This weeks preps check-in

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The mini donkeys were delivered today. They are cute little buggers. I'm guessing they could pack 50-75 pounds of gear each if needed.
The new cows and bull will be delivered tomorrow. I'm out of hay and still have a couple miles of fence to repair. Most of which is down in steep brushy canyons where everything has to be packed in on my back; fence posts, barb wire, chainsaw, tools etc. I'm hoping the cows won't wander this far for a couple of weeks.
The wife will be home next Friday.
 
Harvested some saw palmetto plants and kudzu roots today. Drying out the roots.

Saw palmetto hearts.
Here’s how you harvest the heart:
  1. Look for a saw palmetto with vigorous new growth. These are the ones that are most likely to have “tender hearts.” They may be easier to find in the spring.
  2. Take a hand saw and saw off the top 5 inches of the saw palmetto trunk, i.e., that portion just below where the newest frond is emerging.
  3. Taking the part you just sawed off, make a vertical slit with your saw so that you can peel away the outer husks.
  4. The white innermost cylinder is the heart of the saw palmetto.
The heart is tender enough that you can eat it raw.

You can eat raw saw palmetto as a snack or as part of a salad. Serenoa repens can also be cooked as a vegetable.

Some sources state that removing the top will kill the saw palmetto plant. That’s not true for the saw palmettos in this area. I assure you that it won’t permanently damage them. A new leafstalk (petiole) will emerge from the central core of the trunk and, given enough time, the saw palmetto will heal itself nicely. The only sure way to kill a saw palmetto is to dig it up with all its roots
 
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Our palmettos don't have a trunk above ground (probably an adaptation to cold winters)

To get to the heart, you have to dig. And dig. And dig. And dig....

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Built more compost bins today. One thing that really surprised me since growing my own food is how much garden "waste" is produced. I started out with 3 and now have 9. Probably will need a few more too.
Pigs, goats and chickens all love garden waste if you have any of these planned in your future.
 
We ar very plucky to have waste surplus’s in this country. Lots of places in the world eat the entire plant, tough stems and roots too. I’m greatful to not have to depend entirely on my garden. I thouroughly enjoy the proceeds from it, and know it’s healthy, but can always go to the grocery if need be.
 
No plans for animals this year although my girlfriend wants chickens eventually. All the garden waste gets composted in to soil and goes back on the vegetable plot. We don't till/plough our land, just cover it in a thick mulch to stop new weeds growing. Less work and the worms and plants love it too.
 
Got the cattle sorted out and put the pregnant heifers up by the house. Several are due to have calves any day now. I built a fence around the pump house and cleared the trees for the new fence line that will go around the house and barn and got all the corner posts in. I cleared out the trees where the new working corral is going and started putting posts in. Still working on the perimeter fence line.
Once all the fencing is done, and the ground dry's out, I'll start construction on the wood shed.
My new welder is being delivered later today. I've got a lot of welding projects planned for around the place.
 
I’m working a lot lately. That’s good for putting money away but not so good for having time to work on projects around here. At least it keeps me out of trouble!
Since I "retired" I've been working far harder than ever before. The difference is, I enjoy what I'm doing now.
 
I’m working a lot lately. That’s good for putting money away but not so good for having time to work on projects around here. At least it keeps me out of trouble!
I know exactly how you feel. . . I had to stop by my bank on the way home from work and paid our house note. It was nice to see the balance but honestly there are so many projects at home that I still need to finish up like planting the last couple rows in the garden, only have 1/2 my garden mulched, finish a quilt then start another for granddaughter 4 that is already halfway here. . .
 
My youngest daughter and my (future) son-in-law are big into camping and are putting together their own place. Her priority was a field and barn first (for her Horses) and then a place for them to live. :D

One item on their wish list was a generator for camping and emergency. Wifey came across a smoking deal on a CAT generator which we purchased for them. We delivered it last Thursday. On Saturday, a Tornado developed in the area. My daughter was rushing kids (riding students) and horse under cover and saw the funnel cloud touch down. It ripped out a lot of her fencing and took down several very large trees. No one was hurt and her building were not damaged. (The stables next door was not so lucky as both their barn and house received damage).

Of course, power was out. But, I had just given them a generator a couple days before. Generator was extremely useful and helped them through the event.

You never know when something will pop-up that you need to prepare for. In this case, only two days after getting better prepared, it paid off. :USA:
 
The electric peeps finally deemed us worthy enough to put up our electric poles, 3 of them. We just gotta connect it to the house, about 50 feet, and we will have juice. Lucked out, my niece's husband works for the electric people and is willing to help us trench the wire and hook us up, saving us some dough. Once that happens things will progress quickly and we can get moved.

