Today I made / bought / learnt (for a post oil world) 4

[patience]

Wife and I did a little shopping for prep items today, being rather nervous about what the current "gold rush" means in terms of a failing US dollar. We bought spare parts for the hand pump, some LTS groceries, filled gas cans, and got fruit tree spray and a spare gasket for the pressure canner. Every dollar spent now on preps is a dollar that is protected from devaluation.

Next for me is to fill welding gas tanks and shop for other odds and ends, while my wife starts canning sweet potatoes I dug yesterday. We are trying our best to have the pantry as full as possible. The international currency wars going on now have us worried. I plan to order steel for the welding shop this week, to assure we could turn the shop business back on in a heartbeat, if needed. We will leave it closed as long as possible to gain time for finishing our own work. There is much to do here to finish our plans.

[rangerone314]

I learned that it is possible to kill a chicken-murdering fox that is running by throwing an aluminum baseball at it from 50 feet away.

[careinke]

I learned that it is possible to kill a chicken-murdering fox that is running by throwing an aluminum baseball at it from 50 feet away.

AWESOME and congrats!!!

[Revi]

Nice shot Rangerone. We have been shooting red squirrels all summer. They are bound and determined to get in the house.

I am thinking of stocking up again on food. We still have some from the 08 scare, but I'm going to rotate all that and get new stuff. I think it's a good idea to buy non perishable stuff now as our dollars may not buy as much soon.

Everything is going up by at least 15% when this inflation ripples through the economy.

[Revi]

double post

[Hawkcreek]

Bought a new car - VW jetta diesel that gets 50 miles to a gallon.
Actually I figure that veggie oil will be around even in a post oil world, so this may be usable even then. And till then I can go visit my kids and grandkids pretty cheaply.

[Ludi]

Beware - when we had a Jetta it was a theft magnet!

Other than that, my husband says it was the best car he ever had.

[Hawkcreek]

Beware - when we had a Jetta it was a theft magnet!

Other than that, my husband says it was the best car he ever had.

Good to know - my next purchase may be an alarm system and more ammo.

[Ludi]

Finished my 20 foot run of hugel bed and planted some more fall vegetables in the spaces not reserved for asparagus. It's been going a lot faster lately because I am re-digging some areas that already had the top layer of rocks removed.

I haven't decided where to put the paths in the new garden layout, so I'm just putting in stepping stones for now.

Recently planted areas:

[Ludi]

Harvesting salad from my first Fall planting.

[gollum]

I picked up a springfield XD9 with 2 mags and case NIB for $300 the other day, local place had a terrific sale a coupole of monthes ago and I put it on layaway. Looking at a used sig p228 next, it's a little rough but looks functional they are asking $420. If things stay good we keep these in to retirement and take a trip once in a while, if not we can trade for a beef or a winters worth of wood someday.

[wisconsin_cur]

I spent the weekend building a woodshed so that we can fighting tarps when there is three feet of snow on top and it is cold enough to freeze the snot inside your nose.

I need accountability to go the extra mile to make is square, so I got a buddy to come out and help me set the posts


2x10's set as the rafters so that I do not have to worry about "The 100 year ice storm" or some such.


I had some rough sawn hardwood around to use as the nailers:


and then attach the roof.

Monday I should be able to fill it with this winter's wood and get it painted. Next winter's wood is in the back yard just waiting to be split.

[rangerone314]

This weekend I got 2 more small fig trees (Chicago Hardy figs), which brings my fig trees up to 6 (2 Mary Celeste and 2 Brown Turkey).

I also got a few more perennials, 3 Giant hyssop plants.

I planted 1 more sage by my pool deck tea/sweatlodge garden (pool deck garden has now: 2 sages, multiple mugwort, western mugwort & wormwood plants, 2 tea trees & 1 Japanese camelia.

I also planted the last 3 sweet woodruff herbs on the small southern berm that is my 2nd line of defense against water getting into the basement. (now have total of 8 sweet woodruff plants spread out on the berm)

[Ludi]

Planted two kinds of mushroom spawn in hugel beds: Hypsizygus ulmarius and Coprinus commatus. I still have to finished the bed for the Stropharia species I want to try to grow.

Collected firewood.

Worked on the upstairs screen porch.

[rangerone314]

Planted two kinds of mushroom spawn in hugel beds: Hypsizygus ulmarius and Coprinus commatus. I still have to finished the bed for the Stropharia species I want to try to grow.

Collected firewood.

Worked on the upstairs screen porch.

I know a lot of plants and herbs, and I like mushrooms, but the idea of growing them scares the *@&% out of me, especially if you mistake something and then your liver basically explodes after toxins.

[Ludi]

Yeah, I felt that way before eating my first wild mushrooms. I spent about 9 hours on the internets looking at pictures and descriptions before I felt safe eating our wild Chanterelles. They weren't that great. The three kinds I'm trying to grow seem pretty easy to identify.

If you want to try growing a kind, you might try something really distinctive like Morels. Unfortunately Morel spawn is kind of expensive. Or start with the indoor kits until you feel comfortable growing them yourself.

[PrestonSturges]

Only had wild mushrooms a couple times, but I've had a good time identying various kinds. One summer after a good drought we had two days a rain. That weekend you could have filled a pickup truck with mushrooms in the local park.

[katnipkid]

Not much of a garden this year, but saved what seeds I could for next year. This includes basil seeds, which are a litle tricky to clean. Will get beds ready for winter.
Bought some sewing supplies, needles mostly. Esp. the kind that are specialty needles. My tiny stash o' pins and such all fits into a tiny box.

[argyle]

Bought a coleman multistove on ebay (nice deal) and it arrived today.. WIll buy some white gasoline and add it to my prep stash..

Anyone got a good online shop (accept paypal or int. money transfer) for aladdin lamps?

[argyle]

Bought a coleman multistove on ebay (nice deal) and it arrived today.. WIll buy some white gasoline and add it to my prep stash..

Anyone got a good online shop (accept paypal or int. money transfer) for aladdin lamps?