Red Flags

I have my own feelings about “global warming” (cycles people, cycles are normal – no need to flame if you feel otherwise, My wall – My opinion) That being said, I do believe that we need to pay attention to red flags like this article. Eventually, this WILL affect us. Be it weather or food we need to be prepared.

stranded pups
So often, articles like this are reported only in fringe media and are completely ignored by mainstream news reports. It isn’t until we’re getting smacked with high hurricane numbers or droughts and monsoons that kill our crops that some anchor “person” says “Gee, this strange weather came out of NOWHERE”. Your neighbor is wondering why you feel the need to stock up on corn and water? Maybe because you took the time to pay attention while they were spending $999 on that spiffy new pool from the local Wally World.
I admit, my prepping isn’t close to what I would like. I’ve been too easily side tracked by family illness, death, and unemployment. But, at least when I do have a windfall (tax return) I put it into preparedness, improving rabbit hutches and buying animals that will help us through these lean times.
Am I foretelling food shortages and strange weather patterns? Honey, we already have those. If you’re reading this you probably already know that. I’m just highlighting that so much flies under the radar for our friends and neighbors because mainstream media doesn’t think it’s important enough to report. Beyonce’s newest hairdo is more newsworthy. I don’t believe they are doing any favors for their watchers when they focus on “reactive” reporting instead of giving warning, being “proactive”, which could be the saving grace for a family that might otherwise fail.

The day of a farm wife

I’ve always said we live on a farm, not a ranch, despite the horses and donkeys. The majority of our energy goes to taking care of the chickens, goats, rabbits, a turtle, and the dog. I step out my back door to toss out potato peelings and crushed egg shells and it looks like a scene from “The Birds”. Instead of crows we have a large flock of Rhode Island Reds and Domineckers (hmm probably don’t have that last one right, but that’s what my husband calls them).

If you have to be wary of poop out the back door I think it’s more a farm.
Anyways! Yesterday I felt I had a day of accomplishment. I started the day making costumes for the church play this weekend. That may not sound like farm stuff, but my sewing machine had a workout rather than buying costumes. Then I gave my husband and son haircuts. Next I finished cutting all the squares I need for the quilt project I’m working on. This is my first foray into quilting and I can chalk it up to learning a new skill and repurposing out grows and fabric scraps. Oh! By this point I’ve cooked two meals. Next we harvested and plucked 4 roosters that were giving our big boy hassles. We rotated some of the “harem hens” to see if we have another good setter. By this point it was dark so we cleaned all the plucking area to try to not entice the raccoons (blasted things keep avoiding the traps and getting into the trash).
Once we moved into the house I did a good scrubbing of my arms up to the shoulder (no time for a shower, yet). Next I cooked dinner, put away dishes and cleaned those in the sink, and quarter the chickens. Did I mention I did all 3 of those at the same time? Or that I sliced my finger pretty good in the process? I set up plates for the kids and let my husband and a visiting friend that dinner was ready and jumped in the shower (half of that was cold after doing those dishes). Finally, I sat down to eat. Then bathed the kids.
Today I am canning those chickens, and starting to piece together the quilts.
Some people don’t seem to realize how much work goes into those “free eggs and meat”.
Lest you think I’m complaining, I’m not. I’m bragging. I feel a definite feeling of accomplishment. My 4 year old daughter ran up and told me I was the best Mommy ever. She also said the plucked chickens looked like rabbits. Now, let’s just see how today goes!

