Weekly Prep Thread 6 Apr - 12 Apr
 

Received an order of two cases butter and a case of cheese
Purchased 30lbs of chicken leg quarters for the chest freezer
Planted 6 more cucumbers, 3 zucchini, and 3 eggplants
Went ahead and built trellises for all my cukes and staked the tomatoes
Picked up an extra dozen each quart jars, pint jars, and three dozen more lids
1650 rds more .22
Bought some libertads from the BD nucleo exchange

Rained pretty good this weekend, so didn't get a whole lot accomplished.

How are y'all doing this week?

Re: Weekly Prep Thread 6 Apr - 12 Apr
 

picked up a foodsaver at sams (yesterday)
24 quart mason jars
24 pint mason jars
22/45 ruger markIII for cheaper handgun practice

Re: Weekly Prep Thread 6 Apr - 12 Apr
 

Slow week for me, had to use funds for other stuff. Still waiting on my aqua rain from Nitro-pak, and superpails from emergency essentials.

Re: Weekly Prep Thread 6 Apr - 12 Apr
 

No big buys, just adding on. More FoodSaver bags and rolls, more beans and rice, couple boxes of 9mm.

Re: Weekly Prep Thread 6 Apr - 12 Apr
 

Money is a bit tight so I spent some time on education. One site I checked out is http://training.fema.gov/IS/ . I think I may have bookmarked it based on hearing about it from one of you. At any rate some of the free classes are kind of interesting. And it gives you an idea of how things will be handled. As GI Joe says; knowing is half the battle (the other half being having lots of firepower and avoiding friendly fire).

My wife and I also sat down and worked on ways to save on our budget and reduce our needs. This included simple things like eliminating papertowels and instead using dish rags and towels, reusing grocery bags for trash, and increasing the yield on our garden. It was a neat conversation in that we both just sort of came together on it as part of being married and working as a team. The point wasn't really about preparing for tough times, just about ways to simplify so we can get more out of life together.

Then I filled my stinking taxes.

Re: Weekly Prep Thread 6 Apr - 12 Apr
 

Nuther 100lbs pintos and 200lbs rice from Sams, packed in mylar bags, then in Home Depot buckets with O/2 absorbers.

Got peas, lettuce and spinach in the garden....between rain showers last week ( most all the week ), hope it drys out enough to get potatoes in this week. Picked up some steel tubing to make a "layoff" plow for my tractor.....making a 3 row "hoe" deal with some cultivator points that I can just drive down a fresh tilled row, and drop the hydraulic rear lift so these 'mini-plows' will open a seed row rather than have to hand hoe a seed row open. The cultivator points will be adjustable on a 6' wide pc of 1 1/2" tubing so I can set the rows up to 3' apart or closer if I want depending on the plant type.

Got some more work done on the solar energy project last week. Getting closer to the day the sun produces directly for me.....

Re: Weekly Prep Thread 6 Apr - 12 Apr
 

Andy:

Post some pics of your solar project when you get a chance.

Re: Weekly Prep Thread 6 Apr - 12 Apr
 

I second that. Andy I'd love to hear about your project. I've been trying to figure out a way to implement solar into my home but haven't the cash to just have someone come out and do it. I figure I need to start small and build.

Re: Weekly Prep Thread 6 Apr - 12 Apr
 

Well I've got a good start on my first garden approx.25'x25' ...provider beans, mescelin, beets, onions, tomatoes, turnips, brocolli , eggplant, swiss chard, squash & melons......I will be transplanting these in two weeks...I hope.


My garden plot is made up of organic mulch that I added 2 50gal. barrels of 10yr,old pigeon poop to. The big fight for me will be critters. I'll see how all this goes, I have plenty of land and a tractor and most importantly plenty of water now that I've punched a new well..... if it all works out perhaps on a larger scale next year

Re: Weekly Prep Thread 6 Apr - 12 Apr
 

Nice, no such bulk beans anywhere in my town. I went to a MOM (my organic market) today and they are special ordering a couple of 25lb bags of black beans for me. Should be able to pick them up Friday.

Re: Weekly Prep Thread 6 Apr - 12 Apr
 

planted 5 plum trees today, 2 peach trees, yesterday planted peas and swiss chard, snow is gone from yard, though still in woods, ready for spring!!!!!

Re: Weekly Prep Thread 6 Apr - 12 Apr
 

I post pics and details when I get it hooked up....but don't hold your breath....it's taking me forever. A major part of the deal was I had to change my 200amp overhead service to a 400amp underground out near the site where the solar array is going to sit.....and that involved the power company coming out, moving a pole, hanging a new transformer, etc.....so, we finally got that mess done this past weekend, and now I can move on.

The NEXT problem is I have to have some kind of enclosure for the DC disconnect, the inverter, and the batteries, etc... I was going to build a greenhouse at this site and use part of one end of it for this enclosure...so I may stop and build the greenhouse, or at least the shell of it, first.

This was grading out the site for the greenhouse bench ( did I mention I live on a mountain and flat ground is at a premium ? ) about a year and half ago....

http://www.digistash.com/data/026a39...28_p88801.jpeg

Now with retainer walls built ( and I did a new roof and siding in the mean time as well )

http://www.digistash.com/data/026a39...8_p122096.jpeg

Here's the underground service I had to build....

http://www.digistash.com/data/026a39...8_p122095.jpeg

The panels are going to mount on two poles above the wall.....still got to take out some more trees and do some cleaning up of deadfall wood.

http://www.digistash.com/data/026a39...8_p122094.jpeg


Heck....if you could just bolt them to the roof and go on, this would be a snap to install.....but nothing is EVER simple around my house......

Re: Weekly Prep Thread 6 Apr - 12 Apr
 

Andy,
Nice post. Is your system going to be a sun tracking array? Being in the city I lack a lot of options. I basically have my roof to work with. I'm going to a local energy expo in early May and hope to get some ideas.

Beautiful country too.