Had another bout of renting equipment for the road. Electric people's truck got stuck, requiring a tractor to pull it out. Luckily we knew someone. But the huge trucks and tractor took a bit of toll on our road. Didn't help Oklahoma got a crap ton of storms that night and totally messed up our single lane road leading to our house. Thank goodness hubby's boss is a good sport and let him take the day off to fix it. Going to go pack it down better after dinner tonight.

Got a few things planted in big tubs out there, as well. A few tomato, peppers, and jalapeno plants. The spot we have picked out to extend the garden area at the moment is covered with a huge pile of down trees from the clearing of the place. They'll make a big pile of cut logs soon. :)

Hubby said, in good spirits, to get used to this kind of stuff, it comes with country living. haha

Oh yeah, on another side note, finally got the hubby to consider a composting toilet. Why? Well, funds ran out to dig our septic and with imminent moving soon, says we can give it a go 'while we save up for a septic'. It is my hope he realizes that it's actually beneficial. A grey water septic that will be needed will be way easier on us to get done quickly.

I'm just so darn excited and antsy to get out there. Can y'all tell?
 
The electric peeps finally deemed us worthy enough to put up our electric poles, 3 of them. We just gotta connect it to the house, about 50 feet, and we will have juice. Lucked out, my niece's husband works for the electric people and is willing to help us trench the wire and hook us up, saving us some dough. Once that happens things will progress quickly and we can get moved.

Had another bout of renting equipment for the road. Electric people's truck got stuck, requiring a tractor to pull it out. Luckily we knew someone. But the huge trucks and tractor took a bit of toll on our road. Didn't help Oklahoma got a crap ton of storms that night and totally messed up our single lane road leading to our house. Thank goodness hubby's boss is a good sport and let him take the day off to fix it. Going to go pack it down better after dinner tonight.

Got a few things planted in big tubs out there, as well. A few tomato, peppers, and jalapeno plants. The spot we have picked out to extend the garden area at the moment is covered with a huge pile of down trees from the clearing of the place. They'll make a big pile of cut logs soon. :)

Hubby said, in good spirits, to get used to this kind of stuff, it comes with country living. haha

Oh yeah, on another side note, finally got the hubby to consider a composting toilet. Why? Well, funds ran out to dig our septic and with imminent moving soon, says we can give it a go 'while we save up for a septic'. It is my hope he realizes that it's actually beneficial. A grey water septic that will be needed will be way easier on us to get done quickly.

I'm just so darn excited and antsy to get out there. Can y'all tell?
Let us know how the composting toilet goes. I have heard good and bad things. I don't have any imminent plans of building anything or even being in a position where I could put one to use, but I like to get ideas for my distant future plans.
 
Let us know how the composting toilet goes. I have heard good and bad things. I don't have any imminent plans of building anything or even being in a position where I could put one to use, but I like to get ideas for my distant future plans.

I built my own composting toilet last year for inside the house and it has worked very well. Good old fashioned 20L bucket for the poop and a 10L container for the piss. Under the toilet seat is a funnel that diverts the piss to the container and a rear hole to the poop bucket. We cover the poop with hemp fibre and masks any bad smells. Empty into the compost bins we use for the flowers about once a week and empty the piss container every 3 or 4 days. I found using vinegar as a cleaning solution works best. I guess it depend on the person but I don't have a problem cleaning out the bucket. It saves water, uses no electric and provides me with free compost. Mostly it just gets used in the winter as we have a nice outhouse in the garden with a view of the river which we prefer to use and that only needs emptying before winter.
 
I built my own composting toilet last year for inside the house and it has worked very well. Good old fashioned 20L bucket for the poop and a 10L container for the piss. Under the toilet seat is a funnel that diverts the piss to the container and a rear hole to the poop bucket. We cover the poop with hemp fibre and masks any bad smells. Empty into the compost bins we use for the flowers about once a week and empty the piss container every 3 or 4 days. I found using vinegar as a cleaning solution works best. I guess it depend on the person but I don't have a problem cleaning out the bucket. It saves water, uses no electric and provides me with free compost. Mostly it just gets used in the winter as we have a nice outhouse in the garden with a view of the river which we prefer to use and that only needs emptying before winter.

Good to know! The hubby is probably going to build himself an outhouse as well, he likes him private time, it's cute. We don't have any saw mills around to get sawdust, so I've scouted around and found some horse bedding to use for cover material at the local Tractor Supply that we will try out first. You're right, less wasted water and no electricity needed. Sounds prepper to me, and I hope that he realizes it's just no big deal. We will be building a few compost bins for dumping them. Making them out of unwanted pallets we can get free. Have the Humanure Handbook and going from that.

To make it more palatable I'm going to be making the enclosing wood box myself, pretty it up a bit, so there's not a "bucket" in view. :)
 

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