A worried Prepper

As I’ve said before, I’ve been prepping to prep for most of my life. I’ve seen the soundness of preparing for unforeseen situations. I’ve usually kept an emergency bag in the car. I try to keep all important papers in one spot (I really need to get all of those scanned to a jump drive for my go bag). I’ve always felt uncomfortable, if not down right twitchy, if I don’t have bulging pantries. I’ve even gathered an eclectic skill set and am always looking for more things to learn or familiarize myself with the basics. My parents tend to the same mindset. And then, there’s my sister.
I’ve always known she and I have been different in many ways. We joke we’re opposite sides of the same penny. We take different paths, but usually to the same destination. Since she is also a skill gatherer, and a master penny pincher, I’ve thought she would also jump on the “consciously prepping” bandwagon along with me. She already lives on the same 20 acre homestead with my parents and me. Boy, was I wrong.
She doesn’t berate me for my preps, and she acknowledges the uncertainty of our economy and possibility of natural disasters (we live on the Texas Gulf Coast). However, she refuses to “stock up”. We’ve discussed it in the past, and she says she doesn’t want all that “clutter”.
I’ve worried she wouldn’t be prepared if something does go wrong. She, and her family, are people I could never turn away in an emergency situation. It has never been more obvious to me how inadequate her panty is until our conversation this morning.
She has her three daughters and her husband living in her home. Last night they had to girls spending the night at their house. Having planned breakfast burritos for dinner, they discovered they only had 9 eggs to feed seven people. My sister ended up only getting two small breakfast sausages as her meal. There was not enough to around. Since today is grocery shopping day they were at the point where the pantry was empty.
As an older sister, it was hard not to slip into the ” I told you so” attitude. I know from prior experience that she is as stubborn as a boulder if you point out her failings. So all I can do is sit back, try to increase our back stock, and worry.

Woefully Absent

Yes, I admit, I have been derelict in my duty. I can make excuses that health, weird family drama that overflowed from a friend, and other things which seemed important at the time have kept me away. But, in truth, after our disastrous goat birthing it was easy to fall out of the sharing habit.
Not that I didn’t have good responses to the article – I appreciated the feedback and shares! No, it just was still a bit raw – and my other thoughts seemed so minor after that article. I have continued to read up on those of you I follow, and basically I finally decided to pull my head out.
Enough about that.
As for the garden, it has also died a terrible death. I was very sick in the early days of summer and after the goats got in I just wasn’t able to set things to rights. I’m frustrated because it doesn’t promise well in an EOTWAWKI scenario. There will be plenty of distractions at that time and the garden should be an essential priority. So we have located some farmer’s markets in the area and I am trying to take advantage of what I call “Bounty Sales”.
I’ve continued to use my Dutch oven, and I’ve located some great recipes (although pot roast is still my favorite). And, I’ve slacked a bit on canning (any questions why, re-read the first paragraph). However, I’ve also continued to search out great recipes and acquire more jars so that I have the tools I need as I get back into the swing of things.
I even had the opportunity to teach my niece to make homemade bread, and watch with delight as she and a few others tried their very first slice of fresh warm bread slathered in butter.
For the most part, our rabbits are doing well. My husband finished the second hutch so we were FINALLY able to move the baby (hmm, more teenage) rabbits OUT of our breakfast nook. Unfortunately, having been raised mostly indoors, the Texas heat has taken it’s toll on a couple of the yunguns and one adult female. We’ve since set up better waterers (more on that in a later post) and we are trying to work out a way to position the hutches for better airflow, yet still provide adequate shelter in any of our nasty storms.
As for the goats, we’re down to two. A female and a young male (not wether). We learned that the stud we used to impregnate our females has been the sire of quite a few miscarried, and I am willing to try again. However, we are waiting until our male comes of age to give us an emotional break (I can not tell you how hard that night was for me. You’ll just have to read “watching a goats butt” if you’re curious).
I finished paying off my horse, and my husband got a great cutrate deal on a gelding – $50 and a bunch of ribs. Man-o-man did that poor horse need food! Here’s a pic of what he looked like when we bought him …

His feet were in bad shape, and he was sooooo in need of attention. The good, and the bad, is he is now much healthier and has turned into a ball of fireworks. My husband will not let any of the rest of us ride him without a LOT of groundwork. For an idea of my husbands size, check out this great picture. He is the guy on the side tossing the huge bale UP to the trailer!

