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M4AS, my only child is not yet three years old but he LOVES being outdoors with Daddy. Since he's been able to walk it's nothing for him to strike out across the acreage on his own and when I was working on a garden plot last year, clearing rocks from an area which has never been tilled before, I'd get home, pull him out of his car seat, reach back in for something only to look up and see him halfway out there already.
"Where you goin', boy?" I'd call out.
"Garden, Daddy -- garden!" This year I'm buying him a little tractor he can ride on that really drives and has a little cargo area. I'll get him to pile rocks in there and haul them down to the corner of the barn where I dump them, give him a real job to do. He already scratches in the dirt with his rake and hoe whenever I'm planting anything.
The downside to drilling a well around here is EXPENSE. I agree it's a TOP priority kind of thing; but that doesn't make it more feasible in the foreseeable future. I do plan on having the planning done for it, figuring out a spot so that when the time comes I can get it done (not to mention planning AROUND it).
Right now I've got lots of things in the works, VERY slowly coming to fruition. It's very, very difficult to do this kind of thing when you're the only one doing it AND taking care of house and small child AND taking care of all the regular chores which come with home ownership.
In the plans are:
- Fruit trees, semi-dwarf varieties
- grape arbors, both eating and juicing varietals
- loads of different berry briars and bushes
- greenhouse
- chicken house
- duck/goose pen (I don't have a large pond so I'll have to pen them)
- quail and pheasant pen
- wood shed
- Finnish sauna (nothing like it for a REAL clean) plus ductwork to heat barn and greenhouse during winter
For the fruit trees I've picked out:
- plums (two cultivars and one local wild variety)
- peaches (two varieties)
- apricots (two varieties)
- pears (one eating, one canning)
- apples (two different five-in-one)
- cherries (one cultivar, one local)
- paw-paws
- turkey fig
- persimmon (1 Japanese, 1 large local)
For berries:
- blackberries (many varieties, they do well here)
- blueberries (high bush varieties)
- raspberries (do well locally)
- strawberries
- gooseberries
- honeyberries
- elderberries
- mulberries
- I've no idea how lingonberries would do here
I also have plans to set up semi-shelters for local deer and turkey by allowing fencerows to grow up (where feasible), also thereby catering to rabbits. The deer and turkey shelters will be a couple of structures I plan to set up consisting of a few posts, some high-arched woven wire and honeysuckle I'll plant all around it.
This will be good for bees and will also provide an area for deer to shelter in winter (I'll be putting out salt and mineral blocks for licks), although it WILL mean I have to put up a high fence around my garden. Between the rabbits, turkey and deer (plentiful locally, for now) this will make a nice addition to the freezer stock along with the domesticated fowl.
I'm interested in bees as well but know nothing about them right now, although I've made a couple of acquaintances who might be interested in setting up hives on my property. That would work; I'd get a share of the honey and get my plants pollinated, plus see the bees at work.
I'm also interested in rainwater harvesting but need to plan how to do it. There are a variety of ways to do this and I calculated (with a 75 percent rain recovery rate) that my barn alone would yield just over 700 gallons with a ONE inch rainfall, IF I had tanks and barrels set up. Of course, that's all stuff I'd be planning for garden use and around the house and yard, but with that kind of yield there's a LOT of potential since we typically get quite a bit of rain in spring and fall.
All of that would be OPTIONAL, but there's loads more to consider and myriad ideas and room for improvement on what I plan.
BUT -- while sort of on-topic, that's a different variety of preparation, less about the gathering of material goods and or methods/means or about overall disaster preparedness.
Sasquatch - sounds like you got a little farmer on your hands already
Don't know if you're on the valley ridge or the valley floor, but depending on how high the water table is in your area you may be able to drive a shallow well yourself. If there's water around 20', that might be a much more affordable option for you and at least get your started if you can't afford a larger/deeper cased drilled well. (Another good article on it from Mother Earth News).
