The old TIMBL thread exceeded 100 pages and was having occasional pagination issues. The old thread is here.

I haven't made much progress towards buying my own little place lately so I haven't posted in here. I'm still stuck in a bad location. Flatland is relatively expensive here and we don't want to go in debt. BH has somewhat of a recession proof job so we probably shouldn't move out of the area. We have family and a 2.5 y/o grandson on the other side of town.

I'm still accumulating books and other preps. Now that I'm between contracts, I'm learning technical analysis and swing trading. I have an IRA that has access to ETFs. I've had reasonable success so far...

All the best to the peakers and preppers that are making good progress out there.

mark

bump

Tonight I sampled my homemade sauerkraut that's been fermenting for five weeks in a crock. Yummy! Didn't have enough cabbages this year to even get the four-gallon crock halfway full; next year, I'm devoting more space to cabbages! Good thing my wife loves sauerkraut too.

A mini pitch in favor of the expensive Harsch crock: zero spoilage due to slimy yeast layers.

--Steve

Other than doing some land research and getting ready for Thanksgiving, I haven't been up to much either, Mark. Thanks for starting the new thread.

Anything I need to watch for as far as making sauerkraut? I was planning on using a large jar, since I just got one cabbage.

RSG and to anyone else looking for land:
Heres a link to an interactive online program that lets you view soil maps put out by the NRCS. They are overlaid on top of aerial photos, so its kind of like google earth for dirt. Its not too hard to use, just zoom in on the area of interest, select the area you want to see the soil map for and you've got it. The official soil series descriptions are also helpful.

A quick, cheap way to do a little recon before driving out somewhere.

NRCS Soil Map Program

Today, I and a helper split and stacked about three cords of free wood. But it's been sitting in the rain, and won't be burnable until next heating season. The moisture meter pegged at max of 35%!

The good news is that the three cords of maple we bucked up in May measures under 7%, and so is ready for splitting and burning, about six months ahead of schedule.

It's really important to buck it into rounds, because it dries through the ends, not through the sides. A tree cut into 8' lengths can still be wet in the middle a couple years later, but if cut into 16" rounds, may be dry in six months.

I also attended a local transportation commission meeting (of which I am an appointed member), and in light of a change of elected officials recently, we unanimously passed a resolution that our community's share of gas tax money should go toward supporting walking and cycling as a priority.

In the past year, we've established public bus service, and all nine current commissioners agree that reducing auto dependence is highest priority on our list. Eight of us are appointed, but the ninth commissioner is an elected regional district (like US counties) representative who recently lost by only 44 votes, and we wanted to let his successor know exactly where we stood.

I didn't have time to get a woodshed built this year, so we stacked wood in the side yard. It is sloping, so I drove steel posts on the downhill side and crisscrossed the stacks at the posts. I had some old metal roofing that we used to cover it, and used the gnarly chunks of knotty wood to weight down the tin, lest it blow away on our windy hilltop. Three dump truck loads we bought, plus pickup load of free scrap from a hardwood flooring company made a total of about 5 cords (4 ft. x 4 ft. x 8 ft.) at a total cost of $300.

Off to get fittings for a barrel pump today that will be used for diesel. I'm starting to store fuel while it is cheaper for a standby diesel generator we will soon get for PV backup.

We:

** got 30 wooden fence posts, some barbed wire, and snow fence free off of Craigs List.

** had a look at a 21X27 shed my parents put up. I will be a little small for what we are looking, so we continue to pencil out what we'd want and where we'd want it.

** moved some more stuff around in the old sheds we have to fit our "new" truck inside (as new as a 1990 truck can be )

** continue to download ebooks and save them on my external harddrive. I'll be posting some links for various aspects of being self-sufficient. Very interesting reading to say the least!

** worked on putting together a spreadsheet to keep a little closer tab on what things we have all ready, and what we'd like to keep working towards.

Today, four of us pulled about a hundred fence posts for someone who didn't want them. Wrap a logging chain around the base 3-4 times, then wrap it around the arms of the tractor's three-point, and hydraulics does the rest, on home-brew biodiesel.

We were offered a good deal on the posts, but they were all treated (probably copper arsenate), so we didn't want them anywhere near our organic farm. But he gave us two like-new 16' gates and hardware, worth about $1,200. Not bad for about 20 person-hours of labour. Plus, we get to claim 60% of the value of the gates for a fencing grant we've just been approved for -- $720 toward the rest of the fencing material.

Fence post pulling using a tractor:



If you don't have hydraulics, I've also pulled posts by wrapping a chain around the base, then running it up over a wheel and tire and pulling it with the tractor. The wheel translates the forward motion of the tractor into upward motion on the post.

Working today on organizing our storage area. It had gotten pretty disarrayed lately. I packed away some dried herbs and red peppers, repackaged dry milk into buckets/bags/argon gas, and moved some stuff to the barn loft to make room in the basement. Dull work, but rewarding in its' own way.

Next is clearing out a spare bedroom for my elderly mother in law. She is all set to go to an assisted living place, but Medicaid probably won't cover it, as Indiana is broke. I foresee her landing at our place, so I gotta get ready for that.

Well, this is my first time, so I'm assuming you really wanted my "expert" advice...

I would think a large jar would work just fine. Needs to be air-tight. Best kept dark and cool -- I shot for mid-60s.

With just one cabbage, if you don't have enough to fill the jar, I might chop up some carrots or broccoli or something to fill it all the way. It will all ferment and be "pickled" as well.

Not sure how much salt is appropriate for a smallish jar? I sprinkled in a teaspoon-full of juniper berries in my crock (a few in each layer as packed & salted in), which are said to add extra flavor. Can't say as I can tell the difference.

--Steve

I added a new roost to the chicken coop and at the same time added a board set on an angle to stop the chickens from roosting on the top of the nests. I discovered more rat holes dug up through the dirt floor and to my dismay, found a lot of shavings floating on top of my well water!!!! I tried my best to scoop them out but couldn't get very much. I was relieved that it was NEW litter and not partially composted chicken litter. It is a challenge to keep the critters out thats for sure. I had the kids in the wood shop at the local high school make me a bait box for setting bait in the chicken coop safely. It allows the rats in and out but the chickens don't get access.

I now have to make a skimmer to get the rest of that crap out of my well. I'm hoping I can get it cleared up before too long. I figure a little insulation foam should slow the culprits down from pulling more in my well, while I set traps and bait them to their demise.

Foam won't keep rats out of anything, you have to use steel (not aluminum). You could put insulating board under it (where the rats can't get to it), but they will mow right through any kind of foam.

Our last chicken house had a wood floor and a rat problem. We tried all sorts of poisons, to no avail. The final solution was to put the hens in the freezer, plug all the holes I could find except one, into which I put some poison gas things--sort of a burning smoke cartridge. With a couple buddies standing by with pump shotguns, the rats started coming out by the HUNDREDS! (See one rat-count 10, my Dad said.) We thinned them considerably, and after the gas dissipated, got rid of all the feed sources I could find and starved the rest. Our neighbor reported rat problems soon after this.

My next chicken house will have a concrete floor, steel siding, inside and out, feed kept in metal barrels, and have our 6 cats to patrol the area. Damn, I hate rats!