Lithium may soon be in short supply.

I only buy DC electronics that will run on 12VDC, or some multiple. That way, you can easily match them to common alternative power sources. I've already re-wired such tools to have a cord and Anderson Powerpole connectors, so I can run them off a car battery or gel-cell. I even bought a bag full of 12V cordless drills with bad batteries at a yard sale for $5, and they're all working off cords and battery clips, now!

I think the trusty flooded lead acid cell is going to be around a lot longer than new-fangled battery chemistries.

Back on topic: today, I'm building a goat milking stanchion. One of our nubian does, Maya, miscarried last week, and I find the plans I had for building milking infrastructure have been put on fast-forward. This morning, she "kicked the bucket" and I lost nearly a litre of milk.

Between the milk goats and egg chickens, we're now supplying a significant portion of our protein needs. Until we grow our own grains (next year?), I can't claim it's sustainable, as we're still buying organic laying mash and "Goat Tex," but it feels like a big step forward.

Now, after years of making our own soy milk and avoiding industrially-produced cow's milk, we're busy pouring through cook-books, trying to figure out how to make best use of a couple litres a day of goat's milk -- soon to be doubled, when our second pregnant doe delivers.

I'm going to say "so long" for a while. I've allowed myself the luxury of 50 posts in the past couple weeks, but now must get back to work. Maybe in a couple months, I'll sign in for another 50 posts. Until then, I'm turning off thread notifications. I'll still get personal message notifications, or you can contact me via form mail on my EcoReality user page. Y'all play nice in the sandbox now, and get away from that computer and get something done from time to time, y'hear?

Good luck in your endeavours, Bytesmiths.

And I hope all goes well for you and yours, Dawn.

Thanks, Ludi and davep. I really does mean a lot to me.

I think this is just a wake-up call to let him know that he can't ignore symptoms anymore. I do love him dearly and as does my mom. I'll do all I can to help them through this. I just hope he isn't offended by the kids and myself helping him... He's rather stubborn and prideful.

A friend and I will share some galvanized signposts bought at the junkyard today. @ bucks each, and they varied from 8 ft. to 13 ft. long. Most were about 12 ft. I cut the 22 posts I needed for a chicken lot fence 8 ft. long (using 6 ft. wire) and had enough left to cut 15 posts 6 ft. long for my buddy. Some are pieced together by welding. Total cost for this was $54, The retail cost of cheaper painted posts for this amount would have been over $300.

Daughter and wife weeded the salad garden and transplanted a batch of lettuce. In that patch we have onoins, swiss chard, leaf lettuce, radishes, salsify, rhubarb, horseradish, cilantro, and some volunteers of horehound, and catnip. They also topped the overwintered kale and picked enough stuff for salads for a few days. Nice gentle rain last night has the gardens in great shape to grow now.

A trip to the seed store for garlic bulbs found none, so I bought a gob at the grocery, along with 2 lbs. of onion sets. Seed store guy said they have been swamped with business, and suppliers have told them they are out and can't get any more of ANYTHING at the wholesale level. We bought stuff early, and are well supplied, mostly with heirloom varieties and homegrown plants. Tomato plants here are 3 for $1.39, plus 7% sales tax = $1.49, or about 50 cents each! Guess I made some money raising our plants.

Planned another trip to Sam's Club for bulk food tomorrow. Got the pantry stocked up on canned goods last night. There are a few things I'd like to get soon in case of a flu quarantine that could limit our ability to shop, mostly welding supplies. I'll top up the steel rack this week for the shop, too, and see about getting that 6 ft. wire for chicken fence.

Dawn,
Hope everything works out for you. Chin up, it usually DOES work out.

The rigging you need to make maple syrup in a big way. Big SS pans one of them with a slotted bottom to increase the surface area exposed to the hot flames and smoke, setting on a brick lined stove or "Arch" that holds a bonfire of three to four foot wood and funnels the smoke through the slots before it goes up the stack. Its a steam boiler with an open top as the purpose is to waste the steam and save the sugar that's left. This one will boil away over 100 gallons of sap per hour. I hope to tap between 100 and 300 trees next spring and make perhaps 50 gallons of syrup.

I am learning how to plant blueberries and grapes. I also planted some potatoes. We moved to a transition town where people are setting up their own currency and trying to increase self-reliancy. I wonder if this transition is going to be worse for people who rent (like us) versus those who own a place. There are gardens in this village that are available for rent, so it is still possible to be self-sufficient in food. I guess its just more important for us to have work.

Sounds yummy

Dinner was local buffalo fajitas, with local peppers and onions from my front garden plot.

