view without seeing 101 things that need doing...I needed that reminder. Thank you. 😍 I know I'm missing some of the posts I wanted to respond to, but I'm on my phone and can't see the prior posts, so I might need to add a bit more later! I'm thrilled to be signed up for my 1st Covid shot tomorrow afternoon. With the new CDC guidelines, I should be able to hold my new great-granddaughter when she arrives the end of April. I can't wait! Being able to visit with my bff without a mask will be wonderful, too. If only TL and Mrs TL would be willing to get their vaxes, we could start having game nights again. TL wants to wait a year to make sure it's safe. 🙄 Oy...don't get me started. My kidney function is good enough for me to get the CT angiogram, but my doctor wants me to come in ahead of time for an IV bolus of fluids first, and then repeat labs after the procedure. Of course, I'm still waiting for authorization from my insurance company for both the CT and the stress test. It's been a week already...who knows how long this is going to take?! I'm walking more...Abby and TL have been encouraging me to get out there and move. I think this health hiccup scared both of them more than it did me (and I was scared)! Today, we went over a mile at a fair clip, although I was wishing for a park bench or 2 along the way. I cut out snacking and no eating after 8pm, and am already down 3 pounds after a week. I'm working on adding more veggies and more soup. Abby made her awesome veggie beef stew today, although it's more like a soup this time. That's fine with me...since I like soup. 😉 I'm making excellent progress on the bucket scrubbing project. I've managed to get all the cat food into buckets and have made a good start on the dog food. I figured out a 3 week supply of dog food fits in a 5 gallon bucket, so I'll be able to figure out how much I need to buy every couple months to maintain a healthy supply of food for Muttley. I might actually be in the market for more buckets by the time I finish up, lol. I've added a new customer for eggs...that means 8+ dozen more eggs sold each month, but with the hens pumping out 60 dozen or more per month, I still need a lot more, or I need to sell a lot of hens. I don't want to send them to the auction if I can find local buyers. I haven't planted anything yet...that needs to change this week. I have more shelving units to put together and more LED shop lights to rig up with them, and then I just need to find room in my house for them. And, of course, I want to do winter sowing while it's still winter.
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lilith
Full Member
Posts: 79
Talent: herbs
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Post by lilith on Mar 11, 2021 8:31:25 GMT -6
I was going to share about my new garden beds ... Those raised beds I have been so excited about all winter. I had one 80 percent built and ran out of lag bolts... It was super cool! I hauled up two huge cast iron bathtubs and set them in a 4x4 post frame and then was going to cover the outside with reclaimed metal roofing. It was on track to be super cute and highly functional! Right up until my buddy backed into it with the tractor and not having it fully secured with lag bolts, it toppled over! Guess who will be making a trip to the hardware store after work ...
I also got my pepper and tomato seeds started under the grow lights. Nothing is peeking up yet, but it's only a matter of time and I'll have little green sprouts to sing to.
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Post by mogal on Mar 11, 2021 13:42:13 GMT -6
removed by poster. Not pertinent.
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Post by manygoatsnomore on Mar 11, 2021 23:41:53 GMT -6
Today I got my first Covid shot and will go back on April 1st for the second dose. So far, so good on side effects. I expect my arm will be sore in the morning, but I'm hoping that will be about it. We shall see. I got the Pfizer vax.
I also paid the property taxes for the year. That $1,400 stimulus money almost covers the taxes on my place this year. That's not all the property I pay taxes on, but at least the home place taxes won't come out of my retirement fund.
I sold 7 dozen eggs for $35 today. That puts a very small dent in the 60+ dozen eggs per month my hens are laying. Still, it's good money and means they're earning the next load of chicken feed.
I moved my broody hen in her milk crate nest to a dark, quiet spot where the other hens won't insist on laying fresh eggs in her nest. I expect I'll be seeing more broody girls any time, but at least this little hen won't have even more eggs to set on...she's up to 17 now.
