what are your prepping goals for the next year (or two)?

[Gazrok]

That's one awesome prep to have though.

 

[Triscut]

sounds like that you have some good ideas and plans..keep up the good work

as for canning recipes go..there's quiet a few ppl here in dpf who do canning..in which im sure some will help you out on that,by sharing some recipes.

I read a lot of those here before I posted

I was thinking, even with all the information online, prepping is still ALOT of learning on your own and making mistakes.

I'm trying to be a comprehensive Prepper with the least amount of money possible. The bare minimum for comfortable independence. I've made a few purchases that I learned that I could have done without. Buyers remorse.
A bread maker is one of them, I could have just used a solar oven or some type of oven. That didn't cost that much money though.

Another was all the initial preppin stuff I bought before I learned much. All the camping BugOut style water purifying tabs, a tent, odds and ends.

I feel like camping supplies are pretty common in people's homes. I don't think they will ever be rare.

I try to look at food the same way. Even though I'd like to buy freeze dried apples, I live 20 minutes away from a Upick apple orchard. I don't think apples will ever be a rare bartering item in my neck of the woods. I figure I should buy freeze dried oranges and bananas, since I'd never see those again if semi truck transportation ever shut down.

 

[jimLE]

yeah.just like in other areas of life.there'll be mistakes in prepping as well...same applys to camping as well.forget one thing.or camp in the wrong spot/site.then you might be miserable..in which i did get a friendly reminder of that on my last camping trip..lol.. at least you did learn from that bread maker mistake.and in the other areas as well..like the saying goes.live n learn.in we all are learning here.

 

[Gazrok]

I feel like camping supplies are pretty common in people's homes. I don't think they will ever be rare.

Not really. Few go camping anymore. I'd think this would be pretty rare actually. (at least in regards to tents, etc.)

Food is tricky. Really, you want there to be a renewable source of this (like the orchard you mentioned), but if stockpiling, I tend to stick to things that can store for years (like freeze-dried, certain grains/rice/etc., and home canned goods).

No better teacher than mistakes though.

 

[QuietH3art]

I have found that drying foods is much more efficient than canning. It takes up much less space than jars and it won't break. The downside is it takes a lot of water to rehydrate.

 

[bill harrell]

Depends on the brand. There's a local brand here, that is actually pretty good.

I just can't see spending the money on one of those ceramic grills. My gas grill is just fine, so just can't see the outlay, but good on you for having one! Is it really better? I usually use some soaked wood to get a nice smoky flavor, and no complaints.

Mostly, we grill steak, ribs, and chicken, and every once in a while, veggies.
I'd love to grill fish, but I'm the only one who likes it out of the 5 of us....

can't beat a pole dancing chicken

 

[Gazrok]

Looks like a real hen party there.....

 

[Brent S]

Depends on the brand. There's a local brand here, that is actually pretty good.

I just can't see spending the money on one of those ceramic grills. My gas grill is just fine, so just can't see the outlay, but good on you for having one! Is it really better? I usually use some soaked wood to get a nice smoky flavor, and no complaints.

Mostly, we grill steak, ribs, and chicken, and every once in a while, veggies.
I'd love to grill fish, but I'm the only one who likes it out of the 5 of us....

I used the lump charcoal in the egg knockoff grill today, and it worked great. I'd never seen it before, it's basically charred pieces of wood, all irregular sized. The egg starts amazingly easy with the damper system on it, and one cool thing is you can close it up when done cooking and the lump charcoal goes out, allowing you to use it again. I seared a sirloin at six hundred degrees, and then closed the damper some and smoked a slab of ribs. Both turned out amazing. I'm sure I could use regular hardwood chunks in it, it would just take longer to get started. Like I said, there's no way I would have bought this thing a regular price, but since it was so cheap I couldn't pass it up. Now that I'm figuring out how to effectively use it I'm really pleased.

 

[jimLE]

i got my do have list done up right,when it comes to my camping have list and my power outage have list.now i gotta get my dont have list for both done up.on account those are next in line on what i need to get done.mainly my power outage list,seeing how outages around here are becoming common here..

well brent..im glad that grill works great..and im sure that you'll get a hole lot of great use from it..

 

[Gazrok]

Fun reading this. A year later, and my stepson never did move out, lol. Can't save money to save his life.
Makes me realize how badly behind I am on my list though....sigh..