Spent the evening taking stock of what supplies we have on hand. Sorted through both pantries and set out a lot of food that needs to be rotated out soon or immediately. Very little of it has been outdated because we normally rotate out our stock anyway.

I noticed that lumber is as cheap as I've ever seen it so I'm going to buy up enough to supply all my building projects for the summer in one fell swoop. I have two lean-to buildings on either side of my old garage to build. I'll use these as woodsheds because I'm also planning a lot of cleanup in the woodlot. I might even hire some guys to help me with this just to get a few years worth of firewood stored away.

I also want to finish my barn once and for all. I have a sawmill operator lined up for some work in june cutting up the hardwood logs I've collected over the last 2 years. Like I did in the front of the barn I'll build the few stables I need with white oak which will still be there a hundred years from now if the building lasts that long.

I have a storage area in the little barn that I was going to turn into a cold cellar a while back. That plan is back on the table. I kept my onions in an old freezer in the barn and I'm still eating them. I think that if I build an insulated room I could keep my produce in old freezers I can pick up free or cheap and also use coolers much like Wisjim has described. I'm sure I could improvise a cold cellar this way for not much money. The space is big enough that it could also hold a lot of bulky items as well. I'll put some photos up as I work away at this.

scored! a 20 volume set of "the practical handymans encyclopedia". very thorough, addresses everything from small engine repair to electronics, etc. the grandmotherly type at the Bethel community center garage sale who sold it to me said, "I'm glad someone got that..." also got a set of "home medical encyclopedias", seem very thorough. Still want to get "when there's no doctor" and "when there's no dentist" but we don't do online credit cards, which rules out amazon and the online guy I talked to (actually, I think Amazon took a check from us once, will have to look into that...)

Got two 100 ft. rolls of 6 ft. chicken fence (2" x 4" mesh welded wire) yesterday, and will get what is left when my friend finishes his lot, maybe another 60 ft.. It is costing us about $110/100 ft. roll. Have enough 8 ft. steel posts for that, but need to come up with some wood posts for the corners. May get some from my fence buddy who is thinning his locust grove. You know what they say about locust posts, right? You are supposed to put a rock on top of each one, so you can tell when the post needs replaced--when the rock rots away.

Today, we finished the fill inside the chicken house, preparing for pouring a concrete floor. Also covered barn doors with metal on the new addition, and some other odds and ends of metal siding work there. These little construction jobs are helping to clean up some of the piles of materials lying about. Grass is already sprouting on the steep bank we seeded a few days ago! Perfect timing on that--finished just ahead of 3 days of gentle rains.

Wife and daughter put out an 80 ft. row of elephant garlic today. Daughter left with a carload of herb plants to swap and share with folks at a winery open house they attend every Spring. She'll come home with some new varieties for us.

I started my garden yesterday. I removed the weeds that had started growing, turned over the soil with a fork, removed all the rocks bigger than a golf ball and added a bunch of compost over about half the area I intend to plant. All I actually planted so far was lettuce I sprouted inside and direct seeded some carrots. I've got a some other seeds I started inside that should be ready in about a week. I'll probably buy some seedlings of various stuff at the farmers market as well, since my order of heirloom seeds didn't ship until yesterday I guess those I'll put in the freezer and try using next year.

Got 14 peppers put in this week. I learned from the lady I bought them from that they like to be close together, about 12" tops, they like to touch another plant. So I planted them that way; so far they seem to be doing well.

Planted Courgettes, cucumbers, chillis, aubergines, sweetcorn, rocket, and peas to put in my polythene mini greenhouse yesterday.

It blew over in the night and the planting is ruined. I think I'll just spread the soil out in a tray and try and work out which sprouts are which as they come through any alternative ideas would be welcomed.

Just finished digging up 4'x8' of sod, and then double digging the same 4'x8' garden bed. Ammened with serious compost, chicken manure and lime. This is where the corn will go in a few more weeks.

Also started tomatoes a few weeks ago in their seed trays. Right now they are about 2" tall.

Also started some zucchini seedlings in 4" pots yesterday.

Saved a nice but cheap pinewood crate from the dumpster at my work - brought it home and sanded off all the rough spots. Gave it a coat of linseed oil and drilled 20 holes into the bottom, discarded the lid. Will fill with soil and compost and use this as my first bonafide 100% re-used vegetable container. It's dimensions are roughly 2' x 3' x 1.5' - just enough for one...ore maybe even two indeterminate tomato plants ?

Dodged between the raindrops and planted amaranth. Just two short rows, as an experiment. With the rain we are getting, the seedlings will not need watering for a while! Finally found a use for an old table that I have saved from the dump on more than one occasion. It will be a potting/planting table in my sunroom.

Regards,

L.