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Post by manygoatsnomore on Mar 15, 2021 3:03:27 GMT -6
Time for a mid-month check-in on the March To-Do List:
1. Follow through on the tests and consults ordered, as we try to figure out what is wrong and fix it. Labs are done, stress test ordered, CTA awaiting authorization from insurance company - will call this morning for update, hematology consult scheduled, cardiology consult appointment to be made today, blood pressure recheck is this Thursday. 2. Keep trying to find a vaccination appointment. Done and first shot in. 2nd dose scheduled for April Fools Day. 3. File my taxes. 4. Continue to track spending and expenses throughout the month. On track 5. Start tomato seeds in house and finally do the winter sowing I didn't do yet. Assemble the new shelving units and hang the new LED lights for seed starting. Buy new potting soil to mix with my own. 6. Keep cleaning and organizing the bucket supply - store where they won't just get dirty again or put to use for cat/dog food storage, etc. Make sure there are spacers between stacked buckets so they don't get stuck. Getting down to the not so nice and/or stuck together buckets now. Most of the good buckets are clean, dry, handles repaired where needed, used 26 of them just for storing dry kibble for the Mutt. Spacers in use where needed. 7. Use table saw to cut more cross pieces for tomato supports and to cut up small branches and sticks for firewood so I can clear them out of the barn. 8. Continue organizing and pruning my library, listing the missing books in my favorite series so I can watch for them, donating duplicates to VFW Post. Dropped off 3 more bags of books, listed several more authors/series, found a few of the books I was missing (in the book sale shelves at the Post). 9. Keep on top of the housework.Not doing too badly on this one, all things considered (Bucket washing - filthy 🤢, processing incoming shipments of grain, supplements and critter kibble) 10. Keep working on increasing egg sales. I've added a couple new customers so far this month and may sell some of my surplus hens to a neighbor. Still need more customers for the number of eggs my hens are giving. Added: 11. Order filter cartridges for well filter or figure out how to clean and reuse the ones on hand. Either way, ask TL for help to open filter housing AGAIN! Still can't open it myself. 12. Sit down with Mutt and the Cowboy Magic to groom out his hind legs and tail. 13. TBD
I am soaking the used filter cartridges in vinegar to see if that will rejuvenate them. Also soaking the sediment sock in vinegar - from the amount of rust now in the solution, I think it's working well. Am off to Google both replacement cartridges and YouTube videos on cleaning used cartridges.
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Post by midtnmama on Mar 15, 2021 7:17:12 GMT -6
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Post by manygoatsnomore on Mar 16, 2021 1:15:52 GMT -6
I cut pieces of cardboard about 1"×4", fold them in half at the 2" mark and place 2 on each bucket rim, across from each other, before adding another bucket to the stack. Thick cardboard works best. 🙂
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Post by manygoatsnomore on Mar 16, 2021 1:29:04 GMT -6
It looks like no one has posted a YouTube video about cleaning the filter cartridges for reuse. I take that as a bad sign. I went ahead and ordered a 6 pack of new ones.
There was an excellent video with some tricks for getting the filter housing off...I'll try some of the tips before making the call to TL. I know he's happy to help, but I need to be able to do these things for myself!
I've been feeling so much better, but today (Monday) I was just exhausted and ended up sleeping the day away. I'm still tired enough to go back to sleep, but I dreamt I'd missed my stress test appointment and woke up in a muddle! The appointment is in 12 hrs. 🙄
Needless to say, since I wasn't awake, I didn't call about the internet being out, nor did I rattle anyone's chain about the CT angiogram approval. I know I must have needed the downtime, and I'm not hurting any more (back,hips,and feet), but I hate to waste a day!
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lilith
Full Member
Posts: 79
Talent: herbs
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Post by lilith on Mar 16, 2021 7:38:44 GMT -6
Wow, MGM! You are killing that list! Go girl! I got the raised beds finished last weekend. Finished being used loosely lol. They are built. Wednesday I'll pick up good raised bed soil and get them filled. Then wait for the weather to tell me that they are ready for planting. I haven't figured out where to put my sunflower fort yet, and my tomatoes and peppers aren't peeking out in the laundry room yet either...but I had pansy and tulips pop out this weekend! The lilacs and maples are budding out, and the little birds have started to return. It's beginning to feel like spring!
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Post by Ohio Dreamer on Mar 17, 2021 10:58:52 GMT -6
Middle of the month already....seems the months go faster every year. +Taxes for all of us are done. +Some seeds are started....cabbage, zinnias, a few peppers, broccoli +It's been very dry, so the soil is drying out. I used my little Mantis tiller yesterday to turn the soil where my cabbage, broccoli, onions, and lettuce will go in in a few weeks. Today I did it again and added 4 cu feet of perlite to that section. Did the rest of the in-ground garden and tilled eggshells into the area that will be tomatoes this year. +Most of the last week has been working on getting the area for our new antenna ready. 200' of trenching, conduit in, re-fill the hole. A hole dug for the antenna base, concrete poured, post set, etc. +Took some time this morning online trying to get DH and I signed up for covid shots (we just became eligible) Found a Sam's Club a county north with shots available. So DH will go up next Friday and me the following Monday. The only thing I can say good about going up there.....is it's across the street from Hobby Lobby. I don't need anything, but since I'm driving myself up there I'm going to reward myself with a trip over there to window shop It's the closest Hobby Lobby, so I almost never go...