Also, if you've got a low spot or creek/spring anywhere, and have decent holding soils, you may be able to build your own small pond for the ducks & geese, and water storage for irrigation & livestock and emergency firefighting. Ducks & geese need water to mate, so if sustained breeding part of your plan then a pond should be too It doesn't have to be super fancy or expensive if you plan and site it right, a little excavation here a little berming there, and you can catch and store the spring run off and any rain (but a creek or spring feed makes it easier to keep clean).
Long-term food planning and growing your own is always a good thing, even if you're not anticipating the end of the world as we know it (at least IMO). Thinking about getting trees, bushes and vines established sooner rather than later is smart planning since they take much longer to get established and bear fruit than your regular annual or perrenial garden crops. Also, getting saplings and root stock can cost a LOT more, so having a plan makes it easier to budget. Also requires you to think really hard about your site plan so you organize your 'stead most efficiently, and about the timing aspects so you're not completely overwhelmed trying to do everything at once... trying to start and finish a new project while old projects are all coming to fruition/harvest at once can make any sane person lose their marbles LOL.
My issue was with your reference to the welfare hordes
I have no issue with having weapons. For defense or sustenance.
I.
It will be the welfare hordes that will go off the deep end when they realize there is no govt handout for them.History has revealed that in the past and will do so again
Im glad we cleared up the issue of firearms......................
Convert, I think this is an opinion where we're all just going to have to agree to disagree. I don't think being a self-serving greedy slacker has much to do with whether you're receiving some sort of assistance or not. I've met plenty of fat-cat business people and socialites, even middleclass soccer moms, who are detrimental when TSHTF. And I've met plenty of welfare folks who pitch in and work hard when TSHTF. It's all about the mindset. Making blanket statements about an entire group of people when that statement only represents a portion of the group, especially when the statement also applies to a large portion of people outside the group, is walking on dangerously thin ice.
- blackberries (many varieties, they do well here)
- blueberries (high bush varieties)
- raspberries (do well locally)
- strawberries
- gooseberries
- honeyberries
- elderberries
- mulberries
- I've no idea how lingonberries would do here
Oh boy, time to rethink the mulberries. First, the bushes can grow to 30'. I have 2 in my yard, one each white and purple variety. They are a pain! Not to mention that I have not found a use for them other than eating them just before they fall from the trees by the gallons and make an horrendous squishy mess in the yard. They are mostly sweet water - very light but IMO not worth the mess they make. And no, not even for the birds they attract, because they also attract wildlife rats - raccoons and opossum, nasty, vicious creatures that have little fear of humans.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Urban Sasquatch
I'm also interested in rainwater harvesting but need to plan how to do it. There are a variety of ways to do this and I calculated (with a 75 percent rain recovery rate) that my barn alone would yield just over 700 gallons with a ONE inch rainfall, IF I had tanks and barrels set up. Of course, that's all stuff I'd be planning for garden use and around the house and yard, but with that kind of yield there's a LOT of potential since we typically get quite a bit of rain in spring and fall.
We will be replacing our still good roof with new because of the rainwater collection. You cannot use the water from regular shingles - not even for your garden. You need either plastic or metal.
Quote:
Originally Posted by MissingAll4Seasons
Convert, I think this is an opinion where we're all just going to have to agree to disagree. I don't think being a self-serving greedy slacker has much to do with whether you're receiving some sort of assistance or not. I've met plenty of fat-cat business people and socialites, even middleclass soccer moms, who are detrimental when TSHTF. And I've met plenty of welfare folks who pitch in and work hard when TSHTF. It's all about the mindset. Making blanket statements about an entire group of people when that statement only represents a portion of the group, especially when the statement also applies to a large portion of people outside the group, is walking on dangerously thin ice.
That was my point with the clampet story. Thank you.
