What did you do today to prep...

[Knecht]

I wanna thank everyone who sent me links to some of the online Foxfire books. Looks like I have plenty to read on long winter evenings. You know, if I were out of sewing, leatherworking, sharpening my tools or reloading ammo
But seriously, thanks, guys!

Not much direct prepping work done today. Some more legal steps taken towards buying the new house, which obviously is a whole new place to load with supplies and generally to "prep it for prepping" such as planting some more trees (has several grown walnuts, apples, cherries etc, but I'll add to it for sure!), sewing some medicinal herbs, securing the entrances, clearing the fire sectors and so on.
Expecting a package tomorrow, some wool fabric for my early 15th century kit. Laugh if you want, but these medieval woolen clothes will still be around, long after all the modern outdoor clothes will fall apart. So, with each of my living-history pieces, I make a long term survival piece as well.
Speaking of living-history, I did some final touch-ups on my dusack of the same era, which I might promote to my bugout blade, as I just like it too much. I'd say it has all the features I liked in a kukri, except the weird blade shape (yes, I know the idea behind it, I just don't like the outcome) and the odd handle. This one feels so much more natural to me.
see more pics here: https://knecht.rajce.idnes.cz/Tesak%2C_15._stol./#

[Redman]

Wife went to town so I told her to go to Wally's and grab the rest of the canned bbq pork that they had on closeout. $1.25 per can, should be a good storeroom item. Bought 2 cans last week and tried one as a sandwich. Pretty tasty and has a 2 year exp. Told her to buy all that was left.

What brand name? My quick google search came up with several brands, all higher priced. We had home canned shredded pork and BBQ sauce for supper. Along with white and sweet potatos with red onions cooked as for lyonnaise potatoes - pan fried homestyle potatoes and onions.

[Stwood]

Castleberry's. Pork in BBQ sauce, Carolina recipe.


Wife said it was all gone.  I should have bought it all when I was in there, but wanted to try it. No idea why it was on the closeout shelf. Guess it wasn't selling huh.

[Redman]

I'll take a look next time we're in there. We don't do our normal shopping there any more although they are becoming much more competitive on some items. I can get produce for less elsewhere for instance. Classico is less than other places. Saltines were less but Aldi is beating them on those by 3 cents. GV brand vs. Savoriz brand. Aldi's have the price on chips, $1.09?/10oz. vs. $1.16/8oz. Both are within 7 miles in one direction of me. Doesn't mean I'll make a special trip to Aldi for one item. Of course much depends on their proximity to you.

To me getting the better price on storage items when possible is also a part of being prepared.

[Stwood]

*To me getting the better price on storage items when possible is also a part of being prepared.*


10-4 on that. Saves money on down the road.

[Redman]

*To me getting the better price on storage items when possible is also a part of being prepared.*


10-4 on that. Saves money on down the road.

Good for us old pharts on more or less fixed incomes. 

[Stwood]

Made 26 1/2 pints of peach jam. 
We're kinda thinking maybe more peaches and canning em up for pies.

[Greekman]

I made em a collapsible 3-meter PVC antenna mast. Plus mounting hardware for groundplane and dipole antennas.
sad part is -to mount my PVC pipe Yagi- I will have to order the  PVC T-adapter cos it is nowhere to be found locally.

[Redman]

Made 26 1/2 pints of peach jam. 
We're kinda thinking maybe more peaches and canning em up for pies.

That's a lot of jam.

I'm not planning any jam or jelly this year. We still have about 50 half pints of fig, grape, apple and plum jam.

[Frugal Upstate]

FYI, we tried the canned pickerel the other day.  The bones were softened right up!  I made basically a “tuna salad” and then did a tuna melt kinda thing... slightly different taste than tuna but good.  I also saw a suggestion somewhere to can it with a little liquid smoke and then serve it with crackers.

[Redman]

FYI, we tried the canned pickerel the other day.  The bones were softened right up!  I made basically a “tuna salad” and then did a tuna melt kinda thing... slightly different taste than tuna but good.  I also saw a suggestion somewhere to can it with a little liquid smoke and then serve it with crackers.

 

[Stwood]

That's a lot of jam.

Yep. Yep. 

I think we're well into a 3-4 year supply of jelly now. With the exception of making some more cantaloupe jam, we're good on the jelly and jam supply.

[Stwood]

We can really make jam sammiches now. Have some jam to go between the 2 slices of bread jammed together. 


Made and canned 13 pints of salsa.

[Redman]

We can really make jam sammiches now. Have some jam to go between the 2 slices of bread jammed together. 


Made and canned 13 pints of salsa.

Mission brand tortilla strips. 

[Stwood]

Mission brand tortilla strips. 

Oh copy that. I'm down to one bag.

[Redman]

Don't see them around here much anymore. Must not be paying off the store to well.

[Stwood]

Walmart keeps a steady supply.
And our other little grocer keeps them, but at a higher price.

[Stwood]

Made and canned 10 pints of pineapple/brown sugar bbq sauce.
Pretty tasty, though it has a big brown sugar bite.
Wish it had more of a pineapple taste than it has. I used up all the pineapple juice making a x10 batch, so I couldn't add anymore.

[Redman]

Made and canned 10 pints of pineapple/brown sugar bbq sauce.
Pretty tasty, though it has a big brown sugar bite.
Wish it had more of a pineapple taste than it has. I used up all the pineapple juice making a x10 batch, so I couldn't add anymore.

 

I was wondering if you ever finished that. x10 batch huh, greedy.

[Stwood]

I was wondering if you ever finished that. x10 batch huh, greedy.

 

[Redman]

Just finished the Dijon mustard. Recipe claimed about 6 4oz. jars. I ended up with 9 jars.

[Stwood]

Just finished the Dijon mustard. Recipe claimed about 6 4oz. jars. I ended up with 9 jars.

You gonna name it Red PouponII......?

 

[Redman]

You gonna name it Red PouponII......?

 

Hail yea! 

[Stwood]

 



Supply run to town for storeroom replacements

[Frugal Upstate]

Canned two quarts of chicken corn chowder starter in the Chard/Carey.  Basically that was half the pot of soup I made without the evap milk added.

Otherwise it was a pretty slow day—but we did head to the lake in the afternoon with the teen & his fishing buddy.  The boys took the fishing boat out by thenselves and spent some time fishing.  They also fished off the dock & did catch a nice bluegill that the buddy took back to toss in his farm pond — he’s trying to stock it for ice fishing.  So we encouraged independence, self sufficiency and fishing skills in a couple of boys

[Stwood]

Prepared and froze jalapeno peppers today.

[Knecht]

Trying my forging skills on longer blades. Also studied some archeological finds of medieval crossbow parts. I've built some before, but this time I'm aiming towards more accurate reconstruction, so I'm more interested in details. And having more practice in making crossbows can be useful.

[Stwood]

Picked elderberrys along side the road, next county over. Gota go back in a few days.
Huge, ripe heads. We'll take some cutting off of those while we are there.

Steamed all of those and ended up with 7 pints of juice.

[Stwood]

Steamed another 6 pints.

[Frugal Upstate]

In the last 3 days managed to can up a triple batch of Zuchinni relish and to steam juice and make jelly from  the 1lb of Nanking cherries I picked from my bushes & froze.  I’ve got quite a few Japanese eggplant to do something with, and the peaches are starting to come in.