What did you do today to prep...

[mountainmoma]

Well I put in the garden. At least most of it. Took the family to the local garden store. We all picked up some stuff. I got food, the Mrs. got some pretties for around the mailbox, and the baby big girl got a pretty of her own to pot up and care for. I do seed starting but it's fun to see what oddity we might not have heard of. Then we found the Holy Grail. The University has come out with a peach that will survive zone 4. I'm in love. I don't have space for it but I'm already scheming how to get it in.

Planted everything. Got the herb pots set up, and my 2 year old ran around with a watering can to help. She had to check that the apple, cherry, and hazelnut were starting to open and literally jumped for joy as I put in our new blackberry patch.

Took about 5 hours and I'm exhausted. I got it all done, cracked a Spotted Cow, and looked over my backyard. Maybe I was just tired. Maybe I can't believe what I have accomplished growing food here. Maybe I was dreaming how to get a peach tree in. Maybe it was because I was listening to Johnny Cash sing Hurt. Maybe it was seeing my daughter so happy to garden. But I sipped my beer and I cried.

Fantastic. I miss this days of my little helpers and foragers -- the kids just love eating everything straight out of the garden. There is nothing like a sun warmed strawberry.

[Redman]

Yesterday and this morning cooking ham and making BBQ sauce. Shredding ham adding sauce. Tomorrow can it. Now for today's clean up. Ugh.

[LvsChant]

Nice work.

Today I fed my tomatoes and weeded the garden beds... (I know it isn't much, but work is tremendously busy right now).

[Stwood]

Yum.    Looks tasty Red.

Hey there's my pickle jar lid....

Oh hey!!!!!! I found some lids for those jars!!!!!!!!! Amish store had them, .59 if I remember right. 

[Redman]

Thanks Steve. You better hot foot it to the Amish store and get that lid.

[Knecht]

Cut some firewood.
White corn seems to sprout after all.
Did some minor gunsmithing on Saiga 12, added new folding stock and such. The gun is pretty much complete now. Also got a great book about traditional gunsmithing (mainly BP) as birthday gift.

[Stwood]

First garden harvest of the year. 3 radishes were ready, 1" size. I pulled, trimmed, threw trimming in the compost bin. Headed to house and washed said radishes.
Gave 1 to wife, I consumed the other 2. 

[Redman]

 

I trust you ate at least one of the other two before she saw you. 

[Stwood]

Yes, yes. 


Prepping, doing some gardening today.

[Redman]

 

[Stwood]

2 more 35' rows of corn planted. Had company, and did some Bs'n

[Greekman]

it is battery days these weekend. new index lists of what is what in what device or flashlight and Nimh re-charging/check starting tomorrow.

on top of that i am redesigning my collapsible Yagi antenna out of PVC pipes.

[LvsChant]

garden weeding... things seem to be surviving, despite the really hot weather so early in the season (101 degrees today).

[Redman]

garden weeding... things seem to be surviving, despite the really hot weather so early in the season (101 degrees today).

101*  Gad. You're in South Texas?

[Stwood]

Supply run to town. Hadn't been all week......gotta go....
Stopped at a couple garage sales.....score on jars. Found another case 4 five bucks. I'm finding ya gotta ask as for some reason most don't set jars out in plain site.

Stopped by another little odd-nends place sale thingie and found one more wm pint.
Older gal up front that we visited with some time ago (gardens and cans)  said she was glad we can in, as she had lost our phone #. She would call us if she found more jars.
Well, she herself is not going to can anymore and said she had about 12 dozen jars she would sell for 5 a case. If we took em all she would take less.
Well no way to pass that up, so we're supposed to meet up next week.



Back from town run, I tilled and planted another 35' row of bush beans, and a short 5' row of radishes and carrots.

[Knecht]

Had a shift at the range, so tested the new folding stock on my Saiga 12 and tested/practiced with some .40 reloads as well.
Corn and beans seem to do well. Several of my new fruit trees are growing like crazy. Older trees promise very nice harvest so far.

[FreeLancer]

I finally succeeded (through much trial and error over the last couple weeks) in figuring out how to set up VLANs on my internet router for improved device isolation and online security.

[Stwood]

Succeeded at my first attempt at making homemade BBQ sauce.
Thanks to Redman for the recipe. 

I figure cost would be around $3.00 a quart making it.

[Redman]

Hope you enjoy it. 