 

[Brent S]

I want to take stock of what I've done in the last few years, and see what I still wish to accomplish. It makes it a lot clearer when it's in black and white in front of you.
The biggest thing I've done was relocate from a populated place to rural. I picked a good location, which was a 500mi move, but worth it. I have two creeks for a good water source, but think a well might be a good addition down the road.
I've gotten a good sized greenhouse, outside garden, fruit trees, blueberries and grapes going. Learning to grow and preserve stuff is still a work in progress, but am producing more each year. I even learned to make wines, for both recreation and possible trade one day.
Since here I've built the storm shelter. Big plus for shelter from fire, flood, earthquake, etc. even if the house burned down, that shelter will still be there. Probably for a thousand years or so.
I recently got a propane generator set up, which should be able to run for a few months at least, with some common sense rationing.
I have pretty good gear for security, and emergency fund in place, and at least six months of food preserved. I've even collected a lot of hand tools in case I can't get access to power over time.
I feel good about all these things, but feel an urgency to do more. I see bad things comming with the economy, and wish I had started a few years earlier.
I guess one thing I'd like to accomplish over the next year or two would be to finish all the odd and end projects around here. Everything will be much harder to do after shtf, so having all the things finished on the house and shop would be nice. I literally have like 15 unfinished projects, from tiling the bathroom floor, to finishing the outside trim on the garage and painting it. No more new ones till some are completed! I even have 90% of all the materials, I just need more hours in the day, and some more energy wouldn't hurt either.
I think getting a group of like minded people together will be a higher priority over the next couple years. Teamwork can accomplish so much more than one alone can.
I like setting goals, it keeps me focused on what to put my efforts in. I'll give some thoughts on what's next, and would appreciate others ideas here.

 

[jimLE]

looks like that you're doing a lot good there brent..besides getting the 15 unfinished projects done.i think that you might want to go with at least a 1 year supply of food..on account,a person never knows when they'll have a small crop from the garden.or have a year like im having this year.i never got my garden started.on account of all the rain we we were getting at first...

 

[Gazrok]

I have no doubt that soon, Brent will have a year's worth. He preserves his own stuff.

 

[jimLE]

oh yeah.im sure he will to..

 

[Brent S]

I have no doubt that soon, Brent will have a year's worth. He preserves his own stuff.

I've got 7 quarts of apples going in the pressure cooker right now, 6 1/2 minutes to go! I am allready tired of peeling apples, and still have a lot to go. This is my only batch tonight, but will do probably 6 more over the next few days. I didn't get a huge crop of apples this year, but enough to make desserts, breads and pies for the rest of the year. I am still increasing my pantry, but do rotate everything and mostly only can what I eat regularly. This year I got a lot of tomatoes so have loads of salsa, sauce and stewed tomatoes.

 

[QuietH3art]

I am finally ready to get back into things again. I was not able to put in a garden this spring because of 2 heart attacks and heart surgery the beginning of April. Two years of eating homegrown organic food could not compensate for 50 years of not knowing that the FDA really doesn't care about our health. My grandson and I had started seeds indoors and they were doing really well, but they all died while I was in the hospital. Fortunately, I still had my laying hens and plenty of canned foods from last year to get through my recovery. Unfortunately, I didn't have a year's worth to get me through until next growing season unless I want to live on dried beans, rice and flour tortillas for the next 8 months. I have enough rice, beans and flour to last me about 5 years. I should probably write those into my will so my kids don't fight over them. Yeah, right. (Only in English can 2 positives create a negative.)
After the surgery, I was under strict instructions to not do anything at all for 8 weeks. No lifting, to include lifting myself out of bed or chairs, no pushing or pulling of vacuums or brooms or rakes or shovels. No cooking, dishwashing or laundry. I was even told I couldn't brush my own hair. The healing of my sternum was at more risk than normal because I have osteoporosis. Interesting enough, though, when my daughter asked the surgeon if I could milk a goat, he said yes - that particular motion did not put me at risk at all. So she gave me her milk goat who has not only provided me with fresh milk daily but has become one of my best friends. Knowing I wouldn't have gardening to keep me going, I began dabbling in my other "hobby" - poultry. With my daughter's help, I acquired more chickens, plus turkeys, geese and ducks. I went from 4 laying hens to 7, then acquired 3 turkeys, 5 geese and 5 ducks. And that still wasn't enough. So I purchased turkey eggs to put in my incubator and hatched a few more turkeys. I've had a lot of fun with my incubator this spring. In fact, chicken eggs that I'd put in the incubator prior to the first heart attack hatched at my daughter's house the day of my surgery. I only had one hen in that hatch and her name is Lily. I sold the boys. I've run 4 more batches of eggs through the incubator since then, 2 batches with chicks and ducks and 2 batches with turkeys, the 2nd turkey batch is halfway through incubation right now.
My grandchildren have played a huge part in my poultry decisions this spring and summer. All 3 have become very involved in helping grandma, especially when it comes to the birds. All 3 have spent a lot of time handling the birds and caring for them and they've all expressed interest in raising their own. So I bought 60 rare show chicks from Cackle Hatchery. Each child has picked their own breed and while they can't take them to their own homes, they are responsible for their group of birds when they are here. I am teaching them how to handle the birds to prepare them for being exhibited.
I've also significantly increased my compost pile and fertilizer for next year's garden!
I am thinking about a small fall garden. There are quite a few veggies that would do well here.
But, my major prepping goals for the next year are getting coops built so I won't have to worry about birds getting in the garden next year, building my compost up, building and prepping raised beds for next year's planting and studying square inch gardening. I'm also looking into putting in berry plants along the outside of my fence. I'm sick of weed-eating and it would be an excellent use of all that wasted space providing both food and another line of defense of my property.
I've learned a lot from the urbanhomestead.org website. The Dervaes family produces 6000 lbs of organic produce per year on 1/10 of an acre - exactly the same size as my property. The family of 4 produces enough to provide 90% of the food they consume plus income of $20,000+ per year selling their excess.
That would be my ultimate goal. I have the next 8 months to figure out how to make my place meet all of my needs.