as you can see, he’s a good sized fellow, and with his bull riding background it’s unlikely much will buck him off. But it looks like Quigley will not fit the bill as a horse for our kids like we had hoped. We plan to make sure he’s healthy and work with him a bit more. Then make a decision if he needs to to someone skilled with the time to work with him.
We have also acquired an additional 38 chickens. They ended up costing more per chicken than I hoped – I was expecting 50 – but there are some good layers, so we can “retire” a few that we believe have slacked off. We also gained about 6 roosters (by my count we only need one) that will soon find their way to the freezer. One of our ladies is great at setting, so we separated her out with our favored rooster + a few harem hens. We now have two baby chicks that seem to be doing well.
Finally, I’ve decided to expand my skills by learning to quilt. I have some experience sewing, but have yet to test my fortitude against the awesome power of the quilt. Yes, I do plan to piece the front using a sewing machine, but I plan to quilt it by hand. At the very least I am hoping to repurpose those items like outgrown clothing that isn’t suitable to donate. My first experiment are a set of nap pads for my kiddoes.
Oh! Those kiddoes (now 3 and 4) ran to their safe spot when our fire alarm went off yesterday. Once they got there they yelled for their stunned cousins to follow. I love that my kids are learning to be prepared.
So, I guess all in all we’re just moving along with our endeavors. If you’re feeling overwhelmed with your own preparations, remember there are many of us striving to build our preparations and repertoire of skills towards the goal of self sufficiency.

Watching a goats butt

So here I kneel on the couch, pressing my face to the window while watching a goat’s butt. It has been an hour and eighteen minutes since i first noticed tiny hooves peeking out of her rear end We have only had one other baby goat born here, and we lost it. A beautiful rust and black male that died because we didn’t know enough. We had been told by friends who have goats that labor can take up to two days and DON’T TOUCH. We weren’t told to watch the time after the water breaks.
Man ‘o man did I read everything I could get my hands on after that heartbreak! So as Buttercup has neared her time I’ve felt more confident. Until today – at one hour and twenty three minutes after I noticed those hooves. She’s hunching again! Push, girl! Push! …… Nope. All the websites say don’t wait more than half an hour after the water breaks before you help. Our goat farming friend with experience says 1-2 hours is ok. Me, I’m wondering how long I can hold my breath … How long can that baby hold it’s breath? My cousins daughter (a 4H marvel) texted her best friend who lives on a goat farm. The teenager’s Dad also says 1-2 hours. Buttercup has laid down again.
My Mom, a NICU nurse of 30 years has brought over another goat book while my husband tries to feed the rest of the animals without stressing our laboring little momma.
My Mom and I nervously joke about pacing the floor, boiling water, and ripping up every sheet in the house. Her books says “After the water breaks they push a few times and the baby comes.” yeah, right.
We are at an hour and 45 minutes.
Shoot. Why can’t this be easy?
Coming up on two hours. My hands are scrubbed. My jewelry is off. I have a bucket of soapy water and towels. I’m ready…. Nope, gotta pee first.
Ok. Now I’m ready. Please Dear , Lord … Steady my hands and steady my head….
Well…2 hrs and forty seven minutes since I first saw a hoof….
Still no baby.
We’ve finally found the other hoof…and the mouth. We touched teeth. We only pull downward. We only pull when she is contracting.
We fear at this stage we are just waiting on another lost baby. But, I don’t want to risk loosing the momma, as well.
Right now, we are letting her rest. She tried hunching again and passed some fluid. What to do? What to do?
Another half hour since my last post. The head keeps slipping down and around to the side. If I could just get that head up in position maybe she could deliver on her own. We are all taking a rest. Poor little mamma. She cries and bawls. We pray. It’s an hour past my toddlers bedtime and no one’s had supper.
My little girl says the baby doesn’t want to come out. It’s taking a nap.
We’ve come in to eat. Us adults are head to toe goat hair except elbows to hands where we keeping washing up.
Did we make things worse? I honestly don’t know. Frustrations, and dare I say accusations, are high. We are all so very tired.
You probably are thinking I should have called a vet by now. Yeah, that would be nice. The nearest one that will deal with goats is three hours away.
A phone call from a friend who raises goats. He’s home now. He’s on his way over now. We’re just shy of four hours. I try to think of what to say and all that comes out is a heavy sigh.
No matter how this turns out I’m afraid I’m not cut out to raise goats. Our rabbits are doing good. I wonder how many meat rabbits someone would take in exchange for a young weathered goat.
Harvesting grown animals for their meat is one thing. But, I can’t stand the thought if we were the cause of losing babies.
How do you type tears?