Oh boy, time to rethink the mulberries. First, the bushes can grow to 30'. I have 2 in my yard, one each white and purple variety. They are a pain! Not to mention that I have not found a use for them other than eating them just before they fall from the trees by the gallons and make an horrendous squishy mess in the yard. They are mostly sweet water - very light but IMO not worth the mess they make. And no, not even for the birds they attract, because they also attract wildlife rats - raccoons and opossum, nasty, vicious creatures that have little fear of humans.
Those are good points, one and all. I already have a mulberry tree growing on one edge of my property, fairly well-established, so while I was counting it my plan was just to leave it there and generally ignore it since it's NOT in the way of anything else. However, I DO have concerns about it attracting insect life such as silk and/or bagworms, which can be a problem around here. I don't have the problem now and I'd prefer to avoid it, so given the points you make, that bush may come down!
We will be replacing our still good roof with new because of the rainwater collection. You cannot use the water from regular shingles - not even for your garden. You need either plastic or metal.
The barn from which I plan to harvest is roofed with metal, so no problems there! I'm considering having the house re-roofed but based on expense that one is down the road a bit. When the time comes, odds are it will be metal, or plastic-coated.
Sasquatch - sounds like you got a little farmer on your hands already
Don't know if you're on the valley ridge or the valley floor, but depending on how high the water table is in your area you may be able to drive a shallow well yourself. If there's water around 20', that might be a much more affordable option for you and at least get your started if you can't afford a larger/deeper cased drilled well. (Another good article on it from Mother Earth News).
Also, if you've got a low spot or creek/spring anywhere, and have decent holding soils, you may be able to build your own small pond for the ducks & geese, and water storage for irrigation & livestock and emergency firefighting. Ducks & geese need water to mate, so if sustained breeding part of your plan then a pond should be too It doesn't have to be super fancy or expensive if you plan and site it right, a little excavation here a little berming there, and you can catch and store the spring run off and any rain (but a creek or spring feed makes it easier to keep clean).
Long-term food planning and growing your own is always a good thing, even if you're not anticipating the end of the world as we know it (at least IMO). Thinking about getting trees, bushes and vines established sooner rather than later is smart planning since they take much longer to get established and bear fruit than your regular annual or perrenial garden crops. Also, getting saplings and root stock can cost a LOT more, so having a plan makes it easier to budget. Also requires you to think really hard about your site plan so you organize your 'stead most efficiently, and about the timing aspects so you're not completely overwhelmed trying to do everything at once... trying to start and finish a new project while old projects are all coming to fruition/harvest at once can make any sane person lose their marbles LOL.
Unfortunately, the soil here is a clay/loam composite, great for gardening (with a bit of tweaking), but so-so with ponds. Some areas hold very well, others simply won't. I plan to get the area tested for a pond location, I might get lucky.
However, in the interest of the ducks and geese, I DO plan to sink a pool for them to create a pond. I actually have a large outdoor pool which came with the property (the stand-alone kind, about sixteen feet across, four deep) which I plan to disassemble and sink for them when the time comes, lining externally and internally in order to preserve the frame. That should be plenty of "pond" for them and their little world and will get the darned thing out of my way from where it sits currently.
In the event of getting a real pond dug, I'd probably still stick with this. Ducks and geese are beautiful and entertaining but can make a nasty mess of a pond depending on the size. Also, I'm not keen on having to round them up nightly to preserve them from opossums, 'coons, foxes or coyotes (of which we have plenty around here), especially when they have young.
I'll look into the idea of driving a shallow well. Even if I get a deep well sunk later I can always put up a nice well ring and bucket for the shallow one, if that's not where the deep one is sunk (and assuming the water table caters to this at all).
I've heard that filling up your bathtub with water is a good idea.
I'd never thought of that.
I mean you may get tired of being dirty after a few weeks and need to marinate yourself in a nice long Hollywood Soak! Hahaha of course I'm kidding.
Any other ideas?
Something not obvious I mean...
I'd pull the battery out of any vehicle that I couldn't lock up in a garage, maybe even then.
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