[Zef_66]

Succeeded at my first attempt at making homemade BBQ sauce.
Thanks to Redman for the recipe. 

I figure cost would be around $3.00 a quart making it.

Is the recipe posted? Care to share it?

[Redman]

It isn't posted Zef and I don't mind sharing. Well I can't get it to upload.

4-14oz. bottles ketchup
2 boxes dk brown sugar
1 T garlic powder
1 1/4 qt. cider vinegar
2 heaping T black pepper
2 T dry mustard
1/4 t red pepper
1 lb oleo (use margarine or butter)
4 T liquid smoke
3 T salt

Combine all ingredients and bring to a boil. Stir it. Makes about a gallon and keeps indefinitely in the frig.

Originally by Erma Smith of Big Spring, TX

I got this in a collection of recipes I got in 1975? at the 25th Annual National Square Dance Convention in San Antonio. Pretty sure Mrs. Smith is no longer with us but the booklet isn't copyrighted.

[Knecht]

Forged a sickle-style knife for herb harvesting, gifted it to my wife for field testing She already used it and filled the dehydrator.
Planted some topinambours.
Reloaded some pistol ammo.
Keeping my rice diet, still losing weight.
Received positive reviews from both of the opponents for my PhD dissertation (not a prepping thing, but part of my effort to close this life chapter).

[Redman]

topinambours

Also known as Jerusalem artichokes or sun chokes? If so I've eaten them and they are delicious. Haven't seen them in years around here.

[Hootie]

• more garden work
• re-inventoried my food preps

[Stwood]

Yesterday. Got a line (another) on mason jars last week so the wife went in and retrieved 6 dozen quarts and 4 dozen pints, plus some jelly jars and some oddballs.
Had to take all the jars out and put in other boxes as they smelled really bad.
Burnt all of them.


I worked out, making cash for da stash. More of the same today.

[Redman]

No prepping work today. I'm having to take on almost all the housework because wife's illness is getting worse. That means a lot of catching up on it. Her cognitive functions going south and does not good to tell what needs to be done. She forgets really quick.

[Knecht]

Had a range shift yesterday, stayed after it and shot couple hundred rounds. Static target, moving target, moving target+moving shooter, we've also built an improvised IPSC style stage, which I tried with both my fullsize guns and my usual carry subcompact, even turned off all lights and shot it in complete darkness with flashlight and laser. Interesting for sure! Also gave one more chance to the new ETS extended magazine (30 rounds of .40SW for Glocks), which was a total failure last time. This time, using my lighter reloads, it worked flawlessly. Looks like it doesn't like powerful ammo (or more likely, that my hand movement while shooting those somehow affects the reliable feed of that mag).

Heard from a firend who does laser cutting, that the cutouts of my tactical hatchet prototype will be done soon. It's both a business project (will see how people like it) and of course the prototypes will end up as gifts to my family and friends, so I'll improve their preparedness a bit, too. I'm quite curious how well will that hatchet work, it's my own design, based on a traditional local Slavic fighting axe from the 9th century. With all the tactical tomahawks, kukris, katanas and all the other stuff worldwide, I thought it was a shame that we didn't have our own "tactical heritage" weapon

[Knecht]

topinambours

Also known as Jerusalem artichokes or sun chokes? If so I've eaten them and they are delicious. Haven't seen them in years around here.

I'm not sure about the other names, around here the correct name is "Topinambour sunflower" and also used to be known as the "Jewish potato"

[Zef_66]

It isn't posted Zef and I don't mind sharing. Well I can't get it to upload.

4-14oz. bottles ketchup
2 boxes dk brown sugar
1 T garlic powder
1 1/4 qt. cider vinegar
2 heaping T black pepper
2 T dry mustard
1/4 t red pepper
1 lb oleo (use margarine or butter)
4 T liquid smoke
3 T salt

Combine all ingredients and bring to a boil. Stir it. Makes about a gallon and keeps indefinitely in the frig.

Originally by Erma Smith of Big Spring, TX

I got this in a collection of recipes I got in 1975? at the 25th Annual National Square Dance Convention in San Antonio. Pretty sure Mrs. Smith is no longer with us but the booklet isn't copyrighted.

Thanks. I will give it a try.

I'm assuming a box of brown sugar is 1lb? So 2lbs total in this recipe?

[Redman]

Well that's what I assumed and the way I make it, 2lbs. total. Hope you like it.