I keep hoping we’ll get a call or a message from someone with some practical experience who will show us the magic “release” button on this poor mamma. The friend that called and said he was on his way still hasn’t shown up here. There isn’t much we can, or I guess should do until he does.
He’s here!
Well, the verdict is in. She is fevered. Not only has the baby already passed, it apparently has been gone a while. We can take some relief that we were not the cause.
The baby is not coming out on it’s own.
The decision point came. Do we put her out of her misery. We still don’t know if there is a second living baby. Do we risk killing her in the process of pulling the body? We make arrangements to quickly put her down if she is injured to badly, but want to at least give her the chance.
The details are heinous, and I won’t subject you to them. At one point my husband decided to send me away to protect me from all that must be done.
I went. Not because I couldn’t stand it. Not because I was offended or disgusted. I went because it is how he shows he loves me.
So I go in the house and kneel on the couch, pressing my face against the window to stare at a goats butt.
She is still alive. Now it’s my turn again.
I make up an injection of penicillin. She doesn’t move when I give it to her. But, she is still breathing. Next I mix molasses in warm water and take it out to her. She has moved her head, but doesn’t respond when I pour some on her mouth.
It’s after midnight. It’s my husbands birthday. It’s been six hours – it seems like it’s been days. I keep kneeling on the couch. I’m no longer looking at the goats butt.
I’m counting her breaths. Come on, girl. You can do it. I want her to pull through. But, I have to watch for more than just our poor little mamma. We still don’t know if there is a second baby. If she stops breathing we have to find out.
If you are heading off to bed, sleep a bit for me. It’s going to be a long night. I’ll be kneeling on the couch…

It’s one thirty. There wasn’t another baby.

I’ve missed you

To those who follow along, sorry I’ve been absent. My mother had surgery, and just about every one of us within the three homes have been sick in some form or another. I’ve actually started three separate posts (medical preparedness, canning experiments, animal husbandry) and just couldn’t keep it all together long enough to complete and post.
Personally, I have an infected tooth (dental appt tomorrow) that has sent me to the Dr twice. It is also been the root of fevers, extreme pain, and nausea.
All of that said, I’d say my biggest concern after any kind of civil collapse is medical and dental.
We have medical personnel in the family, as well as a decent stock of medical supplies and knowledge of how to use them. My concern is that there are a lot of infections that are resistant to Amoxicillin or other common antibiotics.
All I can do to combat my concerns is continue to educate myself, and those in my family, of alternative medicines and continue to acquire supplies to meet a variety of medical needs.

A kick in the teeth

Recently, my family has been hit by allergies – which decided to take an ugly turn. Of the four of us, I think at least 3 now have it in our chest (bronchitis) and at least two (my kiddoes) have sinus infections. With my husband out of work we have no insurance so I have to look elsewhere than a quick trip to the Dr.
Having recently started consciously prepping, I had renewed my old interests in herbals and other self-sufficiency products a month or so before my husband lost his job (anyone want a definition for “timing”?)
When it became obvious that the “allergies” weren’t going away I dug around in my brain and remembered a cold remedy I learned about 20 years ago. I believe I found the basic remedy and reasoning in a Mother Earth News magazine, but please don’t hold me to that as a fact. I was living in Colorado and heavily into backpacking and hiking and it was the first hay day of the Internet so my source could have been anywhere.
The article was written of a group of medical students who did a project while studying herbal uses. They decided to try to come up with something for the “common cold”.

Here is the recipe they came up with:
1 Cup Apple Cider Vinegar
1 Cup Chamomile/Peppermint Tea
2 Tbs Cayenne Pepper

Take 1-2 Tbs every two hours and drink plenty of liquids till symptoms pass. During cold season take 1 dose daily to keep illness away.

This was one of my first introductions to Apple Cider Vinegar. Now, I have to tell you. It tastes like a kick in the teeth, and there is no way I could get my kids to try it (ages 2 and 3). But, as a Mom of a sick family I have to get well as fast as possible.
On and off, over the years, I have done my own research into herbal remedies and I made a few additions to the recipe. For starters, I located raw ACV to get the most beneficial source I could find. If you haven’t heard about the many benefits of ACV then do a little web search. For this, suffice to understand that it helps your body flush the toxins and impurities that build up when your sick. Next, cayenne has a super high Vitamin C content. It also clears out the lungs and sinuses really well. Finally, the chamomile or peppermint tea was to ease the stomach.
Wanting to really knock this out of the park I added a few things from the cupboard.
I substituted Echinacea tea ( actually echinacea and lemon “Traditional Medicinals” from the grocery store) for the chamomile. I also added about a 1/8 of a Cup of local honey. Now be clear, no amount of honey will soften this mule kick, but local honey can help fight local allergies and I have noticed it does smooth the delivery even if it doesn’t sweeten it.
I started using this concoction yesterday evening and this evening I am clearer headed and whoever was sitting on my chest has been gracious enough to get off.
If you decide to try it I hope you find it as beneficial.

