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Reply to: What is the best place to buy mylar bags? Posted 2 days ago

Reply to: Minor prepping victory: Perennial Fruit! Posted 6 days ago

I have a good bit of perennials growing here. In the garden I have asparagus & blackberries. In the orchard, I have over 100 row feet of blueberries and over 100 row feet of muscadine grapes on trellises. I have over 150 fruit & nut trees. Most are apples but I also grow peaches, pears, Japanese persimmon, pecan & jujube. The apples are mostly a pain in the rear as they get attacked by so many diseases… but they sure taste good. As disease takes out any trees, I have been replacing with jujube. I have some hybrid Peterson pawpaws on order for delivery this fall. We are picking large numbers of blueberries & blackberries now. My earliest apple, Redfree, is just now getting ready to pick. I’d say the muscadines produce the heaviest of all.

Reply to: Minor prepping victory: Perennial Fruit! Posted 7 days ago

Congrats. There is a Chinese proverb saying “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step”.

Reply to: How to survive this nasty heat wave of 110+ degrees Posted 3 weeks ago

We are having a killer June with heat indexes above 100 and with several days above 110. This weekend we are supposed to “cool down” to the mid 90s but all of next week is gonna be 99 to over 100… and that is actual temp, not heat index. Living on a homestead, I have no choice but to work out in it. Generally I try to finish by 1:00 – 2:00, but that is not always possible. With such heat & humidity, I just take it slow & steady. When I get overheated, I find a shady spot to cool down. Going inside to a cool house can just make it feel worse when you go back out. I do try to schedule chores such as cutting grass to later in the afternoon, where at least I’m riding around & generating a bit of a breeze. I always wear jeans and never shorts. I do wear loose fitting short sleeve shirts. Most important thing to wear on such hot, sunny days is a sun hat, that has a very large brim to keep the face shaded, mesh material to breath & a long flap to cover the back of your neck. Keeping your head & neck out of the sun is absolutely critical and makes such conditions bearable.

Reply to: Does anyone have experience sprouting seeds to eat? Posted 3 weeks ago

Congrats! Very cool!

Reply to: Wine for the apocalypse Posted 3 weeks ago

We made this one years back but I have yet to use it. I retire later this year, so my hope is to start pressing apples next year.

Reply to: Ever seen a Blue Heron ? Posted 3 weeks ago

I’m the same way when I watch a heron land in a tree and perch. Just seems odd that such a long, big bird can land with the grace of any other bird.

Reply to: Ever seen a Blue Heron ? Posted 3 weeks ago

That is a beautiful bird and yes, the blue heron has a very loud call. You can’t miss it.

Reply to: Ever seen a Blue Heron ? Posted 3 weeks ago

You are welcome and glad you enjoyed. Watching these animals makes my day. I am amazed this blue heron sits out on the dock with a bald eagle up in a tree about 50 feet away. You might think the eagle would attack & eat the heron but I’ve never seen any such attack. And their actions tell me the eagles don’t bother the herons. I assume the eagles get all the food they want from my catfish. I know they prefer a fish diet but will eat most anything. I always assumed blue herons just waded in shallow water to hunt but they will fly into the water & float around just like a goose. First time I saw one swimming around, I was shocked.

Reply to: Ever seen a Blue Heron ? Posted 3 weeks ago

Here, there are companies that sell the small fish for stocking ponds. Several times a year they come to the local feed stores & coops. You just show up, place your order & brings the bags of little fish to your pond. So I’d check in with such stores in your area. I stocked with minnows, hybrid bream and channel catfish… all species that are native to this area & thrive in ponds. I keep a much larger than natural population of fish, so I have to feed them daily. Its not terribly expensive & I enjoy watching when they come to the surface to feed. I consider them a true prepper resource. I’d guess I have around 2000 pounds of fish swimming in that pond and they are not a resource that could be easily stolen. These pics are when I stocked my pond.

Reply to: How to get rid of noxious weeds Posted 1 month ago

Depends on where they are growing & what they are growing with. You can hoe, pick by hand, spray with Roundup or use a broadleaf herbicide if growing in grass you don’t want to hurt. Determining factor is what it is growing with and if you want that partner to survive.

Reply to: Chicken Pot Pie Posted 1 month ago

Yes, it most certainly could be a prepper meal, especially since I stock so much wheat berries to grind into flour. In such a scenario, when draining the veggie & chicken mix, I would save the liquid to add to a soup.