 

[Brent S]

I am finally ready to get back into things again. I was not able to put in a garden this spring because of 2 heart attacks and heart surgery the beginning of April. Two years of eating homegrown organic food could not compensate for 50 years of not knowing that the FDA really doesn't care about our health. My grandson and I had started seeds indoors and they were doing really well, but they all died while I was in the hospital. Fortunately, I still had my laying hens and plenty of canned foods from last year to get through my recovery. Unfortunately, I didn't have a year's worth to get me through until next growing season unless I want to live on dried beans, rice and flour tortillas for the next 8 months. I have enough rice, beans and flour to last me about 5 years. I should probably write those into my will so my kids don't fight over them. Yeah, right. (Only in English can 2 positives create a negative.)
After the surgery, I was under strict instructions to not do anything at all for 8 weeks. No lifting, to include lifting myself out of bed or chairs, no pushing or pulling of vacuums or brooms or rakes or shovels. No cooking, dishwashing or laundry. I was even told I couldn't brush my own hair. The healing of my sternum was at more risk than normal because I have osteoporosis. Interesting enough, though, when my daughter asked the surgeon if I could milk a goat, he said yes - that particular motion did not put me at risk at all. So she gave me her milk goat who has not only provided me with fresh milk daily but has become one of my best friends. Knowing I wouldn't have gardening to keep me going, I began dabbling in my other "hobby" - poultry. With my daughter's help, I acquired more chickens, plus turkeys, geese and ducks. I went from 4 laying hens to 7, then acquired 3 turkeys, 5 geese and 5 ducks. And that still wasn't enough. So I purchased turkey eggs to put in my incubator and hatched a few more turkeys. I've had a lot of fun with my incubator this spring. In fact, chicken eggs that I'd put in the incubator prior to the first heart attack hatched at my daughter's house the day of my surgery. I only had one hen in that hatch and her name is Lily. I sold the boys. I've run 4 more batches of eggs through the incubator since then, 2 batches with chicks and ducks and 2 batches with turkeys, the 2nd turkey batch is halfway through incubation right now.
My grandchildren have played a huge part in my poultry decisions this spring and summer. All 3 have become very involved in helping grandma, especially when it comes to the birds. All 3 have spent a lot of time handling the birds and caring for them and they've all expressed interest in raising their own. So I bought 60 rare show chicks from Cackle Hatchery. Each child has picked their own breed and while they can't take them to their own homes, they are responsible for their group of birds when they are here. I am teaching them how to handle the birds to prepare them for being exhibited.
I've also significantly increased my compost pile and fertilizer for next year's garden!
I am thinking about a small fall garden. There are quite a few veggies that would do well here.
But, my major prepping goals for the next year are getting coops built so I won't have to worry about birds getting in the garden next year, building my compost up, building and prepping raised beds for next year's planting and studying square inch gardening. I'm also looking into putting in berry plants along the outside of my fence. I'm sick of weed-eating and it would be an excellent use of all that wasted space providing both food and another line of defense of my property.
I've learned a lot from the urbanhomestead.org website. The Dervaes family produces 6000 lbs of organic produce per year on 1/10 of an acre - exactly the same size as my property. The family of 4 produces enough to provide 90% of the food they consume plus income of $20,000+ per year selling their excess.
That would be my ultimate goal. I have the next 8 months to figure yout how to make my place meet all of my needs.

I'm so glad you're doing better. I had noticed your absence, but am so sorry to hear about what you went thru. I thing gardening and animals are the best kind of therapy there is. I may try raising some turkeys before long. They taste better than chicken to me . Well, I'm wishing you a speedy recovery. Brent.

 

[jimLE]

sorry for what you went through quiet.and im glad to hear that your doing better..bet it brings a smile on your face when watching the 3 grandkids working with the poultry..

 

[Gazrok]

Glad to hear you're on the mend!

I've learned a lot from the urbanhomestead.org website. The Dervaes family produces 6000 lbs of organic produce per year on 1/10 of an acre - exactly the same size as my property. The family of 4 produces enough to provide 90% of the food they consume plus income of $20,000+ per year selling their excess.

That is impressive.

 

[Brent S]

I've got 7 quarts of apples going in the pressure cooker right now, 6 1/2 minutes to go! I am allready tired of peeling apples, and still have a lot to go. This is my only batch tonight, but will do probably 6 more over the next few days. I didn't get a huge crop of apples this year, but enough to make desserts, breads and pies for the rest of the year. I am still increasing my pantry, but do rotate everything and mostly only can what I eat regularly. This year I got a lot of tomatoes so have loads of salsa, sauce and stewed tomatoes.

My first batch of apples this year!