To be prepared for a crisis, every Prepper must establish goals and make both long-term and short-term plans. In this column, the SurvivalBlog editors review their week’s prep activities and planned prep activities for the coming week. These range from healthcare and gear purchases to gardening, ranch improvements, bug-out bag fine-tuning, and food storage. This is something akin to our Retreat Owner Profiles, but written incrementally and in detail, throughout the year.  We always welcome you to share your own successes and wisdom in your e-mailed letters. We post many of those — or excerpts thereof — in the Odds ‘n Sods Column or in the Snippets column. Let’s keep busy and be ready!

Jim Reports:

I had a very busy week, traveling and packing Elk Creek Company pre-1899 antique gun orders, and adding guns to our online listings. There have been a lot more orders than usual, following the announcement of the May 20th effective date of the ATF’s new “Engaged in the Business” rule.  That will effectively mean the end of firearms purchasing privacy in the United States, except for pre-1899 antique guns, 80% receiver builds, and a few antique replicas.

Early in the week, I traveled out of state to meet on-site with a consulting client at his retreat. That was fun and interesting. But it was also exhausting since it was an 8-hour drive, in both directions.

I re-attached a man door on our barn, that our senior bull had knocked down. A bull can be quite powerful and, well, “bull-headed.” I am amazed at how much damage a bull can do to ranch infrastructure when it simply wants to get somewhere, or even just out of boredom.

And on Thursday and Friday, I took a 10-hour round trip to a gun show. There, I found just a couple of antique guns for my inventory. They are selling more quickly than I can replace them!

Now, Lily’s part of the report…

Avalanche Lily Reports:

Dear Readers,
This week the weather was rather cold again highs only in the forties and very low fifties with some rain and snow showers, but nothing like the weatherman was calling for.  We also had a couple of light frosts, again this week.

The time is just flying….

This week I heard the Red-Eyed Vireo calling.  I looked up the little dove that we have hanging around.  It is a Ring-necked Asian Dove.  It’s not supposed to be in our region, but it is! I heard the American Snipe calling and creating it’s winnowing sound as it dives after insects.  It’s rather early in the season to hear them.  I usually hear them in June.  I saw a Townsend Solitaire perching on the fence post of the Main garden. I saw my first Rufus Hummingbird of the year this week, while at our Shabbat Bible Study.  It flew to the window and hovered there looking in at us.  I interrupted our study with an excited shout, “It’s  a Ruby-throated…, I mean a Rufous Hummingbird!”  They’re Back!!  I was so excited. Everybody laughed!  I imitated their call: “Ch, ch, ch churrrng!”  I love those birds. 🙂  When we returned home, I immediately set up our Hummingbird feeders. Later I saw a Black-Chinned female Hummingbird come and take a sip from one of them.

This week, I continued turning over soil with the spade fork after rototilling it in the Main garden.  I need to get out all canary grass roots and other plants that have begun to grow. It is a lot of work, but in the long run I will have fewer weeds to deal with, as summer progresses.

I hoed and raked up a large row, applied composted soil, mixed it in and planted a wide row of Batavia Broccoli seedlings that I started two months ago in the bedroom greenhouse.

I did the same with a second row and planted two trays of onions that were started in the bedroom greenhouse in January.  That’s it for now.  I still have another set of Batavia Broccoli and more onions to plant.  Plus everything else that is in the outdoor greenhouse. I need to continue working the soil, clearing out the grass roots, etc.  I just don’t trust the weather, yet.  It looks as though we might be in the low thirties and freezing sometime in the next two weeks.

I did however, plant a lot of squash seeds in various piles of compost around the ranch.  I figure that they won’t grow anyway until the conditions are right.  Every year I have volunteer squash that come up that over-wintered outside.  So, many of these planted seeds ought to survive some more cold weather.

In the greenhouse, I planted in trays more Arugula, Cilantro, and Basil.  I transplanted the lesser frost-damaged Zuchinni into large pots.  I transplanted Geraniums into long narrow trays.  It’s the first time I have ever grown them.  I cannot wait for them to flower.

I continued to care for the cows and spend a lot of time with them.  I milked out mama cow a few more times this week.  Baby is now better keeping up with Mama’s production. Miss Violet continued to milk the other cow.  She is getting better and better with it. Her hands are slowly strengthening. I spent time this week giving carrots to the yearling heifers and the steer.  They are beginning to warm up to me.  I’m around them so often now.  They are still in the corrals, because our grass is slow growing.  Actually we are not getting the rain we need…

I am allowing the sheep out to graze.  They were permitted to go in the orchard where the grass grows super well.  They behaved themselves and ate only the grass, clover, and dandelions, and not the cultivated or wild strawberries that grow in there.  I was relieved to see that they behaved.  After letting them graze in there for four days, I shut the gate.  I will let the grass grow again some more before letting them back in there.

May You All Remain Safe, Blessed, and Hidden in Christ Jesus,

– Avalanche Lily, Rawles

o o o

As always, please share and send e-mails of your own successes and hard-earned wisdom and we will post them in the “Snippets” column this coming week.  We want to hear from you.