Note: I am not, nor in any way claim to be, a medical professional.

Prepping Articles

I don’t know about you, but I’ve put in my entry for the Preparedness Pro writing contest. My entry is what initiated me to start this blog. I’d really appreciate it if you would go over and give me a vote (simply put a positive comment at the bottom of the article). While your there, feel free to check out some of the other entries.
Here’s the link. Prepper ContestToday’s the last day!

Prepper Souviners

I wanted to share my souviners from a day spent “working” on skills to be more self sufficient. First of all, we live on my parents property, but our houses are about 75 yards apart past a large metal building (quanset hut), over a canal, and past my sister’s house. In some ways it isn’t that far, but for my two little ones (who will be turning 3 and 4 this summer). There are many twists and turns that can lead to disaster. They walk the path at least once a day with me, but we’ve had concerns about them trying to take the way on their own – but there may come a time that they need to be able to do it. So, yesterday I called ahead and sent them on their way. With the comfort of cell phones I knew when they had made it. The plan is that through familiarity of knowing they are expected that they are less likely to divert from the path in an emergency situation.
While the kids were visiting their MawMaw, my husband and I took the shotguns to the back end of the property and set up some targets with clay pigeons. I found that the more I aimed the worse I did! My husband bought me a Winchester 20 gauge for Christmas (the first gun I’ve owned) and it seems that some days I’m great with it, and some I’m not. I did marginally better when he threw the targets. However, I moved to quick and didn’t get it settled correctly before one of my shots – and I have a colorful reminder today.

while we were out there i confirmed that we have loads of Broadleaf Plantain if we need it, and tasted a few leaves to decide if I’d be adding it to salads or just mote it for medicinal use. Although the clay pigeons didn’t have much to fear from me, I did shoot my first water moccasin. It was in the canal by our house and I got it with one shot! I didn’t get a picture of that one, but here is a six footer my husband shot this afternoon. It was in some grass about 10 feet from our door. He came across it while hunting eggs from our chickens in the deeper grass.

He’s a much better shot than me (with a lifetime of experience) and shot it through the head with a .22. Happy for me, he also found where the hens were laying their eggs!
While we had been in the back shooting we came across a great blackberry patch. So we took the kids back out and picked about 5 cups of blackberrys (called Dewberrys around here).

So today I made a blackberry cobbler. And a jar of blackberry syrup.

All in all, we worked on skills all across the board. What is amazing to me is how shocked some friends are of what I considered just a normal day.

How does your garden grow?

I recently read the article by Preppernation which challenges readers to plant a garden large enough to supply your years worth of vegetables. My initial reaction was mixed. Not about the advisability, but on if we could meet the challenge. No matter if you are putting extra away in case of some major disaster – or just realizing that prices are going up and any way we can keep from giving our money away to someone else is a help – there may come a time when this will be a way of life instead of just a season’s challenge.
Now we (ok, my husband) has had a garden every year for the last 5 years. I will admit, that between summer pregnancies and caring for small babies I haven’t been much help until last year. Then, we were all but defeated by a scorching drought and a terrible bug infestation. We never saw our squash or watermelon even flower, and our corn was only good for goat fodder after the worms and grasshoppers devoured it. My heart broke a bit more every time we shucked an ear and it was totally gone to the bugs. Our one bright light was our okra which we had bushels of for most of the summer.

Now, don’t get me wrong. We haven’t given up on gardens. If anything, we bought a larger variety of seeds this year. My husband is recently unemployed, and we will both need the produce and possibly have more time (mixed blessings?). The challenge has given me a goal, a focus.
Looking at our seeds, many of what we already buy come with more seeds then we’ve been using, so we won’t have to invest more money. We walked the yard today and decided where would work best for additional garden space. He promised me he’d have it tilled early this coming week.
So here goes: We will rise to the challenge. Produce from our own land instead of from the grocery store.