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Post by manygoatsnomore on Mar 18, 2021 20:31:35 GMT -6
lilith, thanks! I'm working hard to actually finish my list this month. There's a first time for everything, lol. 😁 Ohio Dreamer, I saw where Ohio was opening up the Covid vax to over 40s now. It's great that you both were already able to get appointments. I heartily agree that you deserve a reward...have fun window shopping. We don't have Hobby Lobby here, just Michael's and JoAnn's. I got my stress test Tuesday, and everything came back fine. No signs of coronary artery disease or anything. That is such a relief. I had my meeting with the pharmacist today to recheck my blood pressure and talk about lifestyle changes. Sigh...everything I like to eat is pretty much off the menu. I'm already working on the weight loss and exercise aspects. While we were in town, I spotted a big window behind the glass shop. Those are put out for anyone who wants them to take, so with Abby's help, I got it into the back of the truck. I took her to TSC to pick up more of the stuff she wants for the electric fencing she's putting in and then came home in yet another downpour. I did manage to bring in firewood, feed chickens, give them oystershell and gather eggs, but the window is still in the back of the truck. I finished scrubbing old paint out of a couple more buckets and scrubbed a bunch more lids before I ran out of steam. I can't figure out how I did it, but I seem to have misplaced BOTH of my bucket lid openers. I'll have to pick one up next time I'm at Winco or order one on line...and I know the minute I do, both of mine will show up again. 🙄
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Post by Ohio Dreamer on Mar 19, 2021 8:01:40 GMT -6
manygoatsnomore , Yes Ohio opened to 40+ this week. Next week is supposed to be 16+!! I told my kids I'll hit the computer and try to get them scheduled someplace. DS is asthmatic, so he'd like to not have to worry about Covid (and he has immune-compromised friends) and DD works in a grocery store...no more need be said, lol. Still not liking the idea of this vaccine, how it was developed, and how many unanswered questions there still are. But I think taking it is the lesser of the two evils. My parents got their 2nd shots this week.....so we may get to see them for Easter this year, depending on if DH or I "react" to our 1st shots. DH already "reacts" weekly to his allergy shots, so we are wondering if his system might "react" to the covid shot a bit harder since his immune system is already in "on" mode. So that might affect Easter plans. No one wants to spend the day with an achy man, LOL!! Rain, glorious rain, all day yesterday. The slow soaking, kind. Lots of ponding. Then a quick freeze so it is all skinned with thin ice this morning. Our trench needed that rain! I will go out this afternoon and start working more soil into the voids it left. Need to call the greenhouse and see if potatoes and onions starts are in yet. I don't feel like driving out there for no reason....and I don't want to buy things I don't really need just because I'm there (it is also a bulk food store....and I don't need anything). I'd like to get onions in the ground next week....and potatoes cut and drying. If the garden is dry enough to walk on, I think I'll put my plastic row cover out. The plan is to start lettuce under it next week. That would give the cover a few days to enhance the sun and warm up the soil a bit more. I'll have to see how mushy it is out there, first. ETA...Not happening, it is crazy mushy out there!
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Post by manygoatsnomore on Mar 19, 2021 16:29:52 GMT -6
Oh, wow, Ohio Dreamer, 16+ is already in the works in Ohio? That's awesome. Washington (my state, not that other place) isn't even opening to under 65 yet unless you are a healthcare worker/first responder, caregiver, multigenerational household, teacher or have chronic health issues, and a couple other categories I can't think of off the top of my head. They don't even list the chronic health issues as one of the categories, but it's included according to the .gov site, just not in the questionnaire when you register. Good plan to call ahead...I absolutely hate to waste a trip, especially with gas prices on the rise. I've stopped at Walmart twice now to pick up Equate loperamide (Imodium) and Yoplait Light yogurt. Out of Imodium both times, one 8 count box of the yogurt on the shelf the 2nd trip. If I hadn't already been in town for other things, I wouldn't have been a happy camper. I finally went on line and ordered generic Imodium...wow, it's really gone up in price! Is there a shortage on that, too? It's a necessity in my home, or there will be a shortage of TP again, too, lol. TMI? ☺ The bucket cleaning saga continues...I think I'm done with lids now and only have about a dozen buckets left to scrub, other than the stuck together pickle buckets and the buckets holding diesel for the generator. Those will be cleaned and refilled once the diesel is strained and re-treated with Pri-D...might need to change out some lids on them, too. I've managed to check off cutting up the sticks in the barn for kindling, and took more lengths of lumber TO the barn to be cut up for tomato supports. I hope to get that job done this afternoon once I'm sure the girls are done laying...one of their favorite nests is still the bucket of potting soil (now with a layer of hay added for their laying pleasure) that sits on my tarped table saw. 🙄 The things we do for our hens! 😊 It's too blustery out to work on a few of the projects I'd planned for today, so I may be forced to clear a few shelves in my library/den and organize more of my books by author. That always leads to reading! 🤓
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Post by midtnmama on Mar 21, 2021 15:14:44 GMT -6
Ohio Dreamer, I wish you a glorious Easter with your parents! Hallelujah, Amen! What a glorious thing it will be to see our family and hug them. manygoatsnomore, So excited to hear there is no heart issue. Most of us won't know that until something bad happens. Now for cutting out all the salt. Cheese is a biggee (that's why it tastes so good) and canned foods (wow). BTW: which vegetables do you like? I have found that lemon pepper without salt takes the place of butter/margarine for me now. There is sodium in margarine and butter, too. Soft drinks are another bad salt area, too.
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