Reply to: Chicken Pot Pie Posted 1 month ago

Actually none is from my garden. I just pulled up my English peas as it got hot real quick this year. They like long cool, springs. Lately, our springs are getting shorter & shorter… so much so I can’t hardly grow any of my cool loving crops in the spring. Now our fall lasts a long time and that is when I can really grow cool season crops. Up side of this is that I have a very long summer growing season. Right after I pulled up the English peas, I put some Haricot Verts ( French slender beans) in their place. These are the bush variety and my wife loves them better than my Rattlesnake pole beans, which are already climbing their trellis. I just ordered 4 different varieties of Haricot Verts to put in soon as my corn is done & chopped down.. My corn right now is almost waist high. With our long summers, it is easy to get two crops in the same bed. I have 4 rows of corn and each row will be a different variety of bean, something you wouldn’t want to do if saving seeds but great for testing varieties… and hopefully great for pleasing the wife. Happy wife… happy life. 🙂 I bet you could freeze them. It would be interesting to see how the dough responds. They are so good I always double the recipe & cook two. Once a week I cook for a couple of elderly widows, so one is usually split between them & my wife & I eat the other over a 2-3 day period. Only problem is, if you eat this, you will never eat the frozen again. One other modification I make is to double the celery seed. I really like the flavor it adds. As typical with many recipes, at least for me the prep time is longer for me than what the recipe calls for. All together, it takes me 1 1/2 hour from start to finish. Then you need to let it rest for at least 15 minutes. That is the hardest part. I could speed it up by cooking the liquid component in a separate pot than the veggies/chicken. Cooking it separately, while the veggies are cooking would save around 15 minutes. But to save cleanup, I drain the veggies & cook the liquid part in that same pot.

Reply to: Chicken Pot Pie Posted 1 month ago

It really is. I like to cook but I’m not a baker. My wife normally does that. But this is so easy using the Pillsbury pie crust. First time I made it, I was amazed at how flaky & good that crust was.

Reply to: Chicken Pot Pie Posted 1 month ago

This recipe is very easy.

Reply to: Chicken Pot Pie Posted 1 month ago

I don’t mind saying, it really is. I just follow the recipe exactly except for two things. The recipe calls for you cooking all the veggies and diced chicken for 15 minutes. Well, IMO, English peas don’t need that. I would think they would overcook & get mushy, so I add the peas to the veggie/chicken mix just before I drain. I stir them in good to distribute, and then immediately drain the mix. I also don’t bother cutting the dough, where the top & bottom dough meet. I just fold the excess over & mash them together with a fork. The crust is just so flaky & buttery that I don’t want to waste any. I use Pillsbury refrigerated pie dough… and it is super easy to use & tastes incredible. You can see it in the rolls sitting on the counter.

Reply to: How to survive an active shooter Posted 1 month ago

I think most people could be trained adequately. Adequately? You are talking loaded firearms in the presence of kids. You are talking about a civilian needing to engage a determined attacker in a room full of kids and with other kids in the next rooms & hallways. Where do the bullets go when the teacher misses? This close quarter combat is probably the hardest shooting scenario to train for. Heck I shoot thousands of rounds a year & am very proficient (trained) with both handguns & AR styled rifles. Yet I would be completely out of water engaging a shooter in a crowded classroom, with screaming kids running all over the place. Any missed shot has the potential to kill other students in other rooms. I personally wouldn’t trust many teachers I know with a gun. Many wouldn’t take one anyway. IMO, it would be better not to have a gun battle inside the school… inside classrooms. It is better to first deter any attacker and then better to engage one in the locked access area.

Reply to: How to survive an active shooter Posted 1 month ago

Well our government can find the money to send billions of dollars to the Ukraine. I’d like to think we could find the money to protect our kids. In such a controlled access situation, OPSEC is not a factor. Was not a factor with my security police guarding our missile sites. Not a factor in guards controlling access to a prison.

Reply to: How to survive an active shooter Posted 1 month ago

But remember, all Israeli, male and female, are required to serve in the military. That means, all these teachers and staff are highly trained ex military. It is a whole different matter of just arming any ole teacher, even if they have had a bit of training. I personally prefer reworking schools like a prison, where there is controlled access and highly trained guards watching over this access area. Might seem odd to treat a school like a prison, however how many shootings do you hear of in prisons? I’d prefer seeing less guns, with those in the hands of higher trained professionals.

Reply to: Where’s the ammo!!!!! Posted 1 month ago

I would also recommend stocking 5000-15000 rounds of 22LR. That will be a valuable barter commodity when the SHTF. Amen to that! I keep that and more so I shoot as often as I want and as much as I want. When ammo is abundant & cheap, stock up on it heavily… especially the 22LR. I purchase in cases of 5000.

Ever seen a Blue Heron ?

Chicken Pot Pie

Ever seen a Blue Heron ?

Chicken Pot Pie

Survival Gardening … Make your own seed vault

Dinner from the freezer

It is critical you prune your muscadines

Little work light that pulls very few watts

Ice Storm in Memphis

Relearned two important lessons… and learned a new one

300 Blackout SBR (short barrel rifle)

My portable generator setup